CHAPTER 15 12091CH

BIODIVERSITY AND
CONSERVATION
15.1 Biodiversity
Ifan allen from a distant galaxy were to visit our planet
15.2 Biodiversity Conservation and bafile him
Earth, the first thing that would amaze
ans would most probably be the enormous diversity
of life
that he would encournter. Even for humans, the rich variety
beetes
3-
Ask As hes
of living organisms with which
ceases to

they share this planet never

astonish and fascinate us. The common man
that there are more than
03(plants Le. L n t nard to believe
90k Mar20.000 species of ants, 3,00.000 species of beetles, 28,000
C species of fishes and nearly 20,000 species of orchlds.
Las Ecologlsts and evolutionary biologists have been trying
Plowo) to understand the significance of such diversity by asking
important questions- Why are there so many species?
Did such great diversity exist throughout earth's history?
How did this diversification come about? How anud why
is this diversity tmportant to the biosphere? Would it
functionany differently f the diversity was much ess?
How do humans beneft from the diversity of life?
15.1 BroDrVERSITY
In our. biosphere immense diversity (or heterogeneity)
exists not only at the specles level but at al levels of
biological organisation ranglng from macromolecules
within cells to biomes. 5iodversity 1s the term popularised
by the sociobiologist Edward Wilson to describe the
ODIVERSITY AND ERVATION
Vandy.
mbined diversity at all the
levels of
The most important of them are- blological organlsation.
Genetic diversity: A single specles
the might show
genetic level distrlbutional range. The hlgh diverslty
over lts at
shown by the medicinal genetuc varlaton
plant Rauwolfia vomitorla
auerent growing raproduth
imalayan
concentration of theranges might be in terms of the potency in
active chemlcal and ouy
produces. India has more than 50,000 (reserplne) that the plant
of rice, and 1,000
varietles of mango.
genetically diferent/stralns 10
(u) Species diversity: The
the dlversity at the specles level. for example,
Western Ghats have a greater amphlblan
the Easterm Ghats. specles dlversfty than
( i t e - 50AOO
(i) Ecological diversity: At theWE -1ango - Ooo
.
ecosystem level. India,
wIun its deserts, rain forests, mangrovesoral forwetlands,
reéis, insjanC
estuaries, and alpíne meadóws häs a greater ecosystem diversity
than a Scandinavian country like Norway.
T t has taken millions of years of evolution, to accumulate this rich
ALvSL nature, but could lose losses
we
centuries if the present rates of
all that wealth in less than two Centeaie ude
species continue. Biodiversity and
its conservation are vital
now environmental issues of intermational concerm
as more and more people around the world
begin to realise the critical
importance of biodiversity for our survival and well- being on this planet.
15.1.1 How Many Species are there on Earth and How o m p C o t dcluinaz
Many in India?
Since there are published records of all the species discovered and named.
we know how many specles in all have been recorded so far, but it is not
easy to answer the question of how many specles there are on earth.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources (IUCNJ (2004), the total number of plant and animal
species described so far is sllghtly more than L5 milllon, but we have no
clear idea of how many specles are yet lo be discovered and described.
Estimates vary widely and many ol them are only educated guesses. For
many taxonomic groups, specles Invenlorles are more complete in
temperate than In troplcal counuies. Consldering thal an overwhelmingly
large proportion of the specles waltling to be discovered are In the troples,
biologists make a statistical comparison of the temperate-lropical spectes
richness of an exhaustively sludied group of Insects and extrapolate this 259
ratio to other groups ol animals and planls to come up with a gross
estimate of the total number of spectcs on earth. Some extreme estmates
range from 20 to 50 million, but a more conservative and sctentifically
sound estimate made by Robert May places the global spectes diversity
at about 7 million.
 BIOLOGY
Lel us look at some interesting aspects about carth's blodiversity based
More than 70 per cent of
on thie currently avallable specles Inventorles.
all the species recorded are anlmals, while plants (Including algae, fungi,
no more than 22
bryophytes. gymnosperms and angiosperms) comprise
per cent of the total. Among animals, insects are the most specles-rich
taxonomic group. making up more than 70 per cent of the total. That
7 insects. Agaln, how
means, out of every 10 animals on this planet, are
this diversiflcation of insects? The number of
ao we explaln enormous
fungi specles in the world is more than the combined total of the species
ol fishes, amphiblans, reptiles and mammals. In Figure 15.1. biodiversity
is depicted showing specles number of major taxa.
Invertebrates Vertebrates
Other animal groups
Mammals
Tnves TOMC Crustaceans Fishes
Birds
Voatib FB LAM Molluscs 7
Plan A FAM F Insects-
Reptiles
LOMCecan
Amphibians
Dnouar oil Plants FB RAM
Melro C o p n
Ferns and
Mosses
alles
Fung | Angiosperms
Algae Lichens
Figure 15.1 Representing global blodiversity: proportionate number of
specles of major taxa ol plants, invertebrates and vertebrates
It should be noled that these estimates do not give any figures for
260 prokaryotes. Blologlsts are not sure about how many prokaryotic species
there mlght be. The problem ls that conventional taxonomic methods are
not sullable forldentilying mleroblal specles and many species are simply
not culturable under laboralory conditlons. Ifwe accept biochemical or
molecular crlterla lor delineating specles for this
group, then their diversity
alone might run into millions.
 ODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
Although India has only 2.4
ofthe global species per cent of the world's
land
makes our country one diversty is an area, Its
impresstve 8.1 per cent. That is share
of
Nearly 45.000 specles of the 12 mega diversity countries of
what
2
recorded from india. Howplants and twice as many of anlmíals theworld.
to be discovered many living specles are Have been
t
and named? If we actualy there
waitng
22per cent of the total accept May's global estimates, only
specles have
proportion to India's diversity figures, been recorded so far.
we estimate that
Applying this
there are
more than 1,00,000 plant specles
yet to be discovered and described. and more than 3,00,000 animalprobably
specles
Would we ever be able to
the inventory of the
trained
blological wealth of our country? Constder the complete
immense
manpower (taxonomists) and the time
Job. The situation appears more requlred to complete the
hopeless
fraction of these species faces the threat of
when we realise that
a la
we discover them. Nature's becoming extinct even before
biological library is burming even before we
catalogued the titles of all the books stocked there.
15.1.2 Patterns of Biodiversity
( Latitudinal gradients: The diversity of plants and animals is
not uniform throughout the world but shows a rather uneven
distribution. For many group of animals or plants, there are
interesting patterns in diversity. the most well- knowm being the
latitudinal diversity. In general,
gradient in
species diversity
decreases as we move away from the equator towards the poles.
of 23.5° N to
With very few exceptions, troplcs (latitudinal range
23.5° S) harbour more species or polar
than temperate
areas.
Colombia located near the equator has nearly 1,400 species of birds
and Greenland at 71° N
while New York at 41°N has 105 species
the tropical
only 56 species. India, with much of its land a r e a in
has more than 1,200 species of birds. A forest in tropical
a
latitudes,
spectes of vascular
10times as many
reglon lIke Equador has up to
plants as a forest of equal temperate reglon llke the Midwest
area in a
Amazonian rain forest in South
of the USA. The largely tropical
it is home to more
Amerlca greatest blodiverslty on earth-
has the
of plants, 3,000 of fishes, 1,300
of birds, 427
than 40,000 species
378 of reptilles and of m o r e than
of mammals, 427 of amphiblans, forests raln
Sclentists estimate that in these
1,25,000 invertebrates.
at least spectes waiting to be
two milMon insect
there might be
discovered and named.
What is so
that might account for
thetr greater
spectal about troplcs and evolutionary blologists have
261
biological diversity? Ecologlsts are (a) Speciatlon
some important ones
hypotheses;
proposed varlous unlike temperate regions
subjected
functlon of time,
a remalned
is generally latitudes have
in the past, tropical
to frequent glacíations and thus, had a long
undisturbed for millions of years
relatively
 BIOLOGY
environments,
dtversification, [b} Tropical constant
more
time for species relatively
evolutionary less
seasonal,
niche
ones, are promote
unlike temperate
environments
predictable.
Such
constant
díversity
and (c) There
and greater species to
and lead to
a contributes
which
in the troplcs,
spectalisation
available
i n d i r e c t y to greater
1s more solar energy contribute
thls in turm might
productivity;
higher
and extensive
ploneering
diverslty relationships: During his the great
Americanjungles,
Spectes-Area
(4) of South
the wilderness Humboldt
exploratlons in Alexander
von
naturalist and geographer reglon specles
German within a
observed that
increased
with increasing
rlchness
limit. In
explored area, but only up to a
richness
between species
fact, the relatlon
for a variety of taxa
wide
and area
S CA birds, bats,
(angiosperm plants,
be
turns out to
a
C + Z log A fishes)
Log S log
freshwater
(Figure 15.2). On
rectangular hyperbola
the relationship is
a
a logarithmic scale,
log-log
scale described by the equation
straight line
log S= log C+Zlog A
where
AArea
S Species richness
Z=slope of the line (regression
Area coefficient)
C-Y-intercept
have discovered that the
Ecologists
to 0.2.
areatherelationsnlp. value of Z lies in the range of 0.1
Figure 15.2 Showing speclesscale relationship
Note that log or the
on
regardless of the taxonomic group
becomes linear
Britain,
region (whether it is the plants in
in New York state, the slopes of the regression
birds in Californla or molluscs
line are amazingly similar). But,
if you analyse the species-area
the entire continents, you will
relationships among very large areas like
find that the slope of the line to be much steeper (2 values in the range
birds and
of 0.6 to 1.2). For example, for frugivorous (fruit-eating
mammals in the tropical forests of diferent continents, the slope is found
to be 1.15. What do steeper slopes mean in this context?
262 15.1.3 The importance of Species Diversity to the Ecosystem
Does the number of species in a community really matter to the functioning
of the ecosystem?This is a question for which ecologists have not been
able to give a definitive answer. For many decades, ecologists believed
that communities with more species, generally, tend to be more stable
than those with less species. What exactly is stablity for a biologlcal
 oVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
unity? A stable communlty should not show too much variatlon
roductivity irom year to year; It must be etther resistant or resllent to
pro
asional disturbances (natural or man-made), and it must als0 be
cas
sistant to invasions by allen specles. We don't know how these attributes
inked to species richness In a community, but David Tilman's
ong-term ecosystem experlments using outdoor plots provide some
wntative answers. Tilman found that plots wlth more spectes showed
variation in total blomass. He also showed that in his
ss year-t0-year
periments, increased diverslty contributed to higher productivity.
Although, we may not understand completely how species rlchness
know enough to realise
ontributes to the well-being of ecosystem, for ecosystem health but
an we
is not only essentlal
that rich biodiversity on this planet.
At a
survival of the human race
imperative 1or the very pace, one mignt
ask-
we are at an
losing species alarming
ime when Would Western
become extinct?
matter to us ifa few species
Does it realy is lost
one of its tree frog species
be less functional if we
Ghats ec0systems instead of 20,000
o u r quality of
life affected if, say,
forever? How is
ants on earth?
15,000 species of develop
have only to such naíve questions
but we can
answers
areno direct hypothesis)
There 'rivet popper
through an analogy (the all
perspective (ecosystem)
a proper Ehrlich. n a n airplane
ecologist Paul of rivets (species).
f every
used by Stanford thousands
together using
a
home (causing
are joined rivet to take
parts starts poppinga
travelling in it (proper functioning
passenger affect ight safety the
ft may not a r e removed,
b e c o m e extinct). rivets
species to and more
more
but as Furthermore.
initíally, time.
of the ecosystem)
weak over a period of
dangerously rivets on the wings
becomes critical. Loss of
plane removed may
also be
is obviously
a more
which rivet
is functions)
or
ecosystem the s e a t s
t h a t drive major rivets on
a few
(key species than loss of
threat to flight safety
serious
inside the plane.
windows
Biodiversity
of speciaton)
15.1.4
Loss added (through
are being
new specles thelr continuing
doubtful if any doubt about
there is no
While it is rapidly
treasury
of specles, has been declining
planet The
into the earth's wealth of our
human
activities.
to
The blological pointing
to have
led to
losses. is clearly is sald
and the
accusing
inger
Paciflic
Islands by
humans
birds. The
lUCN Red 263
of troplcal of n a t i v e 338
colonisation
2,O00
species (including
than specles
of
more
of 784 years.
Some
last 500
extunctlon
extinction
the the the
documents
plants)
In quagga
and 87 (Mauritius).
List (2004) I n v e r t e b r a t e s
the d o d o
359 Include and three
(Russla)
Cow
v e r t e b r a t e s ,
e x t i n c t i o n s
recent
Sea alone
Steller's
years
of twenty
examples (Australla). The last records
of tiger. of
thylacine analysis
Casplan) Careful
(Africa), Javan, specles.
(Bali, of27
subspecies d i s a p p e a r a n c e
w i t n e s s e d

the
have
 BIOLOGY
shows that extinetions across taxa are not random; Some groups like
amphiblans appear to be more vulnerable to extinctlon. Adding to the
grim scenarlo of extinctions is the fact that more than 15.500 species
world-wide are facing the threat of extinction. Presently. 12 per cent of
all bird specles, 23 per cent of all mammal spectes, 32 per cent of all
amphibian species and 31per cent of all gymnosperm species in the world
face the threat of extincion.
From a study of the history of life on earth through fossd records, we
leam that large-scale loss of species like the one we are currently
witnessing have also happened earller, even before humans appeared on
the scene. During the long period D3 billion years) since the origin and
diversifßcation of life on earth there were fve episodes of mass extincton
of species. How is the 'Sixth Extinction' presently in progress different
from the previous episodes? The difference is in the rates; the curent
species extinction rates are estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times faster
responsible for the
tnan in the pre-human times and our activities
are
faster rates. Ecologists warn that if he
present trends continue.
nearly half of all the species on earth might be wiped out within the next
100 years.
In general, loss of biodiversity in a region may lead to fa) decline in
plant production, (b} lowered resistance to environmental perturbations
such as drought and (c) increased variability in certain ecosystem processes
such as plant productivity, water use, and pest and disease cycles.
Causes of biodiversity losses: The accelerated rates of species
extinctions that the world is facing now are largely due to human
activites. There are four major causes ( The Evil 9uartet " is the sobriquet
used to describe themn).
( Habitat loss and fragmentation: This is the most important
cause driving animals and plants to extinction. The most dramatic
examples of habitat loss come from tropBcal rain forests. Once
covering more than 14 per cent of the earth's land surface. these
rain forests now cover no more than 6 per cent. They are being
destroyed fast. By the Ume you finish reading this chapter 1000
more hectares of rain forest would have been lost. The Amazon
rain forest (It Is so huge that it is called the "lungs of the planet)
harbouring probably mllons of specles is belng cut and cleared
for cultivating soya beans or for converslon to grasslands for raising
beef caltle. Besldes total loss, the degradation of many habitats by
pollution also threatens the survival of many spectes. When large
264
habltats are broken up into small fragments due to varlous human
activities, mammals and birds requiring large territories and certain
anlmals wlth migratory hablts are badly affected, leading to
populaton declines.
(U) Overexploitation: Humans have always depended on nature for
food and shelter, but when 'need' turns to 'greed', It leads to
 ERSITY AND CONSERVATION
over-exploitation of natural resources. Many species extinctions
in the last 500 years (Steller's sea cow,
pigeon)
passenger
to overexploitation by humans. Presently many marine fish
were due
e
populations around the world are over harvested, endangering the
continued existence of some commercially important species.
Alien species invasions: When alien species are introduced
unintentionally or deliberately for whatever purpose, some of them
turn invasive, and cause decline or extinction of indigenous species.
The Nile perch introduced into Lake Victoria in east Afrlca led
eventualy to the extinction of an ecologically unique assemblage of
more than 200 species of cichlid fish in the lake. You must be
familiar with the environmental damage caused and threat posed
to our native species invasive weed species like carrot grass
(Parthenium), Lantana and water hyacinth (Eicchornia). The recent
for
illegal introduction of the African catfish Clarias garlepinus
catishes
aquaculture purposes is posinga threat to the indigenous
in our rivers.
Co-extinctions: When a species becomes extinct,
the plant and
(iv) become
animal species associated with it in an obligatory way also
becomes extinct, its unique
extinct. When a host fish species
also meets the same fate.
Aother example
assemblage of parasites mutualism where
of a coevolved plant-pollinator
is the case
other.
to the extinction of the
extinction of one invariably leads
1 5 . 2 BIoDIVERSITY CoNSERVATION
Conserve Biodiversity?
Should We
15.2.1 Why obvious, but all
and others not
so
obvious
reasons, some
There are many into three categories: narrowly
They can be grouped
important.
equally and ethical.
utilitarian, are
utilitarian, broadly for conserving biodiversity
utilltarian arguments
The narrowly economic benefits
from nature
countless direct
obvious; humans derive construction
materlal,
fibre,
fruits), firewood,
food (cereals, pulses, perfumes) and
dyes, resins,
lubricants,
products (tannins, of the drugs
industrial
More than 25 per cent
medicinal importance. and 25,000
products of worldwide are
derived from plants
native
in the market m e d i c i n e s used by
currently sold traditional
c o n t r i b u t e to the
m o r e medicinally
species of plants knows how many
265
the world. Nobody
around f o r e s t s waiting
to be explored.
peoples are in tropical
rain
molecular,
there lexploring
useful plants 'bioprospecting
resources put into
of economic
importance),
With increasing for products
diversity to reap
enormous
species-level can expect
genetic and biodiversity
endowed
with rich
nations a
that biodiversity
plays
says
benefits. utilitarian
argument
nature provides.
The fast-
The broadly services
that
ecosystem
in many
major role
 BIOLOGY
estimated to produce, through
forest Is
dwindllng
Amazon
in the earth's atmosphere.
cent of the total oxygern
photosynthesis, 20 per nature? You can get
value on this service by
economic
Can we put an hospital spends
much your nelghborhood
out how
some idea by inding which plants cannot give
Pollination (without
on a cylnder of oxygen. provide through
service, ecosystems
seeds) is another be the
us fruits or
and bats. What wl
birds
bumblebees,
pollinators layer bees, wltkhout help jrom natural
costs of accomplishing
pollination
benefits t h a t we derive from
are other intangible
pollinators? There through thick woods, watching
nature-the aesthetic pleasures of walking
bulbul's song in the
up to a waking
spring lowers in full bloom or
price tag on such things?
morning. Can we put a
relates to what we
biodiversity
The ethical argument for conserving
whom we share
microbe species with
Owe to millions of plant, animal and we need to realise that every
this planet. Philosophically or spíritually,
of current or any
species has value, even if it may not be
an intrinsic
economic value to us. We have a moral duty to care for their well-being
biological legacy in good order
to future generations.
and pass on our
15.2.2 How do we conserve Biodiversity?
When we conserve and protect the whole ecosystem,
its biodiversity at all
levels is protected- we save the entire forest to save the tiger. This approach
is called in situ (on site) conservation. However, when there are situations
where an animal or plant is endangered or threatened (organisms facing
a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future) and needs
it from extinction, ex situ (off site) conservation
urgent measures to save
is the desirable approach.
In situ conservation- Faced with the confict between developmment and
conservation, many nations fnd it unrealistic and economically not feasible
to conserve all their biological wealth. Invariably, the number of specles
waiting to be saved from extinction lar exceeds the conservation resources
avallable. On a global basis, this problem has been addressed by eminent
conservationists. They ldentified for maximum protection certain
"blodiversily hotspots' reglons with very high levels of species richness
and high degree of endemism (that is. species confined to that region
and not found anywhere else). Initfaly 25 biodiversity hotspots were
identifled but subsequenuly nine more have been added to the list.
bringing the total number of blodlversity hotspots in the world to 34.
266 These hotspots are also reglons of accelerated habitat loss. Three of
these hotspots - Western Ghals and Srt Lanka, Indo-Burma and
Himalaya- cover our country's exceptionally high biodiversity
regions.
Although all the blodiversity hotspots put together cover less than
2 per cent of the earth's land area, the number of species they collectively
 RSITY AND CONSERVATION
polVERSITY

could
hour is extremely high and strict protection of these hotspots
mass extinctions by almost 30 per
cent.
ce the ongoing
and blodiversity-rich reglons are legally
d u c

. nIndia, ecologically unlque and sanctuarles. Indla

as biosphere reserves, national parks
ettected 90 national parks and
448 wildlife
14 biosphere reserves,
shas traditions
history of
India has religious and cultural
also a
anctuaries. tracts of forest
nature. In many cultures,
protection of
at emphasised all the trees and
and wildlife within were venerated
and
ere set asíde, Such sacred groves are found in Khasi
and Jaintia

total protection. Western Ghat regions of

en
in Meghalaya,
Aravalli Hills ofRajasthan,Chanda and Bastar areas
lls and the Sarguja,
the last refuges
Maharashtra
and
Karnataka the sacred groves
are

Pradesh. In Meghalaya,
fMadhya and threatened plants.
number of rare
animals and plants
or a large threatened
In this approach, setting
placed in special parks,
Conservation-

situ and
x from their
natural habitat
Zoological
taken out
care.

are and given special There a r e

protected
s e r v e this
purpose.
c a n be
where they and wildlife
salari parks
wild but
c o n t i n u e to
be
the
botanical gardens extinct in
become
has conservation

animals
that have ex situ
recent years
many parks. In
Nowgametes
enclosures.
zoological
maintained ín threatened species in condition for
fertile
keeping viable and in
beyond in fertilised
be preserved be
advanced
can
species
can
techniques,
eggs Seeds
threatened methods.
of c r y o p r e s e r v a t i o n

culture
tissue
using using be kept
long periods
can
be p r o p a g a t e d important
plants
can
and plants of
commercially

Ditro, strains
is
genetic c o n s e r v a t i o n

and its
ofdlififerent in seed
banks.
b o u n d a r i e s

Convention
periods historic
for long knows
no political nations.
The in
Janeiro
Biodiversity
responsibility ofall held In Rio
de
for
collective Summit) m e a s u r e s

a Earth
therefore
(The appropriate
In
Diversity
to take
benefits.

on
Blological
all
nations
utilisation
ofits 2002
upon held in
s u s t a i n a b l e

called
1992, and Development

biodíversity c o m m i t m e n t

of
S u s t a i n a b l e

c o n s e r v a t i o n
on their
World
Summit
pledged
the
countries
bíodiverslty

a
follow-up,
South
Africa,
190
in the
current
rate
of
reduction
J o h a n n e s b u r g ,

in significant
2010, a
achieve by and
local levels
to reglonal

loss at global,
SUMMARY
had
there

years ago. reters

billion
3.8 B i o d i v e r s i y

nearly earth. blological

earth on
on lonms
levels
of
life
orlginated or
e exists
at all
genetic,
speces
Since d v e r s i n c a d o n

that at
diversity p r o t e c t i n g

at
e n o r m o u s

tne
d i v e r s i t y

of Is aimed
been
total are
importance e i o r t S

sum

the conservauon but

to particular
Oi world,
and
in t h e
to be
o r g a n i s a t i o n .

levels r e c o r d e d

ecosystem levels. been walting

have earth
and these on
all spectes
at milllon
m i l m o n
species

aiversity
1.5 b
than
More nearly
be
stil
might
there