Biodiversity and Conservation

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CHAPTER 15
BIODIVERSITY ANDCONSERVATION
1 Biodiversity
2 Biodiversity Conservation
Edward Wilson “ Biodiversity is the combined diversity at all the levels of biological organization.”
Types of Biodiversity
(i) Genetic diversity : Diversity of Genes in a species

- A single species might show high diversity at the genetic level over its distributional range.
- India has more than 50,000 genetically different strains of rice, and 1,000 varieties of
mango.
(ii) Species diversity: The diversity at the species level.
- The Western Ghats have a greater amphibian species diversity than the Eastern Ghats.
(iii) Ecological diversity: Diversity at the ecosystem level,

- India, for instance, with its deserts, rain forests, mangroves, coral reefs, wetlands, estuaries, and
alpine meadows have greater ecosystem diversity than a Scandinavian country like Norway.
Species on Earth and in India
- According to the IUCN (2004), the total number of plant and animal species described so far is
slightly more than 1.5 million. Robert May places the global species
diversity at about 7 million.
- More than 70 per cent of all the species recorded are animals,
while plants (including algae,
Fungi, bryophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms) comprise
no more than 22 per cent of the total. Among animals, insects are the
most species-rich taxonomic group, making up more than 70 per cent
of the total.
- Although India has only 2.4 per cent of the world’s land area,
its share of the global species diversity is an impressive 8.1 per cent.
- India is one of the 12 mega diversity countries of the world.
Nearly 45,000 species of plants and twice as many of animals have been recorded from India.
2 Patterns of Biodiversity
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(i) Latitudinal gradients: The diversity of plants and animals is not uniform throughout the world but
shows a rather uneven distribution.
- Tropics (latitudinal range of 23.5° N to 23.5° S) harbor more species than temperate or polar
areas.
Ecologists and evolutionary biologists have proposed various hypotheses;

(a) Speciation -A function of time, unlike temperate regions subjected to frequent glaciations in the
past, tropical latitudes have remained relatively undisturbed for millions of years and thus, had a long
evolutionary time for species diversification,
(b) Tropical environments, unlike temperate ones, are less seasonal, relatively more constant
and predictable. Such constant environments promote niche specialization and lead to a
greater species diversity and
(c) There is more solar energy available in the tropics, which contributes to higher
productivity; this in turn might contribute indirectly to greater diversity.
(iii) Species-Area relationships:

German naturalist and geographer Alexander von Humboldt observed that within a region species
richness increased with increasing explored area, but only up to a limit.
On a logarithmic scale, the relationship is a straight line described by the equation

log S = log C + Z log A
where S= Species richness A= Area
Z = slope of the line (regression coefficient)
C = Y-intercept
Ecologists have discovered that the value of Z lies in the range of

0.1 to 0.2, regardless of the taxonomic group or the region
But the species-area relationships among very large areas like the
entire continents, you will find that the slope of the line to be
much steeper (Z values in the range of 0.6 to 1.2).
3 The importance of Species Diversity to the Ecosystem

- Communities with more species are more stable then with less species.
- Source of food and improved varieties.

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- Ecosystem services.
- Aesthetic and cultural benefits.
4 Loss of Biodiversity
-The IUCN Red List (2004) documents the extinction of 784 species (including 338
vertebrates, 359 invertebrates and 87 plants) in the last 500 years.
- The current species extinction rates are estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times faster than in the
pre-human times.
- Examples of recent extinctions include the Dodo (Mauritius), Quagga (Africa), Thylacine
(Australia), Steller’s Sea Cow (Russia) and three sub species (Bali, Javan, Caspian) of tiger
Effect of loss of biodiversity in a region may lead to
(a) 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
activities. There are four major causes (‘The Evil Quartet’ is the sobriquet used to describe them).
i) Habitat loss and fragmentation

(ii) Over-exploitation:
(iii) Alien species invasions:
(iv) Co-extinctions:
II BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
1 Why Should We Conserve Biodiversity?
Reasons

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1 Narrowly utilitarian argument for conserving biodiversity are obvious; humans derive countless direct
economic benefits from nature food, firewood, fiber, construction material, industrial products and
products of medicinal importance
2 Broadly utilitarian arguments say that biodiversity plays a major role in many ecosystem services that
nature provides.
3 Ethical arguments for conserving biodiversity relates to what we owe to millions of plant, animal and
microbe species with whom we share this planet
How do we conserve Biodiversity?

1 In situ conservation-
Conservation in natural environment like by protected areas, Biosphere reserve, Sacred Forest and
reserve.
2 Ex situ Conservation– By creating natural habitat I a specified area or inside laboratory condition. By
setting up botanical garden, zoos pollen and seed banks, tissue culture, gene banks etc
Questions
1. Name the three important components of biodiversity.

1
2. How do ecologists estimate the total number of species present in the world? 1
3. Give three hypotheses for explaining why tropics show greatest levels of species richness. 2
4. What is the significance of the slope of regression in a species – area relationship? 2
5. What are the major causes of species losses in a geographical region? 3
6. How is biodiversity important for ecosystem functioning? 3
7. What are sacred groves? What is their role in conservation? 3
8. Among the ecosystem services are control of floods and soil erosion. How is this
achieved by the biotic components of the ecosystem? 3
9. The species diversity of plants (22 per cent) is much less than that of animals (72 per
cent). What could be the explanations to how animals achieved greater diversification?
5
10. Can you think of a situation where we deliberately want to make a species extinct? How
would you justify it? 5
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(i) Genetic diversity : Diversity of Genes in a species

(ii) Species diversity: The diversity at the species level.

(iii) Ecological diversity: Diversity at the ecosystem level,

Species on Earth and in India

Ecologists and evolutionary biologists have proposed various hypotheses;

(iii) Species-Area relationships:

On a logarithmic scale, the relationship is a straight line described by the equation

Ecologists have discovered that the value of Z lies in the range of

3 The importance of Species Diversity to the Ecosystem

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Effect of loss of biodiversity in a region may lead to

(a) Decline in plant production,

Causes of biodiversity losses:

i) Habitat loss and fragmentation

1 Why Should We Conserve Biodiversity?

HUMAN REPRODUCTION Page 3

How do we conserve Biodiversity?

1. Name the three important components of biodiversity.

HUMAN REPRODUCTION Page 5

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