Biodiversity
The accurrence of different types of genes, gene pools,
species, habitats, and ecosystem in a particular place
and various parts of earth is called biodiversity.
The term biodiversity was given by Edward Wilson.
Types of diversity
Genetic Diversity
Is the measure of variety in genetic
information contained in the organism?
It enables a population to adapt to its
environment.
For example, medicinal plant Rauwolfia
vomitoria growing in Himalayan ranges
shows variation in potency and
concentration of the active chemical
reserpine that it produces.
There are more than 50,000 genetically
itifferent strains of rice and 1.000 varieties
of matugees in Indian.
Species diversity
It is a measure of the variety of species and
their relative abundance present within a
region.
For example, the Western Ghats have a
greater amphibian species diversity than the
Eastern Ghats.
Ecological diversity
It is a measure of the diversity at community
and ecosystem levels. They represent the
local, unite habitat and regional components
of species diversity.
For example, ecological diversity is greater
in India for to presence of large number of
ecosystem like deserts, rainforests, coral
reefs, wetlands, estuaries and alpine
meadow.
Global species diversity
According to the International Union for
Conservation of Nature and natural
resources or IUCN (2004), the total number
of plant and animal species is over 1.5
million.
A more conservative and scientifically sound
estimate made by Robert May, places the
global species diversity at about 7 million.
More than 70 per cent of all the species are
animals, while plants account for about 22
per cent of the total.
Amongst animals, insects comprise more
than 70 per cent that means, out if every 10
animals on the face of the planet, 7 are
insects.
India has only 2.4 per cent of world's land
area and 8.1 per cent global species
diversity. There are nearly 45000 plants and
twice as many animals.
Pattern of biodiversity
Biodiversity is not uniform throughout the world
because it is affected by two factors - latitudinal
gradients and species area relationship.
1) Latitudnal gradients
Biodiversity increases from poles to equators
i.e. from high to low latitude.
Tropics (23.5°N to 23.5°S) have more species
than temperate or polar regions. For
example, Columbia located near the equator
has 1400 species of birds while New York
(41°N) has 105 species and Greenland (71°N)
has only 56 species.
Tropical rainforest of Amazon in South
America possess the greatest biodiversity on
the earth with more thank 40,000 species of
plants, 3,000 of fishes 1,300 birds, 427 of
mammals.427 of amphibians, 378 of reptiles
and more than 1,25,000 invertebrates.
2) Species –area relationship
German naturalist and geographer Alexander
Von Humboldt observed that within an region,
species richness increased with increasing
explored area but up to a limit.
The relationship between species richness and
area for a wide variety of taxa appears as a
rectangular hyperbola.
On a logarithmic scale, the relationship is a
straight line described by the following
equation:
log S = log C +Z log A
Where, S = species richness
A = Area
Z = Slope of the line (regression coefficient)
C = Y- intercept
The value of Z lies in the range of 0.1-0.2
regardless of taxonomic group or the region.
Importance of species diversity to
the Ecosystem.
Ecologists believe that communities with more
species tend to be more stable than those with
less species. This was confirmed by David
Titman.
Characteristics of stable community:
i. Productivity should not too much form
year to year.
ii.It should be resistant to occasional
natural and artificial disturbance.
iii. It should be resistant to invasions by
alien species.
Importance of biodiversity for survival of
species can be explained by the 'rivet popper
hypothesis' proposed by Paul Ehrlich.
This hypothesis assumes the ecosystem to be
an airplane and the species to be the rivets
joining all parts together.
If every passenger pops a rivet to take home
(resulting in species extinction), it may not
affect the flight safety initially (proper
ecosystem functioning)
Loss of biodiversity
It is caused by overpopulation, urbanization,
industrialization.
The colonization of tropical Pacific Islands by
humans led to the extinction of more than
2,000 species of native birds.
15,500 species are facing the threat of
extinction worldwide.
At present, 31 per cent of gymnosperms, 32
per cent amphibians, 12 percent of bird
species and 23 percent of mammals face the
threat of extinction.
Some recently extinct species are dodo
(Mauritius), quagga (Africa), thylacine
(Australia), Stellar's sea cow (Russia) and
three tiger species (Bali, Jawan, Caspian).
Loss of biodiversity in a region may
lead to
Decrease in plant production.
Less resistance to environment disturbances
such as drought.
Increased variability in ecosystem processes
like plants productivity, water use pest and
disease cycles.
Causes of biodiversity losses.
There are four major causes of biodiversity loss.
These are also known as 'The Evil Quartel'.
i) Habitat loss and fragmentation
Destruction of habitat is the primary cause
of extinction of species.
The tropical rainforest initially covered 14
per cent of the land surface of earth, but
now cover only 6 percent of land area.
ii) Over-exploitation
When biological system is over exploited by man
for the natural resources, it results in
degradation and extinction of resources.
For example, passenger pigeon and many
marine fishes.
iii) Exotic species invasions
Some alien species when introduced
unintentionally or deliberately became
invasive and cause harmful impact, resulting
in extinction of indigenous species.
Nile perch, a large predator fish when
introduced in Lake Victoria, caused the
extinction of an ecologically unique species
of Cichlid fish in the lake.
IV) Co-extinction
When a species become extinct, the plant
and animal species associated with it in an
obligatory manner, also become extinct.
For example, if the host fish species becomes
extinct, all those parasites exclusively
dependent on it, will also become extinct; in
plant-pollinator mutualism also, extinction of
one results in the extinction of the other.
Biodiversity Conservation
Biodiversity conservation is the protection,
upliftment and management of biodiversity to
derive sustainable benefits for present and
future generations.
Biodiversity can be conserved by the following
two methods:
In situ conservation - It involves the
protection and conservation of a variety of
animals and plant species in its natural
habitat. It includes biosphere reserves, hot
spots, national parks and sanctuaries, wild
forests etc.
Ex-situ conservation - It involves the
protection and conservation of rare species
of animals and plants outside their natural
habitats. These include zoos, aquariums,
botanical gardens, gene banks, etc.
Reasons for Biodiversity
Conservation
Biodiversity should be conserved for the
following reasons:
1. Humans derive a number of economic benefits
from nature, such as firewood, food,
construction material, fibre, and medicines.
2. The Amazon forests provide 20% of the total
atmospheric oxygen on Earth.
3. These are our biological legacies and should
be passed on to future generations.
4. Birds, bees and birds are some of the
pollinating agents in the ecosystem.
Conclusion...
The Earth summit was held in Rio de Janeiro in
1992, which call led upon all nations to take
appropriate measures for conservation if
biodiversity and sustainable development.
The World Summit on Sustainable development
was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002
in which 190 countries pledged to reduce the
current rate of diversity loss at global, regional
and local level by 2010.
