biodiversity and conservation

BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION

vishnu mohan | etalebc020 | architecture | gect

biodiversity

• India as a mega diversity nation

• Hot spots of Biodiversity

• Threats to Biodiversity

• Endangered and Endemic species of India

• Conservation of Biodiversity

contents

• India is known for its rich heritage of biodiversity.

• India is one of the 17 mega-diverse countries in the world.

• With only 2.4 % of the world’s area, India accounts for 7–8 % of the world’s recorded plant and animal species.

• India’s 10 biogeographic zones possess an exemplary diversity of ecological habitats like alpine forests, grasslands, wetlands, coastal and marine ecosystems, and desert ecosystems.

• Amongst the existing biota, 91,307 species of animals species have been documented in its 10 bio-geographic regions.

• India has 4 out of 35 global biodiversity hotspots, which is an indicator of high degree of endemism (of species) in India.

India as a mega diversity nation

India’s 10 biogeographic zones

About 5,150 plant species and 1,837 animal species are endemic to India.

India’s biodiversity includes wild relatives of agricultural crops and domesticated animals. India has 16 major types and 251 subtypes of forests.

Indigenous medicine systems utilize nearly 6,500 native plants for both human and animal healthcare.

India’s diverse preponderance of native tribal and ethnic groups has contributed significantly in the conservation and diversification of biodiversity. Its cultural and ethnic diversity includes over 550 tribal communities of 227 ethnic groups spread over 5,000 forested villages. India proudly upholds the tradition of nature conservation.


In 252 B.C., the Emperor Asoka established protected areas (PAs) for mammals, birds, fish and forests through a proclamation. Jim Corbett National Park covering an area of 325 sq km came into being as the India’s first and world’s third National Park in 1936.

India has currently 4.79 % of total geographic area under an elaborate network of PAs, which includes 99 National Parks, 513 wildlife sanctuaries, 43 conservation reserves, 4 community reserves and 3 biodiversity heritage sites.

India has a National Wildlife Action Plan, which envisages 10 % of the geographical area of the country under PA coverage.


BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS:

Endemism – when a particular species is restricted to particular region then it is endemic

If the endemic species contribute more than 0.5% of the species , then the place is considered as a biodiversity hotspot

A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans.

To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot, a region must meet two strict criteria:• it must contain at least 0.5% or 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics, and• it has to have lost at least 70% of its primary vegetation.

Around the world, at least 35 areas qualify under this definition.

These sites support nearly 60% of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species, with a very high share of endemic species.

Hot spots of Biodiversity

Four regions that satisfy these criteria exist in India and they are :

The Western Ghats and Sri LankaThe Western Ghats are a chain of hills that run along the western edge of peninsular India.

Hot spots of Biodiversity

The Eastern HimalayasThe Eastern Himalayas is the region encompassing Bhutan, northeastern India, and southern, central, and eastern Nepal. Indo-BurmaThe Indo-Burma region encompasses several countries. It is spread out from Eastern Bangladesh to Malaysia and includes North-Eastern India south of Brahmaputra river, Myanmar, the southern part of China's Yunnan province, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand .

SundalandSundaland is a region in South-East Asia that covers the western part of the Indo-Malayan archipelago. India is represented by the Nicobar Islands.

• The hot spots occupy 2% of the land area of earth• They contain 50% of the biodiversity.• 40% of plants 25% of vertebrates are endemic to hot

spots

threats to biodiversity

-Habitat destruction - Important to protect habitat in order to protect biodiversity within it. Huge pressure from the World’s rapidly increasing population.

- Global climate change - Change in a biotic elements of ecosystems leading to biotic change.

- Habitat fragmentation - From human activity. Reduces ability of habitat to support species.

- Pollution - Introduction of pollutants such as nutrient overloading with nitrate fertilizer as well as more immediately harmful chemicals.

- Over-exploitation - This includes the illegal wildlife trade as well as overfishing, logging of tropical hardwoods etc.

- Alien species - Introduced by humans to regions where there are no natural predators.

- Disease - Reduction in habitat causing high population densities, encourages spread of diseases.

1. Habitat loss

Habitat loss can be described when an animal loses their home. Every animal in the animal kingdom has a niche, a their in their animal community and without their habitat they no longer have a niche.

Reasons of habitat loss by humans:~ agriculture, farming~ harvesting natural resources for personal use~ for industrial and urbanization development

Habitat destruction is currently ranked as the primary causes of species extinction world wide…!!!

1. Habitat loss

Habitat loss

Example : The impact upon china’s panda, ones found across the nation. Now it’s only found in fragmented and isolated regions in the south west of the country as a result of wide spread deforestation in the 20th century.

There are natural causes too..Habitat destruction through natural processes such as volcanism, fire and climate change is well documented in the fossil record. One study shows that fragmentation of tropical rainforest in euro 3000 million years ago lead to a great loss of amphibian diversity.

Habitat loss

Solutions for this..

~ Protecting remaining intact section of natural habitat.

~ Reduce human population and expansion of urbanisation and industries.

~ Educating the public about the importance of natural habitat and bio diversity.

~Solutions to habitat loss can include planting trees, planting home gardens so as to reduce need for man to need large lands for agricultural farms which lead to habitat loss.

2. Poaching

Poaching:-

Poaching is the hunting and harvesting taking of wild plants or animals, such as through hunting, harvesting, fishing, or trapping.

History of poaching

~ Millions of years ago, in the Stone Age

~Followed through the ages, to even the tribal natives

~but it was during the Late Middle Ages that poaching became a punishable offense

Poaching

Why Poaching is done???

~ Poaching is done for large profits gained by the illegal sale or trade of animal parts, meat and pelts.

~ Exists because there is a demand for these products, caused by a lack of education or disregard for the law amongst the buyers

~ Many cultures believe that certain animal parts have medicinal value.

Poaching

Poaching is not limited to animals its also for plants too…………!

Three of the most often poached species in the park are galax, black cohosh, and ginseng.

GALAX BLACK COHOSH GINSENG

How does poaching affect the environment?

~Poaching or illegal hunting causes animals endangered of being extinct.

If more animals becomes extinct there's a disruption in the food chain, and that will cause major problems in our ecosystem, resulting eventually in new adaptations of animals, and or species beyond human control.

~Poaching results in animals being hunted too soon for them to have time to reproduce and repopulate.

3. Man – Wildlife Conflicts

Man – WildlifeConflicts

Any conflict that arises where the behavior of one (human or wildlife) is unacceptably disadvantageous to other

Increase in man wildlife conflict is due to resource limitation like :

1. Space 2. Food 3. Shelter

It is also due to Increasing population of human beings , Loss of forest, decrease in quality of forest and development activities.

Crops like sugarcane and tea estates are reported to provide excellent

cover for wild animals

There are 661 Protected Areas in the country covering around 4.8% geographical areas. There are 100 National Parks, 514 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 43 Conservation Reserves and 4 Community Reserves in the country

A ‘Conflict’ of Words

• One-sided Reporting Can Harm Wildlife

• The headlines are invariably provocative – menace, threat, fear, attack and death!

• In 99.9 per cent of these cases (with the exception of deliberate stalking and predation on humans by big cats), it’s never an aggressive attack by the animal.

• The animal gets cornered, surrounded by people (big cats) or faces an abrupt encounter at short range because of its poor senses (elephants, bear) and then attacks out of fear.

• Reporters and sub editors should avoid biased or sensationalized reports

In India, wild elephants probably kill far more people than tiger, leopard or lion.

Damage to agricultural crops and property, killing of livestock and human beings are some of the worst forms of man-animal conflict.

Farmers sometimes poison and shoot wild animals as they damage their crops, but this can be prevented by taking certain measures.

Governments are working on improvement of habitat to augment food and water availability and to reduce movement of animals from the forests to the habitations.

Training forest staff and police to tackle these situations and creating awareness among the people about the Do’s and Don’ts to minimize conflicts .

Construction of boundary walls and solar fences around the sensitive areas to prevent the wild animal attacks.

Some devices of Information Technology, viz., radio collars with Very High Frequency, Global Positioning System and Satellite uplink facilities can be used to track the movements of wild animals .

Ways to reduce the conflicts

endangered and endemic species of india

endangered species of india

An Endangered (EN) species is a species which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as likely to become extinct.

Endangered Species of India

Lion


Tiger


Cheetah


Red Fox


Red Panda


Loris


Python


Pea Cock


Nilagiri Langur


Lion tailed

Macaque


Indian Hornbill


Pelican


Golden Monkey


Desert Cat


Golden Lion

Tamarin


Cycas revoluta


OrchidsEndangered Species of India

Rauwolfia serpentina


Nepenthes


HyenaEndangered Species of India

Green Turtle


Gooty tarantula


Great Indian

Bustard


Threatened endangered species In India

endemic species of india

Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere.

Asiatic cheetah

Endemic Species of India

Asiatic Lion


Asiatic Wild Ass


Bengal FoxEndemic Species of India

Indian Rhinoceros


Indian Elephant


GaurEndemic Species of India

MarkhorEndemic Species of India

CONSERVATION OF

BIODIVERSITY

• Various treaties have helped conserve biota.

• A major one is CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, prepared in 1973.

• It bans international trade and transport of body parts of endangered organisms.

Conservation approaches: International treaties

CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY: INSITU AND EX-SITU

In-situ conservation:Conservation of a species is best done by protecting its habitat along with all the other speciesthat live in it in nature.Conservation of species in their natural habitat is known as In-situ conservation.E.g. natural parks, nature reserves

Ex-situ conservation:There are situations in which an endangered species is so close to extinction that unless alternate methods are instituted, the species may be rapidly driven to extinction. Conserving species in isolation of their natural habitat is known as Ex-situ conservation.E.g. zoos, botanical gardens, seed banks

Conservation of biodiversity

Biodiversity Conservation

In situ

Sacred groves

and lakes

Biosphere

ReservesTerrestr

ial

Marine

National parks, wildlife

sanctuaries

Ex situ

Sacred plant home garden

Seed Bank, Gene bank, Cryopreservation

Botanical garden, Zoological garden, Aquaria

IN-SITU CONSERVATION

Advantages • The species will have all the resources that it is adapted too• The species will continue to evolve in their environment• The species have more space• Bigger breeding populations can be kept• It is cheaper to keep an organism in its natural habitat

Disadvantages• It is difficult to control illegal exploitation (e.g. poaching)• The environment may need restoring and alien species are difficult to control


EX-SITU CONSERVATION

• Captive breeding of endangered species is a last resort

• These species have already reached the point where their populations would not recover in the wild

• It works well for species that are easily bred in captivity but more specialised animals are difficult to keep (aye aye)

• Isolated in captivity they do not evolve with their environment


1 . Zoos• They have a very small gene pool in which to mix their genes• Methods : exchanging specimens or by artificial insemination

where possible

2 . Botanical gardens• Botanical gardens are similar as captive breeding of animals

EX-SITU CONSERVATION


3 . Seed banks• Seeds can be maintained for decades or even centuries if the

conditions are controlled• Seeds kept in seed banks do not evolve with changes in the

environment

conclusion

Biodiversity is our life. If the Biodiversity got lost at this rate then in near future, the survival of human being will be threatened. So, it is our moral duty to conserve Biodiversity as well our Environment. Long-term maintenance of species and their management requires co-operative efforts across entire landscapes. Biodiversity should be dealt with at scale of habitats or ecosystems rather than at species level.

references• www.wikepedia.org• http://www.isebindia.com/• www.wildlife.co.uk

Thankyou

biodiversity and conservation

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