UNIT-II

ECOSYSTEM AND BIODIVERSITY

2.1 ECOSYSTEM

An ecosystem is a community of organisms that interact with each other and non living
components for sustainable development and adaptation to changing conditions. There are
different type of ecosystems around us which involves living organisms and non living
organisms. If we combine all the ecosystems present on earth, it is called Biosphere. The term
ecosystem was first proposed by A.G.Tansley (1935) who defined ecosystem as follows:
-sustained community of plants and animals existing in its own

given area interacting with the physical environment, so that a flow of energy give rise to a
clearly defined tropic structure, biotic diversity and material cycles within
Allaby (1983) defined ecosystem as a community of interdependent organisms together with the
environment

CONCEPT OF ECOSYSTEM:
In an ecosystem, the interaction of life with its environment takes place at many levels. A single
bacteria in the soil interacts with water, air around it within a small space while a fish in a river
interacts with water and other animals, rivals in a large space. .
Considering the operational point of view; the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem are
so interlinked such that their separation from each other is practically difficult. So, in an
ecosystem both organisms (biotic communities) and abiotic environment (rainfall, temperature,
humidity) each influence the properties with other for maintenance of life.

STRUCTURE OF ECOSYSTEM

A structure of Ecosystem comprise of

distribution in space.
non-living material, such as nutrient water, etc.

FUNCTION OF ECOSYSTEM:

nutrient cycles

regulation of environment by the organisms.

2.1.1 COMPONENTS OF AN ECOSYSTEM:

There are two components of an ecosystem; Living components and non living components.

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Non Living Components: (Abiotic) Non living components are the physical and chemical
factors that directly or indirectly affect the living components e.g. air, water, land, rock etc. Non
living components are also called Abiotic components.
Physical factors include sunlight, water, fire, soil, air, temperature etc.
Chemical factors include moisture, salinity of water, soil nutrients, oxygen dissolved in water
etc.
Living Components: Living components in an ecosystem are either producers or consumers.
They are also called biotic components. Producers can produce organic components e.g. plants
can produce starch, carbohydrates, cellulose from a process called photosynthesis. Consumers
are the components that are dependent on producers for their food e.g. human beings and
animals

Biotic Components are further classified into 3 main groups

Producers Consumers Decomposers or Reducers

1. Producer (Autotrophs): The green plants have chlorophyll with the help of which they
trap solar energy and change it into chemical energy of carbohydrates using simple
inorganic compound namely, water and carbon dioxide. This process is known as
photosynthesis. The chemical energy stored by the producers is utilized partly by the
producers for their own growth and survival and the remaining is stored in the plants for
their future use. They are classified into two categories based on their source of food.
a)Photoautotrophs: An organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic
substances using light as an energy source. Green plants and photosynthetic bacteria are
photoautotrophs.
b)Chemotrophs: Organisms that obtain energy by the oxidation of electron donors in
their environments. These molecules can be organic (chemoorganotrophs) or inorganic
(chemolithotrophs).
2. Consumers (Heterotrophs): The animals lack chlorophyll and are unable to synthesis

heterotrophs (i.e. heteros= others, trophs= feeder).The Consumers are of 4 types:

(a) Primary Consumer: ( Herbivores) i.e. Animal feeding on plants, e.g. Rabbit, deer,
goat etc.
(b) Secondary Consumers: The animal feeding on Herbivores are called as secondary
Consumer or primary carnivores. e.g. Cats, foxes, snakes.
(c) Tertiary Consumers: These are large carnivores which feed on secondary
consumers. e.g. Wolves
(d) Quaternary Consumers: They are also called omnivores these are largest carnivores
Which feed on tertiary consumers and are not eaten up by
any other animals. e.g. lion and Tiger.

3. Decomposers or Detrivores:Bacteria & fungi belong to this category. They break down
the dead organic matter of producers & consumers for their food and release to the
environment the simple inorganic and organic substance. These simple substances are
reused by the producers resulting in a cyclic exchange of material between biotic &
abiotic environment.
Eg: Bacteria, Earth worms, Beetles etc

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2.1.2 ENERGY FLOW IN AN ECOSYSTEM

transformed into chemical energy by a process of photosynthesis this energy is stored in plant
tissue and then transformed into heat energy during metabolic activities.

organisms. The flow of energy is unidirectional and non-cyclic.

This one way flow of energy is governed by laws of thermodynamics which states that:
(a) Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed but may be transformed from one form
to another
(b) During the energy transfer there is degradation of energy from a concentrated form
(mechanical, chemical, or electrical etc.) to a dispersed form (heat).
No energy transformation is 100 % efficient; it is always accompanied by some
dispersion or loss of energy in the form heat. Therefore, biological systems including ecosystems
must be supplied with energy on a continuous Basis.

MODELS OF ENERGY FLOW IN ECOSYSTEM

1. Single Channel Energy Flow Model: The flow of energy takes place in a unidirectional
manner through a single channel of producers to herbivores and carnivores. The energy captured
by autotrophs does not revert back to solar input but passes to herbivores; and that which passes
to herbivores does not go back to autotrophs but passes to consumers. Due to one way flow of
energy, the entire system would collapse if primary source of energy were cut off. At each tropic
level there occurs progressive decrease in energy which is mainly due to loss of energy as heat in
metabolic reactions and also some of the energy is utilized at each tropic level

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2. Y- shaped model: shows a common boundary, light and heat flow as well as import, export
and storage of organic matter . Decomposers are placed in separate box to partially separate the
grazing and detritus food chains. In terms of energy levels decomposers are in fact a mixed
- shaped energy flow is more realistic and practical than the single channel energy flow

(bacteria &
fungi) and the macro consumers (animals) differ greatly in size- metabolism relations in two
models.

3.Universal energy flow model :As the flow of energy takes place, there is gradual loss of
energy at each level there by resulting in less energy available at the next tropic level as
indicated by narrower pipes (energy flow) and smaller boxes (stored energy in biomass). The
loss of energy is mainly the energy which is not utilized (U). This is the energy loss in
locomotion, excretion etc. or it the energy lost in respiration (CR) which is for maintenance. The
remaining energy is used for production (P).

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2.1.3 ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION

Ecological Succession is the phenomenon or process by which a community progressively

transforms itself until a stable community is formed. It is a fundamental concept in ecology,
refers to more or less predictable and orderly changes in the composition or structure of an
ecological community. Succession may be initiated either by formation of new, unoccupied
habitat (e.g., a lava flow or a severe landslide) or by some form of disturbance (e.g. fire, severe
wind throw , logging) of an existing community. Succession that begins in areas where no soil is
initially present is called primary succession, whereas succession that begins in areas where soil
is already present is called secondary succession.

Clement's theory of succession/Mechanisms of succession

F.E. Clement (1916) developed a descriptive theory of succession and advanced it as a general
ecological concept. His theory of succession had a powerful influence on ecological thought.
Clement's concept is usually termed classical ecological theory. According to Clement,
succession is a process involving several phases:

1. Nudation: Succession begins with the development of a bare site, called Nudation
(disturbance).
2. Migration: It refers to arrival of propagules.
3. Ecesis: It involves establishment and initial growth of vegetation.
4. Competition: As vegetation became well established, grew, and spread, various species
began to compete for space, light and nutrients. This phase is called competition.
5. Reaction: During this phase autogenic changes affect the habitat resulting in
replacement of one plant community by another.
6. Stabilization: Reaction phase leads to development of a climax community.

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Seral communities:

A seral community is an intermediate stage found in an ecosystem advancing towards

its climax community. In many cases more than one seral stage evolves until climax
conditions are attained. A prisere is a collection of seres making up the development of
an area from non-vegetated surfaces to a climax community. Depending on the
substratum and climate, a seral community can be one of the following:

Hydrosere : Community in freshwater

Lithosere : Community on rock
Psammosere : Community on sand
Xerosere : Community in dry area
Halosere : Community in saline body (e.g. a marsh)

Climax community
The final or stable community in a sere is the climax community or climatic vegetation. It is self-
perpetuating and in equilibrium with the physical habitat. There is no net annual accumulation of
organic matter in a climax community mostly. The annual production and use of energy is
balanced in such a community.

2.1.4 FOOD CHAIN, FOOD WEB & ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS:

FOOD CHAIN:
In food chain each organism eats the smaller organisms and is eaten by the larger one. All those
organisms which are interlinked with each other through food to gather constitute the ecosystem.

tropic levels:- Producer level, Consumer level, and decomposer level. If any of the intermediate
stage of the food chain is removed, the succeeding links of the food chain will be affected.

Types of Food Chains:

a) Grazing Food Chain: This type of food chain starts from living green plants goes to
grazing herbivores and onto carnivores. Ecosystem with such type of food chain directly

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 depends upon the solar energy for their food requirements. Most of the ecosystem in
nature follows this type of food chain.

b) Detritus food Chain: This type of food chain goes from dead organic matter onto
microorganisms and then to the organisms feeding on detritus and their predators. Such
ecosystems are less dependent on direct solar energy.

c) Parasitic Food Chain: This type of food chain starts from big hosts and ends with
parasitic organisms

FOOD WEB:

condition of the linear arrangement of food chain hardly occurs and they remain interconnected
with each other through different types of organisms at different levels Such a interconnected
and interlocking pattern of food chain is known as food web..

ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS

The different species in a food chain are called tropic levels. Each food chain has 3 main trophic

levels is called as Ecological Pyramids. It was devised by an ecologist Charles Elton

this pyramid are also called Ecological pyramid or Eltonian pyramids.

Types of Ecological Pyramids:

Ecological pyramids are of three types: I

I) Pyramid of Number II)Pyramid of biomass

III)Pyramid of Energy

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I) Pyramid of Number:

levels in terms of their number.

maximum
in number this number then shows a decrease towards apex as primary consumers are
zooplanktons are lesser in number than phytoplankton, the secondary consumers are large fish
are even lesser in number than the phytoplankton. Thus the shape of pyramid is upright. But in
case of forest ecosystem the pyramids is always inverted because the producers are mainly large
trees, are lesser in numbers, the herbivores fruit eating birds are more in number than the
producers, then there is gradual decrease in number of secondary consumers thus making
pyramid upright again. Thus the pyramid of number does not give a true picture of the food chain
and are not very functional.

II) Pyramid of Biomass:

the producers to the top carnivores. Thus pyramid of biomass is upright for grassland ecosystem.

gradually shows an increase towards the apex of pyramid thus making the pyramid inverted in
shape.

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III) Pyramid of energy:

of the ecosystem. In this type of pyramid the tropic level is decided depending upon the rate at
which food is being produced.
s upright as in most of the cases there is always gradual decrease in the
energy content at successive trophic level from producers to various consumers.

2.1.4 CLASSIFICATION OF ECOSYSTEMS

Due to the abiotic factors, different ecosystems develop in different ways. These factors and their
interaction between each other and with biotic components have resulted in formation of
different types of ecosystems as explained below.
Ecosystem may be natural or artificial.
Artificial Ecosystem: These are maintained or created artificially by man. The man tries to
control biotic community as well as physico-chemical environment.
Eg: Artificial pond, urban area development.
Natural Ecosystem: It consists of Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems which are maintained
naturally.

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Different types of ecosystem of biosphere artificially categorized as follows:

I) Natural Ecosystems: These ecosystems operate by themselves under natural conditions

without any major interference by man. Based upon the particular kind of habitat, these are

istinguished as

as
lake, pond, pools, ditch, swamps, etc.)

II) Artificial Ecosystems: These are maintained by man where, by addition of energy & planned
manipulations natural balance is disturbed regularly.
For eg : croplands like maize, wheat, rice-fields etc., where man tries to control the biotic
community as well as physico-chemical environment are artificial ecosystems

Pond Ecosystem: A Pond as a whole serves a good example of freshwater ecosystem

Abiotic Components: The chief components are heat, light, pH of water, CO2, oxygen,
calcium, nitrogen, phosphates, etc.
Biotic Components: The various organization that constitute the biotic component are as
follows,
Producers: These are green plants, and some photosynthetic bacteria. The producer fix radiant
energy and convert it into organic substances as carbohydrates, protein etc
Macrophytes: these are large rooted plants, which include partly or completely
submerged hydrophytes, eg Hydrilla, Trapha, Typha.
Phytoplankton: These are minute floating or submerged lower plants eg algae.
Consumers: They are heterotrophs which depend for their nutrition on the organic food
Primary Consumers: Benthos: These are animals
associated with living plants ,detrivores and some other microorganisms Zooplanktons:

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 Secondary
Consumers: They are the Carnivores which feed on herbivores, these are chiefly insect
and fish, most insects & w Tertiary
Consumers: These are some large fish as game fish, turtles, which feed on small fish and
Decomposers: They are also known as micro-
consumers. They decompose dead organic matter of both producers and animal to simple
form. Thus they play an important role in the return of minerals again to the pond
ecosystem, they are chiefly bacteria, & fungi.

Ocean Ecosystem
are more stable than pond ecosystem, they occupy 70 % of the earth surface.
Abiotic Components:
Producers: These are autotrophs and are also known Primary producers. They are mainly, some
microscopic algae (phyto-planlanktons) besides them there are mainly, seaweeds, as brown and
Consumers: They are all heterotrophic macro
Primary Consumer: The herbivores, that feed on producers are shrimps, Molluscs,
Secondary Consumers: These are carnivores fish as Herring, Shad, Mackerel, feeding
Tertiary Consumers: These includes, other carnivores fishes like, COD,
Halibut, Sea Turtle, Sharks etc.
Decomposers: The microbes active in the decay of dead organic matter of producers, and
animals are chiefly, bacteria and some fungi.

Estuarine Ecosystem

and streams meet and mix with salt water from oceans. These Ecosystems are considered as most

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 Abiotic Components: Nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen,

Biotic
Components: Producers: Phyplanktons- these micro-organisms manufacture food by
photosynthesis and absorb nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen, besides them, mangroves,
Consumers: Primary consumers, Zooplanktons that feed
on Phytoplankton, besides them some small micro Secondary
Consumer: Tertiary
Consumer: Decomposers:
Fungi & Bacteria are the chief microbes active in decay of dead organic matter.

River Ecosystem

treams, and river

have been less studied. However, the various components of an riverine and stream ecosystem
Producers: The chief producers that remain permanently attached
to a firm substratum are green algae as Cladophora, a Consumers: The
consumers show certain features as permanent attachment to firm substrata, presence of hooks &
suckers, sticky undersurface, streamline bodies, flattened bodies.. Thus a variety of animal are
found, which are fresh spongy and caddis- Decomposers:
Various bacteria and fungi like actinomycetes are present which acts as decompose

2.2 BIODIVERSITY

and refers to the

variety of life on the Earth. Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given
species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of
ecosystems.
The term biological diversity was used first by wildlife scientist and conservationist Raymond
F. Dasmann in the 1968.
The term's contracted form biodiversity may have been coined by W.G. Rosen in 1985

Biodiversity is usually considered at three different levels:

The following are different types of biodiversity

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1. Genetic diversity: variety in the genetic makeup among individuals within a species
2. Species diversity: variety among the species or distinct types of living organisms found in
different habitats of the planet
3. Ecosystem or ecological diversity: variety of forests, deserts, grasslands, streams, lakes,
oceans, coral reefs, wetlands and other biological communities
4. Functional diversity: biological and chemical processes of functions such as energy flow an
matter cycling needed for the survival of species and biological communities

1. Genetic Diversity
changing world whether these changes are due to natural factors or are caused by human factors.
It refers to the variation at the level of individual genes and provides a mechanism for
populations to adapt to their ever-changing environment.
Eg: Human beings

2. Species Diversity: Species diversity refers to the different types of living organisms on Earth.
This includes the many types of birds, insects, plants, bacteria, fungi, mammals, and more. Many
differing species often live together in communities depending on each other to provide their
needs.
A species can be defined as a group or population of similar organisms that reproduce by
interbreeding within the group. Members of a species do not normally reproduce with members
of any other species. Members of a specific species possess common characteristics that
distinguish them from other species and this remains constant regardless of geographic location.

3. Ecosystem Diversity: Ecological diversity or ecosystem diversity is the variety of biological

communities, such as forests, deserts, grasslands and streams that interact with one another and
with their physical and chemical (nonliving) environments. It relates to the different forms of life
which are present in any one particular area or site, in more precise terms, it concerns the
different species of a particular genus which are present in an ecological community.

2.2.1 VALUES OF BIODIVERSITY

The value of biodiversity (in terms of its commercial utility, ecological services, social and
aesthetic values) is enormous. There are several ways that biodiversity and its various forms are
Valuable to humans. The biodiversity value may be classified as follows:

1. CONSUMPTIVE VALUE: Biodiversity is an essential requirement for the maintenance of

global food supply. The main sources of human food include animals, fish and plant produces.
A large number of plants are consumed by human beings as food. A few animal species are
consumed by people which come from cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, buffaloes, chickens, ducks,
geese and turkey species.
Fish: Many fresh water fish can be grown in ponds. Israel and China already get about half of
their fish from aqua culture.
Drugs & medicines
for medicines. The drug Penicillin used as an antibiotic is derived from a fungus called
Penicillium. Likewise, Tetracycline from bacteria which is used to cure malaria is obtained from
the bark of cinchona tree. .
Fuel: The fossil fuels like coal, petroleum products and natural gas are the products of
biodiversity.

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2. PRODUCTIVE VALUE: Some of the organisms are commercially usable where the product
is marketed and sold. The animal products like tusks of elephants; musk from deer; silk from
silkworm; wool from sheep or goats; fur of many animals etc all of which are traded in the
market.
Eg: Calabar bean was tradionally used as a poison in West Africa.
Daisy plants were first used as a lice remedy in the Middle East and this led to the
Discovery of Pyrethrum. Mosquito coils made from Pyrethrum are sold in the market.
The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis produces toxic proteins that kill certain insects.

3. SOCIAL VALUE: These are the values associated with the social life, religion and spiritual
aspects of the people. Many of the plants are considered to be sacred in our country like Tulasi,
Mango leaves, Banana leaves . The leaves, fruits, flowers of some of the plants are used in
worship. Many animals like cow, snake, bull, peacock also have significant place in spiritual and
thus hold special importance. Thus, biodiversity has distinct social value, attached with different
societies.
4. ETHICAL VALUE: The ethical value means that human beings may or may not use a certain
species but knowing the very fact that this species exists in nature gives pleasure.
For eg: A peculiar species of Pigeon, grey / white bird with short legs is no more on this earth.
Similarly, Dodo species is also no more. Human beings are not deriving anything direct from
Kangaroo, giraffe but strongly feel that these species should exist in nature.

5. AESTHETIC VALUE: Every one of us would like to visit vast stretches of lands to enjoy the
visible life. People from farther areas, spend a lot of time and money to visit wild life areas
where they can enjoy the aesthetic value of biodiversity and this type of tourism is known as eco
tourism.
Eco-tourism is estimated to generate 12 billion dollars of revenue annually that roughly gives the
aesthetic value of biodiversity.
A study of the impact of environment on the psyche was undertaken by Kaplan and Kaplan
(1989) in which they found that being near nature relieved working stresses while people who
worked in closed environment or human made structures experienced much more job stresses
and illnesses.

2.2.2 BIODIVERSITY AT GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEVEL

The enormous diversity of life forms in the biosphere has evolved essentially through the process
of trial and error during course of organic evolution. The changes in character of living organism
which confer some advantage to the species are retained.

The changes in climatic conditions are reflected in the distribution of living organism and the
pattern of biodiversity on our planet. The number of species present per unit area decreases as we
move from mild tropics to the tundra's.

The Indian region (8° to 30° N and 60° to 97.5°) with total area of 329 million hectares is very
rich in biodiversity. It is estimated that about 4500 species of plants occur in this country. The
position of Indian sub-continent at the confluence of there biogeography reels is also an
important contributing factor and explain the preserve of African, European, Sind, Japanese and
Indo-Malayan elements in the flora and fauna in India. It is the sum total of such remarkable

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diversity that has made India a "gene bank" for a number of food crops, forest trees, medical and
aromatic plants and domesticated animal.

Forests are important bioreserves; most of the 1700 million hectares of tropical forests are
located in poor countries. The forests surrounding Reo de Aneroid are part of vegetation which is
rich in species of plants and animals that are endemic. There are about 53.5% of trees species
found only in these forests and studies of birds, reptiles, primates and butter flies have revealed
equally high or higher endemics.

2.2.3 INDIA AS A MEGA DIVERSITY NATION

India contains a great wealth of biodiversity in the forests, wet lands and marine areas. Hence
biodiversity can be observed at all levels ie locally, nationally and globally . India, as a
subcontinent representing a major part of South Asia is rich in flora and fauna and hence it is one

It is estimated that over 75000 species of animals and over 45000 species of plants are found in
India.

Biogeographic regions of India: According to wild life Institute of India, the country has 10
distinct biogeographic zones or regions. They are:
1. Trans Himalayan Zone
2. Himalayan Zone
3. Desert Zone
4. Semi arid Zone
5. Western Ghats
6. Deccan Zone
7. Gangetic plain Zone
8. NE Indian Zone
9. Coastal Zone
10. Islands around the country

2.2.4 HOT SPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY

Areas which exhibit high species richness as well as high species endemism are termed as hot
spots of biodiversity. Species which are restricted only to particular areas are known as endemic.
India shows a good number of endemic species. About 62% of amphibians and 50% of lizards

was introduced by Myers (1988). There are 25 such hot spots of biodiversity on a global level
out of which two are present in India, namely the Eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats. These

terrestrial biodiversity. According to Myers an area is designated as a hotspot when it contains at

least 0.5% of the plant species as endemics.

a) Eastern Himalayas: They display an ultra-varies topography that fosters species diversity
and endemism. Recent studies have shown that North East India along with its contiguous
regions of Burma and Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Schezwan is an active center of organic

30% are endemic to India of which 35000 are in the Himalayas.

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 b) Western Ghats: It extends along a 17000 km² strip of forests in Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Tamilnadu and Kerala and has 40% of the total endemic plant species. The major centers of
diversity are Agastyamalai Hills and Silent valley- the new Amambalam Reserve Basin .It is
reported that only 6.8% of the original forests are existing today while the rest has been
deforested or degraded, which raises a serious cause of alarm, because it means we have already
lost a huge proportion of the biodiversity.

2.2.5 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY

Extinction or elimination of a species is a natural process of evolution. In the geologic period the
earth has experienced mass extinctions. During evolution, species have died out and have been
replaced by others. However, the rate of loss of species in geologic past has been a slow process,
keeping in view the vast span of time going back to 444 million years. The process of extinction
has become particularly fast in the recent years of civilization. Edward O. Wilson prefers the
acronym HIPPO, standing for habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, human
overpopulation, and over-harvesting
Following are the major causes and issues related to threats to biodiversity:

1. Habitat destruction: Habitat destruction has played a key role in extinctions, especially
related to tropical forest destruction. Factors contributing to habitat loss are: overpopulation,
deforestation, pollution (air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination) and global warming or
climate change.
Habitat size and numbers of species are systematically related. Physically larger species and
those living at lower latitudes or in forests or oceans are more sensitive to reduction in habitat
area. Conversion to "trivial" standardized ecosystems (e.g., monoculture following deforestation)
effectively destroys habitat for the more diverse species that preceded the conversion. In some
countries lack of property rights or lax law/regulatory enforcement necessarily leads to
biodiversity loss (degradation costs having to be supported by the community)

2. Poaching: Illegal trade of wildlife products by killing prohibited endangered animals i.e.
poaching is another threat to wildlife. Despite international ban on trade in products from
endangered species, smuggling of wildlife items like furs, hides, horns, tusks, live specimens and
herbal products worth millions of dollars per year continues, the developing nations in Asia,
Latin America and Africa are the richest source of biodiversity and have enormous wealth of
wildlife. The rich countries in Europe and North America and some affluent countries in Asia
like Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong are the major importers of the wildlife products or wildlife
itself. The trading of such wild life products is highly profit making for the poachers who just
hunt these prohibited wild lives and smuggle it to other countries mediated through mafia. The
worst part is that for every live animal that actually gets into the market about 50 additional
animals are caught and killed

If you are fond of rare plants, fish or birds, please make sure that you are not going to the
endangered species or wild-caught species. Doing so will help in checking further decline of
these species. Also do not purchase fur coat, purse or bag, or items made of crocodile skin or
python skin. You will certainly help in preserving biodiversity by doing so.
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3. Man-Wildlife Conflicts: We have discussed about the need to preserve and protect wildlife.
However, sometimes we come across conflicting situations when wildlife starts causing immense
damage and danger to man and under such conditions it becomes very difficult for the forest
department to pacify the affected villages and gain local support for wildlife conservation.
Instances of man animal conflicts keep on coming to lime light from several states in our
country.
In Sambalpur, Orissa 195 humans were killed in the last 5years by elephants. In retaliation the
villagers killed 95 elephants in the border region of Kote-Chamarajanagar belt in Mysore have
been reported recently. The man-elephant conflict in this region has arisen because of massive

electrocute the elephants and sometimes hide explosives in the sugarcane fields, which explode
as the elephants intrude into their fields. In fact, more killings are done by locals than by
poachers.

Causes of Man-animal conflicts:

Dwindling habitats of tigers, elephants, rhinos and bears due to shrinking forests cover are
compelled to move outside the forests and attack the field or sometimes even humans. Human
encroachment into the forest areas has rendered all forest living animals to trespass the borders
of human civilizations. This is because the conflicts between man and the wildlife have increased
since it is an issue of survival of both

3.1 Invasive Non-Native Species: Species that are non-native to a particular area can sometimes
spread very quickly, for example the zebra mussel and Japanese knotweed have spread rapidly in
Ireland in the past two decades. As a result, these species can destabilize an ecosystem by
altering habitats affecting food webs.

3.2 Pollution/Litter: As you will remember from the Litter and Waste theme, pollution is always
caused by humans. Pollution can have a huge impact, altering the balance within ecosystems,
and is the cause of death for millions of animals and plants around the world every year.

3.3 Land Use Change/Increased Infrastructure Development: This is the alteration of natural
areas by humans, for example, the clearing of huge areas of rainforest in South America for
farming. In Ireland, upland open habitats, such as rough grassland, scrub and heath, have been
changed by agriculture and afforestation.

3.4 Intensive Farming Practices: Extensive use and concentrations of chemical and/or
biological pesticides and the removal of hedgerows are typical practices in modern-day intensive
farming. Often large areas of land are planted with a single crop (monocultures) which greatly
reduces the level of biodiversity in that area.

3.5 Climate Change: It is now widely accepted that the current global rate of change in climate
is as a result of human activity. As global air or sea temperature changes, even by just 1 or 2
degrees, the habitats in which species live will also change and may even become uninhabitable
to some species.

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2.2.6 ENDANGERED AND ENDEMIC SPECIES

Endangered species A species whose numbers are reduced to the point. That means endangered
species are in immediate danger of extinction.
The International Union Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) classified the species of plants and
animals as:
(a) Endangered species
(b) Threatened species: Species ( including animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to
endangerment in the near future)
(c) Rare species : Among the important endangered animal species, Indian wild ass; the Kashmir
stag, the Golden Langur etc .. are considered highly endangered. There are also
endangered bird species like Siberian crane; the great Indian Bustard; the florican etc..
The IUCN published the data on endangered species of both plants and animals of India. The
data symbolizes the working signal for those species which are endangered and if not protected
are likely to become extinct in near future
A species is said to be extinct when it is not seen in the wild for 50 years at a stretch e.g. Dodo,
Passenger Pigeon.
A species is said to be endangered when its number has been reduced to a critical level or whose
habitat, have been drastically reduced and if such species is not protected and conserved, it is in
immediate danger of extinction.

Endangered species of India

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources(IUCN) publishes the
Red Data Book which include the list of endangered species of plants and animals. The red data
symbolizes the warning signal for those species which are endangered and if not protected are
likely to become extinct in near future

The animals that are listed under the critically endangered category are as under:

1)MalabarLargeSpottedCivet
2)NamdaphaFlyingSquirrel
3)SalimAli'sFruitBat
4)SumatranRhinoceros

EndangeredSpeciesareasunder:
1)AsiaticLion
2)AsiaticBlackBear
3)DesertCat
4)GreatIndianRhinoceros
5)IndianElephant(or)AsianElephant

ThreatenedSpeciesareasunder:
1)IndianWildAss
2)Leopard

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Endemic species of India

India has two biodiversity hot-spots and thus possesses a large number of endemic species.

The endemic species are those taxa whose distribution is confined to a restricted area due to
their specific ecological niches and edaphic gradients. Therefore, the habitats of endemic species
are far more vulnerable than other species. Endemic species once lost, it is a loss of biodiversity
of these species forever.

In India there are about 5725 endemic taxa of angiosperms (33.5% of Indian flora) which are
located in 25 hot spots. The major hotspots in India which contain largest number of endemic
plant species are the Southern Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas with 1286 and 1808
endemic species respectively. There are about 1272 species of endemic angiosperms out of 3800
species occurring in Kerala (33.5% of Kerala flora) which represent 22.6% of Indian endemics.
Seventy percent of the 1272 species of endemics have the major areas of distribution in Kerala
with spill over in adjacent regions. On the basis of the study of the distributional range, about
102 endemic species occur exclusively in Kerala.

A large number out of a total of 81,000 of animals in our country is endemic. The Western Ghats
are particularly rich in amphibians (frogs, toads etc) and reptiles (lizards, crocodiles etc) about
62% amphibians and 50% lizards are endemic to Western Ghats

.2.2.7 CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY

In order to maintain and conserve biodiversity, the Ministry of Environment and Forests,
government of India has already taken several steps to manage wildlife, the objectives of which
are:
1. Maintenance of a number of species in protected areas such as National Parks, Sanctuaries..
2. To improve the biosphere reserves
3. Implement strict restrictions of export of rare plants and animals

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A) In-situ conservation: The preservation of species in its natural ecosystem is called in-situ
conservation. As a consequence, protected areas are being identified and maintained for natural
conservation of species by individual countries. For the conservation and management of
endangered species several projects have been established.
These are:

Tiger Projects: Corbett National Park which is 300 km from New Delhi is the oldest National
Park of India having 1318.54 sq km. It was one of the nine Tiger Reserves created at the launch
of the Project Tiger in 1973.

Gir Lion Projects: The Gir Forest of Gujarat where lions are found. This has an area of 1412 sq
kms and declared as a National Park.

Elephant Projects: The objective was to ensure long-term survival of population of elephants
( not come into operations). Project Elephant (PE), a centrally sponsored scheme, was launched
in February 1992 to provide financial and technical support to major elephant bearing States in
the country for protection of elephants and their habitats. The Project is being implemented in 13
States/UTs, viz..Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala,
Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
There are about 7000 protected areas in the world which include a variety of National parks,
Sanctuaries etc which vary in size (between 100 to 500 sq km), purpose (protection of one or
more species and their habitats).. In India, there are 39 National Parks and 492 wildlife
sanctuaries.

National Parks: These are protected areas exclusively for wild life. Human activities like
hunting,
plants and animals could grow in a protected environment

The following measures should be adopted for the conservation of biodiversity:

1. Over grazing in the forest and areas of vegetation should be controlled because it may
Destroy the useful rare plants.
2. The habitat of plants and animals should be conserved.
3. The natural condition of ecosystem should be studied and researched in time and again, then
Specific programs for conservation should be conducted.
4. Human activities should be done without destroying natural environment.
5. Illegal hunting and smuggling of animals and plants should be strictly avoided.
6. Effective laws and rules should be adopted for the conservation of rare animals and plants.
7. Industries are established from the raw materials. During the process of collecting raw
materials, care should be taken not to destroy useful plants and habitats of animals.
8. Public awareness should be created about the importance of rare animals and plants, causes
of rareness and measures for their preservation.

B) Ex-situ conservation: The conservation of elements of biodiversity out of the context of their
natural habitats is referred to as ex-situ conservation. Zoos, botanical gardens and seed banks are
all example of ex-situ conservation. In India we have the following important gene and seed
bank facilities.

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i) National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) is located in New Delhi. Here
agricultural and horticultural crops are stored by cryopreservation of seeds, pollens
etc. by using liquid nitrogen at a low temperature as low as -1960C.
ii) National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) located at karnal, Haryana.
It preserves the semen of domesticated bovine animals.

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