Biodiversity

What does mean by biodiversity?

Meaning: the diversity (number and variety of species) of plants and animals life within a region.

Diversity of living creatures forms a support system which has been used by each civilization for its growth and development. Biodiversity is part of nature which includes the differences in genes among the individuals, the variety and richness of all the plant and animal species at different scales, locality, region, country and world. We can also include various types of ecosystems; both terrestrial and aquatic, within a defined area because they have also their particular habitat for survive.

The number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms that exist is known as biodiversity. It is an essential components of nature which provides food, fuel, shelter, medicines and other resources  to mankind for their survivals. The richness of biodiversity depends on the climatic conditions and area of the region. Biodiversity is important in human managed as well as natural ecosystem.

Importance of biodiversity:          

1) Ecological stability – each species of biodiversity performs a particular function within an ecosystem.

Ecosystem provide support of production and services without which human could not survive. These include soil fertility, decomposition of wastes, purification of the air and water, stabilization and moderation of the climate, decrease of flooding, drought and other environmental disasters.

2) Economic benefits to humans - some of the important economic commodities that biodiversity supplies to humankind are:

Food: crops, forestry and fish

Medication: quinine (used to treat malaria) comes from the Amazonian tree Cinchona tree, digitalis from the Foxglove plant (used for chronic heart trouble), and morphine from the poppy plant (used for pain relief)

Industry: fiber for clothing, wood for shelter and warmth. Other industrial products are oils, rubber, perfumes, fragrances, paper, poisons and so on which we got from the plant species. Animals are also gives us wool, silk, leather, lubricants and also used some times as mode of transportation.

Tourism: biodiversity is a source of economical wealth for many areas, such as many parks and forests, where wild nature and animals are a source of beauty and joy for many people.              

• Maintenance of soil quality 
• Climate stabilization                
• Provision of food security
• Maintenance of air quality                           
• Crop production                            
• Decomposition of wastes
• Maintenance of water quality                   

Biological diversity deals with the degree of nature’s variety in the biosphere. This variety can be observed at three levels; the genetic variability within a species, the variety of species within a community, and the organization of species in an area into distinctive plant and animal communities.

1. Genetic diversity:  (for example, the difference between your genes and those of your friends) each member of any animal or plant species differs widely from other individuals in its genetic because of the genes.
2. Species diversity: (the difference between two species, such as a monarch butterfly and a goldenrod plant) the number of species of plants and animals that are present in a region constitutes its species diversity. This diversity is seen both in natural ecosystems and in agricultural ecosystems. Some areas are more rich in species than others. Natural undisturbed tropical forests have much greater species richness than plantations developed by the Forest Department for timber production.
3. Ecosystem diversity: (the range of different habitats and ecosystems, such as farmlands and forest) There are a large variety of different ecosystems on earth, which have their own complement of distinctive inter linked species based on the differences in the habitat. Ecosystem diversity can be described for a specific geographical region, or a political entity such as a country, a State or a Taluka.  

Value of Biodiversity

Biodiversity is most precious gift of nature with that humankind is blessed. The role of biodiversity in providing ecosystem service is two way: Firstly, biodiversity is directly used as a source for food, fiber, fuel and other resource. Secondly, biodiversity plays an important role in ecosystem providing the regulating, cultural and supporting services. Ex, vegetation protects the soil erosion by binding soil particles and minimizing the effects of water runoff. Biodiversity has fundamental value to humans because we are dependent on it for our cultural, economic and environmental well-being.

Environmental services from species and ecosystems are essential at global, regional and local levels. Like production of oxygen, reducing carbon dioxide, maintaining the water cycle, protecting soil is important services. Global warming is melting ice caps, resulting in a rise in the sea level which will submerge the low lying areas in the world. It is causing major atmospheric changes, leading to increased temperatures, serious droughts in some areas and unexpected floods in other areas. Biological diversity is also essential for preserving ecological processes, such as fixing and recycling of nutrients, soil formation, circulation and cleansing of air and water, maintaining stream and river flows throughout the year, erosion control and local flood reduction.                

Food, clothing, housing, energy, medicines, are all resources that are directly or indirectly linked to the biological variety present in the biosphere. Preservation of biological resources is essential for the long-term survival of mankind. This diversity of living organisms which is present in the wilderness, as well as in our crops and livestock, plays a major role in human ‘development’. The preservation of ‘biodiversity’ is therefore integral to any strategy that aims at improving the quality of human life.

Consumptive use value                                                                          

Consumptive use value means the direct utilization of timber, food, fuel wood, and fodder by local communities. So, goods that are consumed locally that are neither bought nor sold and therefore do not contribute to the economy of a country. This consumptive use value can also be seen in the use of fuel wood for heating and cooking. It is estimated that about 2.4 billion people use of fuelwood and other forms of biomass for cooking and heating.

 The biodiversity held in the ecosystem provides forest dwellers with all their daily needs, food, building material, fodder, medicines and a variety of other products. They know the qualities and different uses of wood from different species of trees, and collect a large number of local fruits, roots and plant material that they use as food, construction material or medicines. Fisherfolk are highly dependent on fish and know where and how to catch fish and other edible aquatic animals and plants.

             The Biodiversity of an area influences every aspect of the lives of people who inhabit it. Their living space and their livelihoods depend on the type of ecosystem. Even people living in urban areas are dependent on the ecological services provided by the wilderness. It is linked with every service that nature provides us. The quality of water we drink and use, the air we breathe, the soil on which our food grows are all influenced by a wide variety of living organisms both plants and animals and the ecosystem of which each species is linked with in nature.

Productive use value

Productive use value means for marketable goods, product is commercially sold in national and international market. Many industries are dependent upon these values. Ex, textile, leather, silk, paper and pulp industry etc.  

To the pharmacist, biological diversity is the raw material from which new drugs can be identified from plant or animal products. To industrialists, biodiversity is a rich store-house from which to develop new products. For the agricultural scientist the biodiversity in the wild relatives of crop plants is the basis for developing better crops.

Even today, species of plants and animals are being constantly discovered in the wild. Thus these wild species are the building blocks for the betterment of human life and their loss is a great economic loss to mankind. Preservation of biodiversity has now become essential for industrial growth and economic development. A variety of industries such as pharmaceuticals are highly dependent on identifying compounds of great economic value from the wide variety of wild species of plants located in undisturbed natural forests.

Social value

Traditional societies which had a small population and required less resource had preserved their biodiversity as a life supporting resource. Apart from the local use or sale of products of biodiversity there is the social aspect in which more and more resources are used by affluent societies. The biodiversity has to a great extent been preserved by traditional societies that valued it as a resource and appreciated that its depletion would be a great loss to their society. 

Many plants and animals are considered holy and sacred in India and are worshipped like Tulsi, peppal, cow, and snake. In Indian society great cultural value is given to forest and such as tiger, peacock and lotus is named as the national animal, bird and flower respectively.    

The consumptive and productive value of biodiversity is closely linked to social concerns in traditional communities. People value biodiversity as a part of their livelihood as well as through cultural and religious sentiments. A great variety of crops have been cultivated in traditional agricultural systems and this permitted a wide range of product to be grown and marketed throughout the year. In recent years farmers have begun to receive economic incentives to grow cash crops for national or international markets, rather than to supply local needs. This has resulted in local food shortages.

Ethical and moral values

Many traditional societies have played an important role in preserving their biodiversity. They value biodiversity as a part of their livelihood as well as through cultural and religious sentiments. Traditional agricultural societies have been growing a great variety of crops, which act as an insurance against the failure of one crop.

It is based on the ‘live and let other live’. Ethical values related to biodiversity conservation are based on the importance of protecting all forms of life. All forms of life have the right to exist on earth. Man is only a small part of the Earth’s great family of species. Morality and ethics reach us to preserve all forms of life and not to harm any organism unnecessarily. Some people take pleasure in hunting the animals. People also sometimes degrade and pollute the environment by their unethical actions.

 Apart from the economic importance of conserving biodiversity, there are several cultural, moral and ethical values which are associated with the sanctity of all forms of life. This has been an important part of the ancient philosophy of many of our cultures. We have in our country a large number of sacred groves preserved by tribal people in several States. These sacred groves around ancient sacred sites and temples act as gene banks of wild plants.

Aesthetic value

Biodiversity is a beautiful and wonderful aspect of nature. Like, sit in a forest and listen to the birds, watch a spider weave its complex web, observe a fish feeding; these all things are magnificent and fascinating. Quite apart from killing wildlife for food, it is important as a tourist attraction. Symbols from wild species such as the lion of Hinduism, the elephant of Buddhism and deities such as Lord Ganesh, and the vehicles of several deities that are animals, have been venerated for thousands of years. The ‘Tulsi’ has been placed at our doorsteps for centuries.

There is a great aesthetic value which is attached to biodiversity. Natural landscapes at undisturbed places are a delight to watch. People go far off places to enjoy the natural surroundings and wildlife. This type of tourism is referred to as ecotourism, which has now become a major source of income in many countries. In many societies, the diversity of flora and fauna has become a part of the traditions and culture of the region and has added to the aesthetic values of the place.

Option value

Keeping future possibilities open for their use is called option value. To continue to improve cultivars and domestic livestock, we need to return to wild relatives of crop plants and animals. Thus the preservation of biodiversity must also include traditionally used strains already in existence in crops and domestic animals.

These values include the unexplored or unknown potentials of biodiversity.  The most important benefits of biodiversity are maintenance of environment service which includes:

• Carbon dioxide fixation
• Maintaining water cycle and recharging of ground water
• Soil formation and protection from erosion
• Regulating climate by recycling moisture into the atmosphere
• Decomposition of waste

The potential of wild plants as medicinal source is an example of the option value. Many pharmaceuticals companies and government health agencies are intensively trying to discover new medical materials from biodiversity in its natural habitat in order to treat disease such as AIDS and cancer.

India as a mega diversity Nation

India is rich in biodiversity from north to south and from east to west. It has two global terrestrial biodiversity hot spot – the North-eastern States and the Western Ghats.  India is one of the 12 mega-diversity countries in the world. It host about 7% of global flora and 6.5% of fauna.

India’s special geographical position between three distinctive centers of biological evolution and radiation of species is responsible for our rich and varied biodiversity. Among the biologically rich nations, India stands among the top 10 or 15 countries for its great variety of plants and animals, many of which are not found elsewhere. India has 350 different mammals, 1,200 species of birds, 453 species of reptiles and 45,000 plant species. India has 50,000 known species of insects, including 13,000 butterflies and moths.

                It is estimated that 18% of Indian plants are endemic to the country. Apart from the high biodiversity of Indian wild plants and animals there is also a great diversity of cultivated crops and breeds of domestic livestock. This is a result of several thousand years during which civilizations have grown and flourished in the Indian subcontinent. There are too many varieties of vegetables, rice and fruit and so on are found. The highest diversity of cultivars is concentrated in the high rainfall areas of the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Northern Himalayas and the North-Eastern hills.

                India has 27 indigenous breeds of cattle, 40 breeds of sheep, 22 breeds of goats and 8 breeds of buffaloes.

Threat to biodiversity

Threats to biodiversity come from many source, mostly humans as well as some natural ting also.  Historically, human have always taken what they needed from the earth itself and from its plant and animal species. Both plant and animal species are under threat of extinction primarily due to modification, degradation and loss of their habitats, causes by various developmental projects like industries, urban housing complexes, rail, road, and over exploitation, pollution and global warming. So it is now the prime responsibility of all scientists and technocrats to ensure that developmental activity promoted by them cause no loss to biodiversity of an area. 

Man has begun to overuse or misuse most of these natural ecosystems. Due to this ‘unsustainable’ resource use, once productive forests and grasslands have been turned into deserts and wasteland has increased all over the world. The current destruction of the remaining large areas of wilderness habitats, especially in the super diverse tropical forests is the most important threat worldwide to biodiversity.

Climate change – rising oceans temperatures and diminishing sea affects marine biodiversity and can shift vegetation zones, having global implications. The increase in CO2 in the air affects the physiological  functioning of plant, and other life. 

Deforestation and habitat loss – deforestation is direct cause of extinction and loss of biodiversity. An estimated 18 million acres of forest are lost each year, due in part to logging and other human practices, destroying the ecosystems on which many species depend. Habitat loss is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity. Clear cutting  forest to create fields, filling in wetlands to build houses, and creating dams that change river flow are all examples of habitat destruction. There are some basic reason for deforestation & habitat loss:

• agriculture, farming
• harvesting natural resources for personal use
• for industrial and urbanization development

Over exploitation – Over exploitation means harvesting species from the wild at rates faster than natural populations can recover.  Over-hunting, over fishing and over-harvesting contribute greatly to the loss of biodiversity, killing off numerous species over the past several hundred years. Human have to eat, but we have been taking fish for food faster than they can replenish their wild population.

Invasive species – the introduction of non-native species into an ecosystem can threaten endemic wildlife (either as predators or competing for resources), affect human health and upset economies.

Pollution – from the burning of fossil fuels (releasing dangerous chemicals to atmosphere and causes ozone levels) to dumping into the oceans every year, pollution completely disrupts the Earth’s ecosystem.