MODULES IN GEE 1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

BY: DEODATUS G. SAGADAL

MODULE 4. BIODIVERSITY
OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, the students will be able to:
1. Discuss explicitly the term “biodiversity”.
2. Describe the three levels of variety in the biosphere and discuss each.
3. Describe the values of biodiversity and discuss each.
4. Describe and explain the threats to biodiversity.
5. Describe the different methods of conserving biodiversity.
INTRODUCTION
The great variety of life on earth has provided for man’s needs over thousands of years.
This diversity of living creatures forms a support system which has been used by each
civilization for its growth and development. Those that used this “bounty of nature”
carefully and sustainably survived. Those that overused or misused it disintegrated.
Science has attempted to classify and categorize the variability in nature for over a
century. This has led to an understanding of its organization into communities of plants
and animals. This information has helped in utilizing the earth’s biological wealth for the
benefit of humanity and has been integral to the process of ‘development’. This includes
better health care, better crops and the use of these life forms as raw material for industrial
growth which has led to a higher standard of living for the developed world. However this
has also produced the modern consumerist society, which has had a negative effect on
the diversity of biological resources upon which it is based. The diversity of life on earth
is so great that if we use it sustainably we can go on developing new products from
biodiversity for many generations. This can only happen if we manage biodiversity as a
precious resource and prevent the extinction of species.
Definition:
‘Biological diversity’ or biodiversity is that part of nature which includes the differences in
genes among the individuals of a species, the variety and richness of all the plant and
animal species at different scales in space, locally, in a region, in the country and the
world, and various types of ecosystems, both terrestrial and aquatic, within a defined
area.
What is biodiversity?
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

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species within a community, and the organization of species in an area into distinctive
plant and animal communities constitutes ecosystem diversity.
4.1.1 Genetic diversity
Each member of any animal or plant species differs widely from other individuals in its
genetic makeup because of the large number of combinations possible in the genes that
give every individual specific characteristics. Thus, for example, each human being is
very different from all others. This genetic variability is essential for a healthy breeding
population of a species. If the number of breeding individuals is reduced, the dissimilarity
of genetic makeup is reduced and in-breeding occurs. Eventually this can lead to the
extinction of the species. The diversity in wild species forms the ‘gene pool’ from which
our crops and domestic animals have been developed over thousands of years. Today
the variety of nature’s bounty is being further harnessed by using wild relatives of crop
plants to create new varieties of more productive crops and to breed better domestic
animals. Modern biotechnology manipulates genes for developing better types of
medicines and a variety of industrial products.
4.1.2 Species diversity
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 richer in species than others. Natural undisturbed tropical
forests have a much greater species richness than plantations developed by the Forest
Department for timber production. A natural forest ecosystem provides a large number of
non-wood products that local people depend on such as fruit, fuel wood, fodder, fiber,
gum, resin and medicines. Timber plantations do not provide the large variety of goods
that are essential for local consumption. In the long-term the economic sustainable
returns from non-wood forest products is said to be greater than the returns from felling
a forest for its timber. Thus the value of a natural forest, with all its species richness is
much greater than a plantation. Modern intensive agricultural eco-systems have a
relatively lower diversity of crops than traditional agro-pastoral farming systems where
multiple crops were planted.
At present conservation scientists have been able to identify and categorize about 1.8
million species on earth. However, many new species are being identified, especially in
the flowering plants and insects. Areas that are rich in species diversity are called
‘hotspots’ of diversity. India is among the world’s 15 nations that are exceptionally rich in
species diversity.
4.1.3 Ecosystem diversity
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, or a state. Distinctive ecosystems include landscapes such as

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forests, grasslands, deserts, mountains, etc., as well as aquatic ecosystems such as
rivers, lakes, and the sea. Each region also has man-modified areas such as farmland or
grazing pastures.
An ecosystem is referred to as ‘natural’ when it is relatively undisturbed by human
activities, or ‘modified’ when it is changed to other types of uses, such as farmland or
urban areas. Ecosystems are most natural in wilderness areas. If natural ecosystems are
overused or misused their productivity eventually decreases and they are then said to be
degraded. India is exceptionally rich in its ecosystem diversity.
Evolution and the Genesis of Biodiversity:
The origins of life on earth some three and a half billion years ago are obscure. Life was
probably initiated as a product of organic reactions in the Earth’s primordial seas.
Alternative possibilities such as life beginning in a muddy ooze, or of life having been
seeded from outer space have also been suggested. Once life took hold on the planet, it
began gradually to diversify. Unicellular unspecialized forms gradually evolved into
complex multi-cellular plants and animals.
Evolution is related to the ability of living organisms to adapt to changes in their
environment. Thus the abiotic changes in nature such as climatic and atmospheric
upheavals, repeated glaciations, continental drift and the formation of geographical
barriers, segregated different communities of plants and animals and gradually lead to
the formation of new species over millions of years.
Most species appear to have a life span extending over several million years. Their
adaptability to gradual changes in their habitat, and interactions with newly formed
species produce groups of inter linked organisms that continue to evolve together. Food
chains, prey-predator relationships, parasitism (complete dependence on another
species), commensalism (a partnership beneficial to both species), etc. are important
examples. Behavioral patterns of the different species comprising a community of species
links them to each other through their breeding biology, feeding patterns, migrations, etc.
As ancient species became extinct due to geological upheavals, they left behind empty
‘niches’ in the habitat that stimulated existing species to fill them through the formation of
new species. The Earth’s ancient history has seen periods of mega extinctions, which
have been followed by periods of formation of new species. Though these repeatedly led
to a drastic reduction in the number of species, the diversity of life recuperated each time
by gradually increasing the number of species existing on earth. This however took
millions of years, as evolution is a very slow process. Thus when man came on the scene
some 2 million years ago, the earth was richer in species than ever before. During the
recent past however, extinctions due to the activities of modern man have begun to take
place so rapidly that nature has had no time to evolve new species. The earth is losing
species more rapidly than ever before.

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The diversity of life at all three organizational levels, genetic, species and ecosystem, is
thus being rapidly modified by modern man. This is a great loss to future generations who
will follow us.
4.2 BIOGEOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION OF SOME COUNTRIES
A country can be conveniently divided into several major regions, based on the
geography, climate and pattern of vegetation seen and the communities of mammals,
birds, reptiles, amphibian, insects and other invertebrates that live in them. Each of these
regions contains a variety of ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, lakes, rivers,
wetlands, mountains and hills, which have specific plant and animal species.
For example in India. Its Biogeographic Zones are;
1. The cold mountainous snow covered Trans Himalayan region of Ladakh.
2. The Himalayan ranges and valleys of Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand,
Assam and other North Eastern States.
3. The Terai, the lowland where the Himalayan Rivers flow into the plains.
4. The Gangetic and Bhramaputra plains.
5. The Thar Desert of Rajasthan.
6. The semi-arid grassland region of the Deccan plateau Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Andra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
7. The Northeast States of India,
8. The Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.
9. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
10. The long western and eastern coastal belt with sandy beaches, forests and
mangroves.

4.3 VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY

Environmental services from species and eco-systems are essential at global, regional
and local levels. Production of oxygen, reducing carbon dioxide, maintaining the water
cycle, protecting soil are important services. The world now acknowledges that the loss
of biodiversity contributes to global climatic changes. Forests are the main mechanism
for the conversion of carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen. The loss of forest cover,
coupled with the increasing release of carbon dioxide and other gases through
industrialization contributes to the ‘greenhouse effect’. 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, global
life support (plants absorb CO2 , give out O2 ), maintaining the water balance within
ecosystems, watershed protection, maintaining stream and river flows throughout the
year, erosion control and local flood reduction.

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Food, clothing, housing, energy, medicines, are all resources that are directly or indirectly
linked to the biological variety present in the biosphere. This is most obvious in the tribal
communities who gather resources from the forest, or fisherfolk who catch fish in marine
or freshwater ecosystems. For others, such as agricultural communities, biodiversity is
used to grow their crops to suit the environment. Urban communities generally use the
greatest amount of goods and services, which are all indirectly drawn from natural
ecosystems.
It has become obvious that the preservation of biological resources is essential for the
well-being and 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.
4.3.1 Consumptive use value
The direct utilization of timber, food, fuel wood, fodder by local communities.
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.
4.3.2 Productive use value
Marketable goods.
Value of MFP>Timber (which is part of sustainable use).
The biotechnologist uses bio-rich areas to ‘prospect’ and search for potential genetic
properties in plants or animals that can be used to develop better varieties of crops that
are used in farming and plantation programs or to develop better livestock. 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.
Genetic diversity enables scientists and farmers to develop better crops and domestic
animals through careful breeding. Originally this was done by selecting or pollinating
crops artificially to get a more productive or disease resistant strain. Today this is
increasingly being done by genetic engineering, selecting genes from one plant and
introducing them into another. New crop varieties (cultivars) are being developed using
the genetic material found in wild relatives of crop plants through biotechnology.

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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. Among the known species, only a tiny fraction
have been investigated for their value in terms of food, or their medicinal or industrial
potential.
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. This is called biological prospecting.
4.3.3 Social values
While traditional societies which had a small population and required less resources had
preserved their biodiversity as a life supporting resource, modern man has rapidly
depleted it even to the extent of leading to the irrecoverable loss due to extinction of
several species. Thus 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.
The consumptive and productive value of biodiversity is closely linked to social concerns
in traditional communities. ‘Ecosystem 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 produce to be grown and marketed throughout the year and
acted as an insurance against the failure of one crop. 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,
unemployment (cash crops are usually mechanized), landlessness and increased
vulnerability to drought and floods.
4.3.4 Ethical and moral values
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. Don’t plants and animals have an equal
right to live and exist on our planet which is like an inhabited spaceship? We do not know
if life as we know it exists elsewhere in the universe. Do we have the right to destroy life
forms or do we have a duty to protect them?
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. Indian
civilization has over several generations preserved nature through local traditions. This
has been an important part of the ancient philosophy of many of their cultures. They have
a large number of sacred groves or ‘deorais’ preserved by tribal people in several States.

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These sacred groves around ancient sacred sites and temples act as gene banks of wild
plants.
4.3.5 Aesthetic value
Knowledge and an appreciation of the presence of biodiversity for its own sake is another
reason to preserve it. Quite apart from killing wildlife for food, it is important as a tourist
attraction. Biodiversity is a beautiful and wonderful aspect of nature. Sit in a forest and
listen to the birds. Watch a spider weave its complex web. Observe a fish feeding. It is
magnificent and fascinating.
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 respected for thousands of years.
4.4 BIODIVERSITY AT GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS
There are at present 1.8 million species known and documented by scientists in the world.
However, scientists have estimated that the number of species of plants and animals on
earth could vary from 1.5 to 20 billion! Thus the majority of species are yet to be
discovered.
Most of the world’s bio-rich nations are in the South, which are the developing nations. In
contrast, the majority of the countries capable of exploiting biodiversity are Northern
nations, in the economically developed world. These nations however have low levels of
biodiversity.
Thus the developed world has come to support the concept that biodiversity must be
considered to be a ‘global resource’. However, if biodiversity should form a ‘common
property resource’ to be shared by all nations, there is no reason to exclude oil, or
uranium, or even intellectual and technological expertise as global assets. India’s
sovereignty over its biological diversity cannot be compromised without a revolutionary
change in world thinking about sharing of all types of natural resources.
4.6 HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY
The earth’s biodiversity is distributed in specific ecological regions. There are over a
thousand major Eco regions in the world. Of these, 200 are said to be the richest, rarest
and most distinctive natural areas. These areas are referred to as the Global 200.
It has been estimated that 50,000 endemic plants which comprise 20% of global plant life,
probably occur in only 18 ‘hot spots’ in the world. Countries which have a relatively large
proportion of these hot spots of diversity are referred to as ‘mega diversity nations’.
The rate at which the extinction of species is occurring throughout our country remains
obscure.

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It is likely to be extremely high as our wilderness areas are shrinking rapidly. Our globally
accepted national ‘hot spots’ are in the forests of the North-East and the Western Ghats,
which are included in the world’s most bio-rich areas. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands
are extremely rich in species and many subspecies of different animals and birds have
evolved.
Among the endemic species i.e. those species found only in India, a large proportion are
concentrated in these three areas. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands alone have as
many as 2200 species of flowering plants and 120 species of ferns. Out of 135 genera of
land mammals in India, 85 (63%) are found in the Northeast. The Northeast States have
1,500 endemic plant species. A major proportion of amphibian and reptile species,
especially snakes, are concentrated in the Western Ghats, which is also a habitat for
1,500 endemic plant species.
Coral reefs in Indian waters surround the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep
Islands, the Gulf areas of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. They are nearly as rich in species as
tropical evergreen forests!

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4.7 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY: HABITAT LOSS, POACHING OF WILDLIFE, MAN-
WILDLIFE CONFLICTS
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 have increased all over the world. Mangroves have been
cleared for fuel wood and prawn farming, which has led to a decrease in the habitat
essential for breeding of marine fish. Wetlands have been drained to increase agricultural
land. These changes have grave economic implications in the longer term.
The current destruction of the remaining large areas of wilderness habitats, especially in
the super diverse tropical forests and coral reefs, is the most important threat worldwide
to biodiversity. Scientists have estimated that human activities are likely to eliminate
approximately 10 million species by the year 2050. There are about 1.8 million species of
plants and animals, both large and microscopic, known to science in the world at present.
The number of species however is likely to be greater by a factor of at least 10. Plants
and insects as well as other forms of life not known to science are continually being
identified in the worlds’ ‘hotspots’ of diversity. Unfortunately at the present rate of
extinction about 25% of the worlds’ species will undergo extinction fairly rapidly. This may
occur at the rate of 10 to 20 thousand species per year, a thousand to ten thousand times
faster than the expected natural rate! Human actions could well exterminate 25% of the
world’s species within the next twenty or thirty years. Much of this mega extinction spasm
is related to human population growth, industrialization and changes in land-use patterns.
A major part of these extinctions will occur in ‘bio-rich’ areas such as tropical forests,
wetlands, and coral reefs. The loss of wild habitats due to rapid human population growth
and short term economic development are major contributors to the rapid global
destruction of biodiversity.
Island flora and fauna having high endemism in small isolated areas surrounded by sea
have so far been most seriously affected by human activity, which has already led to
extinction of many island plants and animals (the dodo is a famous example). Habitat loss
also results from man’s introduction of species from one area into another, disturbing the
balance in existing communities. In the process, the purposely or accidentally introduced
organisms (Eupatorium, Lantana, and Hyacinth, Congress grass or Parthenium) have led
to the extinction of many local species.
Loss of species occurs due to the destruction of natural ecosystems, either for conversion
to agriculture or industry, or by over-extraction of their resources, or through pollution of
air, water and soil.
4.8 CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY: IN-SITU AND EX-SITU
4.8.1 In-situ conservation
Biodiversity at all its levels, genetic species and as intact ecosystems, can be best
preserved in-situ by setting aside an adequate representation of wilderness as ‘Protected

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Areas’. These should consist of a network of National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries with
each distinctive ecosystem included in the network. Such a network would preserve the
total diversity of life of a region.
In the past National Parks and Sanctuaries in India were notified to preserve major wildlife
species such as tigers, lions, elephants, and deer.
The objective of these areas should be expanded to the preservation of relatively intact
natural ecosystems, where biological diversity – from microscopic unicellular plants and
animals, to the giant trees and major mammals – can all be preserved.

Crocodile Conservation: Crocodiles have been threatened as their skin is used for
making leather articles. This led to the near extinction of crocodiles in the wild in the
1960s in India. A Crocodile Breeding and Conservation Program was initiated in 1975 to
protect the remaining population of crocodilians in their natural habitat and by creating
breeding centers. It is perhaps one of the most successful ex situ conservation breeding
projects in the country.
Crocodiles have been extensively bred in over 30 captive breeding centers, zoos and
other sites where successful breeding takes place. Thousands of crocodiles of all three
species have been bred and restocked in 20 natural water bodies.

4.8.2 Ex-situ conservation

Conservation of a species is best done by protecting its habitat along with all the other
species that live in it in nature. This is known as in-situ conservation, which is conserving
a species in its own environment by creating National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
However, 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. This strategy is known as ex-situ conservation, i.e. outside its natural habitat
in a carefully controlled situation such as a botanical garden for plants or a zoological
park for animals, where there is expertise to multiply the species under artificially
managed conditions. These breeding programs for rare plants and animals are however
more expensive than managing a Protected Area.
There is also another form of preserving a plant by preserving its germ plasm in a gene
bank so that it can be used if needed in future. This is even more expensive.
When an animal is on the brink of extinction, it must be carefully bred so that inbreeding
does not lead to the genetic makeup becoming weak. Breeding from the same stock can
lead to poorly adapted progeny or even inability to get enough offspring.
Modern breeding programs are done in zoos that provide for all the animal’s needs,
including enclosures that simulate their wild habitats. There may also be a need to assist
breeding artificially. Thus while most zoos are meant to provide visitors with a visual
experience of seeing a wild animal close up, and provide the visitors with information

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about the species, a modern zoo has to go beyond these functions that include breeding
of endangered species as a conservation measure.
In India, successful ex situ conservation programs have been done for all our three
species of crocodiles. This has been highly successful. Another recent success has been
the breeding of the very rare pygmy hog in Gauhati zoo. Delhi zoo has successfully bred
the rare Manipur brow antlered deer.
However the most important step of a successful breeding program is the reintroduction
of a species into its original wild habitat. This requires rehabilitation of the degraded
habitat and removal of the other causes such as poaching, disturbance, or other
manmade influences that have been the primary cause of reducing the population of the
species.
Conservation of cultivars and livestock breeds: There were an estimated thirty
thousand varieties of rice grown in India till about 50 years ago. Now only a few of these
are still grown. The new varieties which are now being cultivated everywhere have been
developed using germ plasm of these original types of rice. If all the traditional varieties
vanish completely it will be difficult to develop new disease resistant varieties of rice in
the future. Several varieties have been preserved in gene banks. However, this is both
very expensive and risky. Encouraging farmers to continue to grow several traditional
varieties is thus an important concern for the future of mankind. At present gene bank
collections have over 34 thousand cereals and 22 thousand pulses.

Activity 4. Critiquing the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Programs

Objectives:
1. Determine the biodiversity hotspots in the Philippines and the number of specific
plants and species found therein.
2. Determine the threats to each one of them.
3. Determine the conservation programs initiated for these hotspots including laws and
ordinances.
4. Assess the conservation programs in terms of;
a. successful preservation of the varieties
b. sustainable operation
Discussion:
a. What do you think are the mistakes or missing in those endeavors?
b. What do you suggest to preserve these hotspots?
Structure of report: 1. Title page, 2. Introduction (about biodiversity and the objectives),
3. Body of the Report (results of objectives), 4. Discussion, 5. Summary and Conclusion,
Format: font Arial 12, A4 size bond paper, 1 ½ spacing, 1” margins, include pictures

Deadline of submission: November 4, 2021

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