15. BIODIVERSITY AND
CONSERVATION
Edward Wilson popularized the term ‘biodiversity’.
LEVELS
OF BIODIVERSITY
1.
Genetic diversity: Diversity shown by a single species at genetic level. E.g. Rauwolfia
vomitoria (Himalaya) shows
genetic variation in the potency &
concentration of the chemical reserpine. India has more than 50,000 different strains of rice and 1000 varieties of mango.
2. Species
diversity: Diversity at species level. E.g. Western Ghats have greater amphibian species than Eastern Ghats.
3. Ecological diversity:
Diversity at ecosystem level.
E.g.
In India, deserts, rain forests,
mangroves, coral reefs, wet lands, estuaries & alpine meadows are seen.
NUMBER OF SPECIES ON EARTH (GLOBAL SPECIES DIVERSITY)
o According
to IUCN (2004), more than 1.5 million species described so far.
o According
to Robert May’s Global estimate,
about 7 million species would have
on earth. (He considered the species to be discovered in the tropics. i.e. only
22% of the total species have been
recorded so far).
o Animals
are more diverse (above 70%) than plants including Plantae and Fungi (22%).
o Among animals, insects
are most species rich group (70%,
i.e. out of every 10 animals, 7 are insects).
o Number
of fungi species is more than the combined total of the species of fishes,
amphibians, reptiles & mammals.
o
India
has only 2.4% of world’s land area,
but has 8.1% of the species
diversity. India is one of the 12 mega
diversity countries of the world. Nearly 45,000 plant species and
twice as many of animals have been recorded from India.
o Applying
May’s global estimates, India would
have more than 1 lakh plant species and 3 lakh animal species.
o Biologists are not sure about total number of prokaryotic
species because
· Conventional taxonomic methods are not suitable for
identifying microbial species.
· In laboratory, many species cannot be cultured.
PATTERNS OF BIODIVERSITY
i.
Latitudinal gradients
-
Species diversity
decreases from the equator to the poles.
-
Tropics
(latitudinal range of 23.5o N to 23.5o S) have more
species than temperate or polar areas.
E.g. Number of bird species in different latitudes:
o Colombia (near equator): about 1400 species.
o India (in tropics): > 1200 species.
o New York (41o
N): 105 species.
o Greenland (71o
N): 56 species.
-
Tropical forest region
like Equador has up to 10 times
of vascular plant species as compared to a temperate forest region like the Midwest
of USA.
- Tropical
Amazonian rain forest
(South America) is the greatest biodiversity on earth. It contains
o > 40000 species of plants
o 3000 species of fishes
o 1300 species of birds
o 427 species of mammals
o 427 species of amphibians
o 378 species of reptiles
o > 1,25,000 species of invertebrates
- Biodiversity (species
richness) is highest in tropics because
o Tropics
had more evolutionary time.
o Relatively
constant environment (less seasonal).
o They
receive more solar energy which contributes to greater productivity.
ii.
Species- Area relationship
According to the study of
Alexander von Humboldt in South American jungles, within a region,
species richness increases with increasing explored area, but only up to a
limit.
S= CAz
Where,
S= Species richness
A= Area
C= Y-intercept
Z= slope of the line (regression co-efficient)
- On a logarithmic scale, the relationship is a straight line described the equation Log S = log C + Z log A
-
Generally, for small
areas, the Z value is 0.1 to 0.2.
-
But for large areas (e.g.
entire continents), slope of the line is steeper (Z value: 0.6 to 1.2).
-
E.g. for frugivorous
birds and mammals in the tropical forests of different continents, the Z value
is 1.15.
IMPORTANCE
OF SPECIES DIVERSITY
-
According to
David Tilman, plots with more species shows less year-to-year variation in
total biomass.
-
Increased
diversity contributes to higher productivity. It is essential for ecosystem
health and survival of human race.
-
‘Rivet popper
hypothesis’: It is an
analogy used to understand the importance of biodiversity.
It is proposed by Stanford ecologist
Paul Ehrlich.
In an airplane (ecosystem), all parts are joined with many rivets (species). If passengers pop a rivet (extinction of a species), it may not affect flight safety (functioning of the ecosystem). But as more and more rivets are removed, the plane becomes dangerously weak. Loss of rivets on the wings (key species that drive major ecosystem functions) is more dangerous than loss of a few rivets on the seats or windows.
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