BIODIVESITY :

In the Convention of Biological diversity (1992) biodiversity has been defined as the variability among
living organisms from all sources including inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems
and the ecological complexes of which they are a part.
LEVELS OF BIODIVESITY :
- Genetic biodiversity (measure of the variety of different versions of the same genes within
individual species)
- Species biodiversity (no and abundance of species present in different communitires )
- Ecological biodiversity ( Ecosystem + functional) (assesses the richness and complexity of a
biological community, including the number of niches, trophic levels, and ecological processes
that capture energy, sustain food webs, and recycle materials within this system.
HOW MANY SPECIES ARE THERE?
Currently identified 1. 6 million species.But estimated upto 15 million, most of them in tropical
rainforests.


Benefit from biodiversity/ WHY SHOULD WE PROTECT BIODIVERSITY?
INSTRUMENTAL VALUE, INTRINSIC VALUE


1. Consumptive use value :
More than half of all modern medicines are either derived from or modeled on natural
compounds from wild species. Penicillin (Fungus), Morphine (Poppy), quinine ( cinchona),
anticancer alkaloids ( periwinkle) biopiracy
Food genetic engineering, coo
Fuel ,lumbering, silk,pearl,pupl and paper, fur,hide,ivory,musk

2. Cultural and aesthetics value: Contact with nature also can be psychologically and emotionally
restorative. It will also include camping, hiking, wildlife watching, and other outdoor activities
based on nature. Spiritual,religioussacred groves. ECO TOURISM
3. Ethical/existential value: For many people, the value of wildlife goes beyond the opporunity to
shoot or photograph, or even see, a particular species. They argue that existence value,based on
simply knowing that a species exists, is reason enough to protect and preserve it
4. Ecological services value : Total value of these ecological services is at least $33 trillion per year, or
more than double total world GNP. Ecosystem services , TEEB
Ecological Services:
a. Supporting (Nutrient cycling and crop pollination, pest control),
b. Regulating (Control of climate, flood and disease, water and air purificatio,carbon
sink,pollutant absorption reduction of threat of global warming )
c. Preserving (Species-Rich Ecosystems Tend to Be Productive and Sustainable, ESPECIALLY
IF KEYSTONE SPECIES IS LOST IT MAY THREATEN THE ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM)
d. All froms of life is so interlinked at imbalance is one causes ripple effect throughout the
system.If species of plants and animal become endangeded it may threaten human
beings own existence.
Different categories of biodiversity value clearly indicate that ecosystem, species and genetic diversity
all have enormous potential and a decline in biodiversity will lead to huge economic, ecological and
socio-cultural losses. Apart from economical and ecological services bd provides, organisms have a right
to exist regardless of their usefulness to us.

one male lion living to age 7 generates $515,000 in tourist dollars in Kenya, but only
$1,000 if killed for its skin

What Threatens Biodiversity?
Extinction, the elimination of a species, is a normal process. More than 99 percent of all species that
ever existed are now extinct. The rate at which species are disappearing appears to have increased
dramatically over the last 150 years. by the end of this century, the extinction rate is expected to be
10,000 times higher than that background rate.

E. O. Wilson summarizes human threats to biodiversity with the acronym HIPPCO ( DETAILS IN WRITTEN
NOTE) , which stands for
Habitat destruction (deforestation, converting grasslands to croplands), degradation and
fragmentation (roads, canals etc)-edge effect
Invasive species-Island ecosystem (New Zealand) are particularly vulnerable
Pollution (Introducing toxins)- Vulture (diclofenac), BIRDS EGG SHELL THINNING DDT
Population (human) and resource use growth
Climate change , Co-extinction
Overharvesting -Fisheries, American bushmeat trade (of antelopes, primates, elephant)


PATTERN / DISTRIBUTION / GRADIENT OF BIODIVERSITY :
Biodiversity, the variety of life, is distributed heterogeneously across the Earth. The number of species
is determined by the birth, death, immigration and emigration rates of species in an area. These rates
in turn are determined by the effects of abiotic and biotic and evolutionary factors and historical
biogeography.
Equatorial areas are richer in biodiversity than high latitudes possibly as a result of
- Milder climate and greater supply of solar energy allows High productivity and food availability.
This translates into more organisms per unit area, so more species can exist in a given area.
- Less seasonal , relatively more constant and predictable more niche specialization , hence
greater species diversity.
- Past patterns of evolution
- Organisms in the tropics have had a longer time in which to evolve new species. In temperate
zones species have been periodically wiped out by glaciation during the ice ages.
- Small scale disturbances resulting in a mosaic of successional proceses
This is known as latitudinal gradient of biodiversity which is probably most conspicuous pattern of
species diversity on earth. here are, of course, local patterns superimposed on this global
tendency.Similar pattern is observed with elevation in a mountain.

CONSERVATION / PRESERVATION /
MANAGEMENT OF BD
Preserving/Conserving/Managing Biodiversity
Definitions
Conservation is an effort to maintain and use natural resources wisely in an attempt to ensure that
those resources will be available for future generations.
Preservation is a component or part of conservation in which natural systems are left alone without
human disturbance or manipulation. Preservationists (people who believe in preservation) feel natural
resources should be protected, unspoiled, and untouched by humans. The goal of preservation is often
maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem as exemplified by nature preserves or wilderness areas.
Management means controlling, directing, or manipulating wildlife populations and/or their habitats
(active management strategy). Wildlife managers usually seek to:
1. increase a population (by providing key habitat components such as food, shelter and water);
2. decrease a population (by harvesting deer when they are damaging orchard trees or soybean
crops); or
3. stabilize a population so that individuals can be removed on a continuing basis, making sure that
enough individuals remain in the population to replace those that are removed (sustained
yield).
Management involves more active involvement and is not site-specific (it includes pooling on all
resources and managing all the interlinkages- refer Ecosystem management)
Until asked specifically, use them interchangeably.
When asked about management mention it as a new concept and explain it
When asked about conservation, mention how conservation has evolved from conservation
to management (treat management as a part of conservation in this explanation)
Two schools of thought (reasons for preserving)
Because of their instrumental valuetheir usefulness to us which can be classified as
Economic (utilitarian): environmental resource to gain an economic benefit
Ecological: essential to the healthy functioning of regional and global ecosystems-
malfunctioning would imperil human survival
Aesthetic: biological and landscape diversity add to the quality of human existence
Ethical Responsibility: each wild species has intrinsic, or existence, value based on its inherent right to
exist, regardless of its usefulness to us

Two Approaches for preserving
Species approach
Two concepts are important here: minimum viable population and minimum area of suitable
habitat (minimum dynamic area).
o Protecting single species- Vulnerable, Threatened, Endangered OR Flagship species
o Protecting an important species that helps in protecting the whole landscape (Keystone
species, Umbrella species (top predators- cover a large area)


CITES, CMS, IUCN etc. are all based on Species Approach
Can be further divided into in-situ and Ex-situ/Captive breeding (Valid for Species
protection only) - Zoos, Aquaria, Botanical garden, Gene bank (Germplasm and seed banks)
Off-site preservation is expensive. The costs of maintaining African elephants and black rhinos in
zoos is 50 times greater than protecting the same number of individuals in east African national
parks.
Most zoos now operate captive breeding programmes, which is perhaps their major
contribution to conservation. Captive breeding is designed to produce enough individuals to
consider release back into the wild.




ECOSYSTEM APPROACH
Landscape Approach (Always in-situ)
o Ecosystem Approach (Forests, Grasslands, Marine ecosystem)
o Reducing deforestation (REDD)
o Park and preserves (NP, WS, BR)




Ecosystem management
System Approach to natural resource management
Integrate sustainable ecological, economic, and social goals in a systems approach
Managing across whole landscapes, watersheds, or regions over ecological time scales
efficient maintenance, and ethical use of natural resources
sustaining ecosystems to meet both ecological and human needs
maintaining diversity and essential ecologixal proceses.
Guided by five major interlinked elements: human well-being, indirect and direct drivers of
change, ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services.

E.g. Biosphere Reserves, ecotourism (integrating environmental protection with
resource use)
Man and Biosphere Programme, Ramsar Convention are Landscape approaches




FORESTS AND DEFORESTATION :
Forest is any area where trees cover more than 10 percent of the land. includes a variety of forest types
ranging from open savannas,where trees cover less than 20 percent of the ground, to closed-canopy
forests,in which tree crowns overlap to cover most of the ground.
Forests can be old growth forest, secondary growth forest and planatation/commercial forest.
Globally, about one-third of all forests are categorized as old growth forest.
Forests occupy 30 % of the worlds land surface.( 4 billion hectares)

Deforestation is the temporary or permanent removal of large expanses of forest for non forest use.
Over the past 8,000 years, human activities have reduced the earths original forest cover by about
60%, with most of this loss occurring in the last 60 years. Deforestation removes about 16 million
hectares of forest every year.( india 1.5 mha) Deforestation rate is relatively less in temperate
countries, but it is very alarming in tropical countries where it is as high as 40-50 percent and at the
present rate it is estimated that in the next 60 years we would lose more than 90 percent of our tropical
forest.

.
TROPICAL FORESTS:
The largest tropical forests are in South America, which has about 22 percent of the worlds forest area
and by far the most extensive area of undisturbed tropical rainforest. This together with congo and SE
Asian tropical moist forest contain more than two thirds of all higher plant biomass and at least half of
all the plant, animal, and microbial species in the world. Because of their specialized niches these
species are highly vulnerable to extinction when their forest habitats are destroyed or degraded.

DEFORESTATION IN TROPICAL FORESTS:
About 0.6 percent of the worlds rainforest is lost annually by conversion to other uses. The greatest
total forest loss is in South America ( mainly brazil), but the greatest percentage of losses are in Africa.
Africa is suffering deforestation at twice the world rate, according to the United Nations Environment
Programme.Southeast Asia particularly Indonesiaalso has a disastrously high rate of forest clearing.
The Philippines and the African country of Nigeria are two nations that have lost most of their once-
abundant tropical hardwood forests in this way. Both countries are now net importers of forest
products.
CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION IN TROPICAL FORESTS :
Primary causes
population pressure, poverty,( compulsion for survival) underdevelopment, lack of access to technology
, government policies promoting crop and timber export, world pattern in timber trade, to economic
incentives that make forest conversion appear more profitable than forest conservation, lack of effective
implementation of environmental law.
Secondary or immediate causes
1. Conversion of forest to other uses ( agriculture, plantation, roads and other infrastructure)
2. Forest degradation (fires, illegal and unsustainable logging, fuel wood harvesting, and climate
change, mining, submergence due to dam)
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, the
overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is agriculture .Subsistence farming is responsible for 48% of
deforestation; commercial agriculture is responsible for 32% of deforestation; logging is responsible for 14%
of deforestation and fuel wood removals make up 5% of deforestation. Gradually cause is shifting from
substinse to commercial agri.
REGIONAL TROPICAL DEFORESTATION:
1. In Latin America tropical forest is cleared or burned for establishing cattle ranches or soyabean
/ corn plantation driven by high international prices of these commodities due to increase in
demand for biofuel and beef exports. Loggers start the process by cutting roads into dense
forest to harvest valuable hardwood, the area is subsequently occupied by farmers and
ranchers. the percentage of its Amazon basin that had been deforested or degraded increased
from 1% in 1970 to about 20% by 2008.
2. High demand for biodiesel in Europe has led to large areas of plantations of cash crop oil palm
clearing and burning 2 million Ha of tropical forest each year in SE Asia particularly Indonesia.
3. In Africa 2/3rds of deforestation is due to clearing of land by subsistence farmers for farming
and harvesting wood for fuel.
4. In Another major cause of tropical deforestation is increased natural fires ( Indonesia,
California, Australia even in uttarakhand )due to increased drought and insect infestations to
many parts of the world due to global climate change.
5. Commercial logging of old growth forests for timber and pulp and paper making is also
responsible to an extent. Selective cutting employed to remove large and valuable trees also
destroys other trees because of their shallow roots and vines connecting trees in forest canopy.
Brazil, congo,Indonesia,papua new guinea and Madagascar are top 5 timber exporters.
6. It is not fair to blame tropical countries entirely , Global trade in wood much of which is driven
by developed countries ( 80 %)
7. Small in area but biologically important tropical and subtropical mangrove forests are being lost
due to rise in sea laval due to cc and their clearing for aquaculture or construction activities.
8. Other miscellaneous causes include overgrazing,shifting cultivation,development projects
,mining , weak environmental law etc.


DEFORESTATION IN TEMPERATE FORESTS :
1. Historical factors
Temperate deciduous forest is most degraded ecosystem on earth due to long period of human
settlement and unsustainable development of 19
th
and early 20
th
century. Most of the forests
here are secondary growth forests that have grown after initial land clearing or managed
plantations for wood harvest. The only old growth forests that remain in temperate areas is the
temperate rainforest in the pacific west coast on N America and far east of Russia . Due to
rapidly increasing demand of timber and pulp paper industries they are at severe risk of logging
and replanting by loggers. In temperate regions, according to the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, more land is being replanted or allowed to regenerate naturally than is being
permanently deforested. Much of this reforestation, however, is in large plantations of single-
species, single-use, intensive cropping called monoculture forestry. Although this produces rapid
growth and easier harvesting than a more diverse forest, a dense, single-species stand often
supports little biodiversity and does poorly in providing the ecological services, such as soil
erosion control and clean water production, that may be the greatest value of native forests
2. Fire threat
A much greater threat to temperate forests may be posed drought by climate change, insect
infestations, and wildfires, all of which are interconnected. The dilemma is how to undo years
of fire suppression and fuel buildup. Fire ecologists favor small, prescribed burns to clean out
debris. Loggers decry this approach as a waste of valuable timber.

3. Deforestation in Russia is particularly damaging as the forests have a short growing season due
to extremely cold winters and therefore will take longer to recover. Deforestation a major
threat near china border as demand for timber is highest there. Russia has the largest area of
forests of any state on Earth larger than the Amazon rainforest.

.







BENEFITS FROM FOREST :




IMPACT OF DEFORESTATION :
1. Impact on atmosphere :
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tropical deforestation is
responsible for approximately 20% of world greenhouse gas emissions and 1/3
rd
of
anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.deforestation of TAIGA which acts as the largest
carbon sink will further increase emission. Deforestation may also cause carbon stores held in
soil to be released. Forests can be either sinks or sources depending upon environmental
circumstances.
They also absorb many toxic gasses and noise pollution.
2. Impact on hydrological cycle :
The water cycle is also affected by deforestation. Trees extract groundwater through their roots
and release it into the atmosphere. When part of a forest is removed, the trees no longer
transpire this water, resulting in a much drier climate. GW table will fall, severity of flood will
increase, flash floods and droughts would become more frequent. Tropical rainforests produce
about 30% of our planet's fresh water.
3. Impact on soil :
Undisturbed forests have a very low rate of soil loss, approximately 2 tons per square
kilometer. deforestation generally increases rates of soil erosion, by increasing the amount
of runoff and reducing the protection of the soil from tree litter. It dehydrates soil by exposing it
to sunlight and make it prone to wind erosion. When Oxisols are disturbed, soil loss can exceed
1000 tons per square kilometer per year. Deforestation on steep slopes reduces soil cohesion,
so that landslides ensue.Soil erosion has secondary effects of destroying aquatic ecosystems in
streams ,rivers; filling upof river bed causing floods ( chinass yellow river, Brahmaputra ), filling
up dams etc.
4. Reduced biodiversity: Deforestation and forest degradation on local scale causes decline in
biodiversity and on global scale cause extinction of many speciesThe loss of low-latitude
rainforest will result in the disappearance of thousands of species of organisms from the
rainforest environmenta loss of millions of years of evolution, together with the destruction of
the most complex ecosystem on Earth. Orangutan,Gorrila, okapi ,javan rhino are threatened. In
taiga Siberian tiger.

Once lost,lost for ever: When large areas are abandoned, seed sources are so far away that the
original forest species cannot take hold. Instead, secondary species dominate, often
accompanied by good invaders from other vegetation types. he rainforest ecosystem is thus a
resource that, once cleared, will never return in quite the same way.
Disrupted livelihoods: Millions of people rely directly on forests, through small-scale agriculture,
hunting and gathering, and by harvesting forest products such as rubber. Deforestation
continues to pose severe social problems, sometimes leading to violent conflict. Damage to
forests and other aspects of nature could halve living standards for the world's poor and reduce
global GDP by about 7% by 2050, a report concluded at the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD)


HOW TO MANAGE AND SUSTAIN FORESTS?

Sustaining forests can be approached in 2 methods ,
1. Forest preservation/protection
2. Restoring ecosystem - planting trees
PRESERVATION/SUSTAINABLE USE :
a. Using GIS to monitor conditions of landscape.
b. Small prescribed burning to clear up debris and fire management in face of increased risks of cc
, pest infestation and drought. California fires since 2000 . ( Shabbir forest mgmt notes refer for
this point.)
c. SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY :
1. no logging in highly bio diverse and old growth forests
2. no clear cutting on steep slopes
3. more selective cut and strip cut , careful logging ( cutting lianas before felling), storey
harvesting( lower branches are cut and higher are left intact ) , allowing migration corridors.
4. certify timber produced by sustainable products
5. include ecological services in estimating their economic value , through market tools such as
regulations, taxes, and subsidies
d. reducing the demand for harvested trees by 3Rs reduce,reuse,recycle.( recycling paper,
using rice straw ,kenaf for paper, providing alternate energy source for poor, substituting
bamboo and other products for wood)
e. Protect areas as protected areas and biosphere reserves etc by legislation .( 12 % worldwide
protected but mention problem of paper parks in developing countries, in africa.)
f. removing government subsidies that hasten their destruction and subsidize only sustainale
forest use.
g. Awareness, involving people in forest management,recognizing the rights of traditional people.
poverty and population growth removal.
h. Encouraging conservation/ giving financial incentives for conservation via debt for nature
swaps, REDD.
REDD :
REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) program
established a mechanism to allow poorer countries to sell carbon offset credits by protecting their
forests. The threat to primary forests is that countries currently could harvest the valuable hardwoods
from their forests and then replace them with fast-growing eucalyptus or pines to gain carbon
payments. This would increase carbon emissions in the short run as well as destroy irreplaceable
biodiversity.
DEBT FOR NATURE SWAP :
Conservation organizations cancelling /buying debts of developing countries in turn for promise of
protecting and restoring bd. There have been many such swaps. Bolivia , Costarica , Ecuador are
pioneers in this. But this does little to change the situations that led to environmental destruction in the
first place.

AWARENESS AND PEOPLES ACTION CASE STUDY :
In 1970s commercial loggers began large scale tree felling in Garhwal region of Uttar Pradesh.
Deforestation of steep hill slopes resulted in landslides and floods. The fuel wood on which the local
people depended was destroyed, traditional ways of forest life was disrupted .In a remarkable display of
determination and courage village women hugged the trees to save the trees , thus sparking Chipko
Andolan . They prevented logging on 12,000 sq km of sensitive watersheds in the Alakanada basin.
Today the Chipko Andolan movement has grown to more than 4,000 groups working to save Indias
forests.










HUMAN IMPACT ON GRASSLANDS
Prairies, savannas, steppes, open woodlands, and other grasslands occupy about one-quarter
of the worlds land surface. Worldwide the rate of grassland disturbance each year is three
times that of tropical forest and is one of the most threatened biome. Causes are
attractive for human occupation hence converted into human dominated landscapes.
soil ( mollisol) is nutrient rich and fertile => almost completely replaced by corn,
soybeans, wheat, and other crops.
grasslands that are too dry to support agriculture is used as rangelands.the greatest
threat is overgrazing. ( definitions etc miller and spoolman)
- Soil erosion, desiccation leading to loss of biological productivity desertification.
- Overgrazing also enhances invasion by species such as sagebrush, mesquite, cactus, and
cheat grass, which cattle will not eat.

HOW TO MANAGE AND SUSTAIN GRASSLANDS? ( Cunningham)
- Rotational grazing so that carrying capacity is not exceeded.
- Growing native wild species which graze more efficiently rather than cattle and sheep
which graze selectively and cause more damage.











STATUS OF PROTECTED AREAS :
The World Conservation Union divides protected areas into five categories depending on the
intended level of allowed human use.

Currently, only 12% of the earths land area is protected strictly or partially in nature reserves,
parks, wildlife refuges, wilderness, and other areas. This 12% figure is misleading because no
more than 5% of the earths land is strictly protected from potentially harmful human
activities. Moreover this 5% consists of ice, tundra, or desert that contains little biodiversity.
PROTECTION STATUS OF EACH MAJOR BIOME
Theres an inverse relationship between the percentage converted to human use and the
percentage protected. Temperate grasslands and savannas and Mediterranean woodlands and
scrub are highly domesticated, and, therefore, expensive to set aside in large areas.
Temperate conifer forests are relatively uninhabited, and therefore easy to put into some
protected category.




PROBLEM OF PROTECTED AREAS :
1. Problems specific to Developing countries :
- Venezuela claims to have the highest proportion of its land area protected (70 percent) of
any country in the world. Brazil has the largest total area in protected status of any
country, mostly in the Amazon basin.
- Unfortunately, its not uncommon in the developing world to have paper parks that exist
only as a line drawn on a map with no fund, trained staff, management, or infrastructure
.Political and economical expediency often threatens the protected areas .
- For e.g. Ecuadors largest park, Yasuni National Park, which contains one of the worlds
most megadiverse regions of lowland Amazonian forest, has been opened to oil drilling. In
Columbia, dam building also threatens the Paramillo National Park. In Palau, coral reefs
identified as a potential biosphere reserve are damaged by dynamite fishing , while on
some beaches in Indonesia, every egg laid by endangered sea turtles is taken by egg
hunters.

2. General problems : ( Cunningham)
3.
- Unsustainable tourism: crowding and traffic congestion.
- Visitors wanting luxuries of life while staying inside nature preservesentertainment seems to
have trumped over nature protection.
- Snowmobiles and off-road vehicles (ORV) create pollution and noise and cause erosion while
disrupting wildlife in many parks.
- Development right up to the boundary ( such as mining, logging, livestock grazing, coal-burning in
power plants, water diversion, and urban development) that threaten aesthetic and recreational
value and might even threaten biodiversity by air ,noise,light ,water and thermal pollution.
- Local people not involved and when they suddenly find their livelihood resources cordoned off and
becomes unavailable to them they turn enemy of the wildlife and this gives rise to poaching , illegal
harvesting and other destructive activities.

PRESERVING BIODIVERSITY HOW TO MANAGE PARKS AND PRESERVES ?
- banned private automobiles from the most congested areas. Visitors must park in remote
lots and take clean, quiet electric or natural gas-burning buses to popular sites.
- Limits on the number of visitors admitted each day
- emphasize nature protection and environmental education over entertainment.
- Involving people
In developing countries which are biologically rich, Immediate survival takes precedence
over long-term environmental goals. Clearly the struggle to save species and ecosystems
cant be divorced from the broader struggle to meet human needs.
Ecotourism(tourism that is ecologically and socially sustainable) can be more beneficial
in many places over the long term than extractive industries, such as logging and mining.
In many important biomes indigenous people are present for thousands of years and
have a legitimate right to pursue their traditional life.so integrating human needs with
goals of conservation is important. It is achieved by core buffer concept.
UNS MAN & BIOSPHERE PROGRAM recognizes this.
Critical ecosystem functions and endangered wildlife are protected in a central core
region, where limited scientific study is the only human access allowed. Ecotourism and
research facilities. are located in a relatively pristine buffer zone around the core, while
sustainable resource harvesting and permanent habitation are allowed in multiple-use
peripheral regions. So in this approach local people extract resources sustainably in the
2 buffer zones without harming the inner core. thus by treating people as partners the
reserves is saved from unsustainable activities such as logging and poaching.


SIZE OF THE PROTECTED AREA AND SHAPE :

















BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS
Species diversity is not uniformly distributed. The greatest concentration of different organisms
tends to be in the tropics, especially in tropical rainforests and coral reefs. Norman Myers,
Russell Mittermeier, and others have identified biodiversity hot spots
that have at least 1,500 endemics
and have lost at least 70 percent of their habitat owing to, for example, deforestation
or invasive species.
34 hot spots that represent a high-priority for conservation because they have both high
biodiversity and a high risk of disruption by human activities . They occupy only 1.4 percent of
the worlds land area, but 20 % of population .They are also home for a large majority of the
worlds endangered or critically endangered species.The hot spots also account for about half
of all known higher plant species and 42 percent of all terrestrial vertebrate species.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION WHY THESE AREAS HAVE SO MUCH ENDEMIC DIVERSITY
The hottest of these hot spots tend to be tropical islands such as Madagascar, Indonesia, and
the Philippines, where geographic isolation has resulted in large numbers of unique plants and
animals. Special climatic conditions and frequent fire disturbances found in Mediterranean
basin, California, south Africa also produce highly distinctive flora and fauna.

CRITIQUE OF HOTSPOTS AS A CONSERVATION CONCEPT :
- An emergrncy response ,much result at small cost.
- Hotspot approach neglects many rare species and groups that live in less biologically rich
areas .
- Focusing on a few hot spots also doesnt recognize the importance of certain species and
ecosystems to human beings. Wetlands, for instance, may contain just a few, common
plant species but perform valuable ecological services, such as filtering water, regulating
floods, and serving as nurseries for fish.
Principles of restoration (once degraded, used for ecosystems and natural
resources)
o Removing physical stressors (the first and foremost step)- pollutants, inadequate
moisture, or vehicle traffic
o Controlling invasive species
o Replanting (reintroducing native floral species)
o Captive breeding and reestablishing fauna
o Re-establishing the physical components (restoring water supply to wetlands)
o Protect the area from further degradation and allow secondary ecological succession to
occur
o Monitoring




Aquatic diversity, threats to it and its conservation in other copies.