Dr. B.

Victor
 Biodiversity
What does “Bio” mean?

Bio =
 Biodiversity

What does “Diversity” mean?

Diversity = Variety
 Why protect biodiversity ?

MORAL
 right to exist, stewardship (heritage),
 unnecessary waste immoral
ECONOMIC
 valuable resources now and in the future
ECOLOGICAL
 maintain local to global ecosystem health
LEGAL
 have to by law
 Human impact on Global
Biodiversity
 Human activities have altered the world’s terrestrial,
freshwater and marine ecosystems throughout
history.
 In the last 50 years, there was “a substantial and
largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on
Earth” (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005).
 The number of species at risk of extinction –
16,306 species of plants and animals listed as
threatened globally – clearly reflects this loss of
diversity.
 Biodiversity – plants, animals, microorganisms and
the ecological processes that interconnect them –
forms the planet’s natural productivity.
The world is a living system
where…

 Everything is connected and….

 Everything is interdependent and….
 Sustained in a dynamic balance.
 Matter and energy may change form, but
they do not disappear.
A Basic Equation for Life

Seeds + Soil + Nutrition + Water + Sun =

Food
Natural cycles in the world’s ecosystems help
deliver nutrition and water to the soil, and
microbes in the soil help capture and
process those materials so they are available
to be taken up by plants. Plants become a
part of the food chain and are eaten by other
living things.
Massive biodiversity loss is
essentially irreversible
 Each species is the product of a unique, non-
reproducible history
 Paleontology shows that it takes about ten
million years to recover previous levels of
species diversity after a period of mass
extinction, and the new biodiversity strongly
differs from that lost
The Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment : five main causes of
biodiversity loss
 habitat change,
 climate change,
 invasive alien species,
 overexploitation and
 pollution.
 The Assessment argued that the loss of the
species and the progressive homogenization
of many ecosystems is one of the main
threats to the survival of the natural systems.
 Introduction
 The term BIODIVERSITY was first coined by
the entomologist E.O. Wilson in 1986.
 Biodiversity is the heritage of million of years
of evolution.
 Diversity is a basic property of life.
 The striking feature of Earth is the existence
of Life and the striking feature of Life is its
Diversity.
Biodiversity allowed the advent of
modern civilizations, but…
 Plant and animal domestication often
involves a reduction in biodiversity through
artificial selection
 • Industrialization and modern technology
provide humankind with increasing control
over, and independence from, nature
 Modern humans
(Homo sapiens)
appear about
2 seconds
before midnight

Recorded human
history begins
Age of
1/4 second
mammals
Age of reptiles before midnight

midnight
Insects and amphibians
invade the land Origin of life
(3.6–3.8 billion
years ago)
Plants invade
the land

First fossil
record of
animals

Plants begin
invading
land
noon

Evolution and expansion of

life
Biodiversity is the measure of the number,
variety and variability of living organisms.

 Variety - the number of

different types.
 Quantity - the number
or total biomass of any
one type.
 Distribution - the
extent and nature of
geographic spread of
different types.
 What is biodiversity?

 Biodiversity includes diversity within species,

between species and among ecosystems.
Significance of biodiversity
 Biodiversity is the sum of life on earth and
includes genetic, species and functional
diversity.
 The status and trends in biodiversity reflect
the health of the ecosystems that support
and enrich human life.
The Earth is home to a tremendous
biological diversity

This “biodiversity”, which includes:

 The millions of different species
 The diversity of their genes, physiologies, and
behaviors
 The multitude of their ecological interactions
 The variety of the ecosystems they constitute

This biodiversity, which is the result of more than 3

billion years of evolution, is under serious threat today
 Biodiversity
• Variety of living things, number of kinds
• Ecological diversity
– different habitats, niches, species interactions
• Species diversity
– different kinds of organisms, relationships among
species
• Genetic diversity
– different genes & combinations of genes
Which do you like better?

A B
Which do you like better?

A B
Which do you like better?

A B
What is biodiversity?

The spectrum of life on earth,

in terms of variation in
genes,
populations,
species,
ecosystems,
interactions among them.
Biological Diversity
 Genetic diversity – the genetic variation
among individuals in a species
 Species diversity – the number of different
species in a given area
 Ecosystem (Habitat) diversity – the variety
of interactions among organisms in a
community (or the variety of ecosystems on
Earth)
 Biodiversity, the variety of life
 more interactions
 COMMUNITY
 POPULATION
 INDIVIDUAL
 GENOME
 CHROMOSOME
 GENE
 ENZYME
 more biological units
Biological Diversity
Biological diversity organization
Levels of genetic organization

Gene Text sequence

Chromosome Chapter

Genome

Gene pool
 Genetic diversity

 Variation within genes

alleles & haplotypes
 Variation within individuals
individual heterozygosity
 Variation within populations
allele frequencies, average heterozygosity, average number of
polymorphic alleles and loci.
 Variation among populations
differentiation and genetic distance (pairwise and average)
 Species diversity

It represents the different types of plants,

animals and other life forms within a region.
It is a dynamic property and changes over
space and time.
The number of species and their relative
abundances depend on the size and
geographic area of the ecosystem.
Species diversity is an indicator of the
biological richness/stress of an ecosystem.
 Ecosystem diversity

It is the variety of different

habitats/ecosystems in a particular area
( e.g.. wetland, woodland, grassland).
The ecosystems of the world are maintained
by their biodiversity.
Every ecosystem can be characterized by its
own species composition.
The ecosystems differ in features such as
physical structure, temperature, water
availability and food types.
Ecosystem Characteristics

Biological structure, composition.

Physical structure, composition.
Major vegetation types.
Successional stages.
Rare or specialized communities
(or otherwise at risk.)
Soil and air resources.
Water quality.
Stream flows, streambanks, shorelines, lakes, wetlands,
riparian areas, floodplains.
Principal ecological processes, invasives.
Ecosystem Characteristics
Major vegetation types and developmental stages.
Rare and unique habitats.
Species richness, diversity, distribution.
Narrow endemic, geographically restricted, or rare
species.
Spatial structure of populations.
Invasives.
Keystone species or ecological engineers.
Landforms adjacent to stream channels.
Wetlands.
 Structure Characteristics

Proportion and distribution of vegetation types and

successional stages.
Density of large trees per acre.
Landscape patch dynamics.
Stream habitat complexity.
Riparian structure.
Tributaries, lake morphometry.
Soil productivity, soil compaction layers.
Percent particulate matter in air.
Stream diversions and impoundments.
Processes Characteristics

Fire, landslides, flood types, frequencies,

severities, patch size, landscape pattern.
Successional pathways.
Stream and lake temperature regimes.
Riverine flow regimes, sediment transport.
Nutrient cycling.
Rate and extent of invasion by exotics.
Diversity of organisms
How many different species are
there?
 The number of species identified and named is
more than 1.7 million, including:
 950,00 species of insects
 270,000 species of plants
 19,000 species of fish
 10,500 species of reptiles and amphibians
 9,000 species of birds
 4,000 species of mammals

 The rest includes mollusks, worms, spiders, fungi,

algae, and microorganisms.
Biodiversity: # of species estimates

 Most estimates of the

total number of species
on Earth lie between
5 million and 30 million.

 Of this total, roughly 2

million species have
been formally described;
the remainder are
unknown or unnamed.
Biodiversity Attributes
 1.Scales of diversity

a d a ba
 Alpha – number of species a
in a given plot or area b b
c a a
a c b c
 2.Scales of diversity
 Beta – species turnover across an
environmental gradient

16.14
 3.Scales of diversity
 Gamma diversity: the total biodiversity within
a landscape.
 Gamma diversity is a function of local or
‘within habitat diversity’ (alpha diversity) and
differences in species composition or
‘turnover’ of species, between habitats or
localities (beta diversity ).
Scales of diversity
Types of biodiversity measures

What is being measured?

 - measures of numbers of things (e.g., number of
species
 - measures of processes (e.g., primary productivity)
 - measures of system properties (e.g., resilience)
What scale?
 - genetic
 - species
 - community
 - ecosystem
 - landscape
Species Richness (S)
 The total number of different organisms
present. It does not take into account the
proportion and distribution of each
subspecies within a zone.
 Simpson Index (D)
 A measurement that accounts for the richness and
the percent of each subspecies from a biodiversity
sample within a zone. The index assumes that the
proportion of individuals in an area indicate their
importance to diversity.
 Simpson's index: D = sum(Pi2)
 The first step is to calculate Pi, which is the
abundance of a given subspecies in a zone divided
by the total number of subspecies observed in that
zone.
Shannon-Wiener index (H)/ the
Shannon index / the Shannon-
Weaver index
 This measurement takes into account subspecies
richness and proportion of each subspecies within
a zone.
 The first step is to calculate Pi for each category
subspecies. Then multiply this number by the log of
the number. While you may use any base, the
natural log is commonly used. The index is
computed from the negative sum of these numbers.
H = -sum (Pi log [Pi])
 Using species richness (S) and the Shannon-
Wiener index (H), you can also compute a measure
of evenness:
E = H/ log (S)
 Biodiversity
 Biodiversity maintains the health
of the earth and its people.
 It provides us with food and
medicine and contributes to our
economy.
 It tells us a lot about the health of
the biosphere.
 The greater the variety of species,
the healthier the biosphere.
 Biodiversity –
Hierarchy
Biodiversity Is determined By:

Species richness
Species evenness
Species composition
Species interaction
Temporal and spatial
variation
Species richness is the number of
species in a given area.
High-, medium- and low Diversity
Why is biodiversity important?
Regulation of climate and biogeochemical cycles,
Hydrological functions,
Soil protection,
Crop pollination,
Pest control,
Recreation and ecotourism
Ecological resilience
Wildlife habitat and diversity
Traditionally free benefits to society or “public goods”
Scale is variable from local to global benefits
What do we get from biodiversity?

Oxygen
Food
Clean Water
Medicine
Aesthetics
Ideas
Biodiversity is dynamic
Biodiversity is not
static, but constantly
changing.
Biodiversity is
increased by genetic
change and
evolutionary processes
and reduced by
processes such as
habitat degradation,
population decline, and
extinction.
Earth's five mass extinctions
Earth is experiencing a sixth mass extinction today.
Anthropogenic Impacts

• By the end of the 21st century, we may have

lost two-thirds of the species on Earth

• To date, about 50 percent of the planet's

natural habitats have been cleared for
human use, and another 0.5 to 1.5 percent of
nature is lost each year
Principal causes of extinction

 73% - Destruction of habitat

 68% - Displacement by introduced species
 38% - Alteration of habitat by chemical `
pollution
 38% - Hybridization of species (plants)
 15% - Over-harvesting
The main threats to biodiversity
Endangered and Extinct Species

 Extinction, the elimination of a species from

Earth, occurs when the last individual of a
particular species dies.

 Extinction is a natural process – 99.95% of all

the species that have ever lived on Earth are
extinct today.

 However, human activities can speed the

process - extinctions today are occurring at 100
to 1000 times faster than the natural rate.
Endangered and Extinct
Species

 Endangered species are in

imminent danger of
extinction throughout all or
part of their range.
Characteristics of Endangered
Species
Endangered species have one or more
of these characteristics that make
them vulnerable to extinction:
 limited natural range
 low reproductive success
 specialized feeding requirements
 large territory requirement
Extinctions can be caused
by:
 ·natural processes (e.g. fires, hurricanes,
droughts);
 excessive harvesting of particular species
of economic value;
 impacts of alien invasive species including
diseases;
 the impacts of various environmental
pollutants;
 changes in climate;
 knock-on effects from extinction of
essential companion species (e.g.
pollinators, fruit or seed dispersers,
Human activities threatening
biological diversity:
Habitat destruction, fragmentation,
and degradation
 Invasive species
 Pollution
 Overexploitation
 Habitat Fragmentation
 Habitat fragmented into smaller “patches
 The patches grow further apart, more isolated,
organisms can’t move among them.
 Fragments reside in a “matrix” of anthropogenic,
disturbed habitat (farmland, subdivisions, etc)—
often inhospitable to native species.
 those Species obligated to the remaining habitat
patches decline, those able to move among
patches and utilize the human-dominated matrix
hold on.
 Generalist species able to use patch, edge, and
matrix increase (deer, raccoons, many weeds).
Fragmentation most easily observed in forest habitat is
caused by human activities. Anywhere that humans
transformations cut up continuous habitat.
“Edge Effect” and edge vs. interior species.
Habitat Destruction

 Habitat destruction, fragmentation, and

degradation is the leading cause of biodiversity
decline.

All in the name of progress?

Invasive Species

 Biotic pollution is the introduction of a foreign

species into an area where it is not native

Other names for these:

 Invasive Species
 Exotic Species
 Foreign Species
 Non-native Species
Pollution

 Acid deposition
Global warming
Toxic chemicals
Plastics
Overexploitation

Over-hunting – unregulated hunting

Poaching – illegal hunting
Over-fishing – harvesting faster than the
stocks can replace themselves
Over-collecting – collecting live organisms
for zoos, pet stores, research etc.
 Homogenization

 Homogenization is the process whereby

species assemblages become increasingly
dominated by a small number of
widespread, human-adapted species.
 Anthropogenic
Homogenization

http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312380/images/wheat.jpg
Exotic species
Homogenization
Biodiversity affects human well-
being
Human
Global activities
changes

Ecosystem
services

Biodiversity
Ecosystem
processes
Links between biodiversity, climate
change and Human well-being
Links between biodiversity,
climate change and ecosystem
services
 Consumptive
value

Aesthetic Productive
value value
Biodiversity
Value

Ethical Social
value value
 Values of biodiversity

Values of
biodiversity

Ecological Economic Cultural

values values values
 “Value” of Biodiversity
 1. Market values
 2. Non-market values
 3. Ecosystems services
 Measured in terms of ecosystems
function
 Focus on biologically mediated flows of
energy and materials
Biodiversity Value :
Ecological values
All living creatures are supported by the
interactions among organisms and
ecosystems.
Loss of biodiversity makes ecosystems
less stable, more vulnerable to extreme
events, and weakens its natural cycles.
 Economic values
 : A biologically diverse natural environment
provides humans with the necessities of life
and forms the basis for the economy.
 Every thing we buy and sell originates from
the natural world.
 Cultural values

Most people feel connected to nature, often for

reasons hard to explain.
Some feel a strong spiritual bond that may be
rooted in our common biological ancestory.
Others are inspired by its beauty.
Human cultures around the world profoundly
reflect our visceral attachment to the natural
world.
Thus cultural diversity is linked to Earth’s
biodiversity.
Ecosystem Services
New ways of thinking
Ecosystem Services: the benefits people
obtain from ecosystems

Provisioning Regulating Cultural

Goods produced or Benefits obtained from Non-material benefits
provided by regulation of from ecosystems
ecosystems ecosystem processes • spiritual
• food • climate regulation • recreational
• fresh water • disease regulation • aesthetic
• fuel wood • flood regulation • inspirational
• genetic resources • educational

Supporting
Services necessary for production of other ecosystem services
• Soil formation
• Nutrient cycling
• Primary production
Many human activities disrupt, impair, or
reengineer ecosystems every day
including:

 runoff of pesticides, fertilizers, and animal wastes

 pollution of land, water, and air resources
 introduction of non-native species
 overharvesting of fisheries
 destruction of wetlands
 erosion of soils
 deforestation
 urban sprawl
Linkages among Biodiversity,
Ecosystem Services, and
Human Well-Being
Major Concepts
 Most species are moderately abundant; few
are very abundant or extremely rare.
 A combination of the number of species and
their relative abundance defines species
diversity.
 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/
http://www.oceansatlas.org/

http://library.thinkquest.org
/

Over-harvest
http://www.ourworldfoundation.org.uk/polar.jpg  Pollution
 Climatic
change Species invasions

Loss of biodiversity
Molles 2007
Land use change
- type
- intensity
Global changes
ADVERSE EFFECTS ON
ECOSYSTEMS
 decline of forests, due to air pollution and acid deposition;
 loss of fish production in a stream, due to death of
invertebrates from copper pollution;
 loss of timber growth, due to nutrient losses caused by
mercury poisoning of microbes and soil insects;
 decline and shift in age of eagle and hawk (and other top
predator) populations, due to the effects of DDT in their food
supply on egg survival;
 losses of numbers of species (diversity) in ship channels
subjected to repeated oil spills;
 loss of commercially valuable salmon and endangered
species (bald eagle, osprey) from forest applications of
DDT.
Percentage of birds, mammals, fishes and plants/ Total
number of species disappearing

(after Pimms et al., 1995 in Chapin et al., 2000)

The role of biodiversity in global change
Biodiversity and Sustainability

 The biodiversity of an ecosystem contributes to the

sustainability of that ecosystem.

 Higher/more biodiversity = more sustainable.

 Lower/less biodiversity = less sustainable.

 High biodiversity in an ecosystem means that there

is a great variety of genes and species in that
ecosystem.
Preserving Earth’s
Biological Diversity
 Ex-situ Conservation

 Ex-situ conservation means “off-site” conservation.

 The species of plants and animals to be protected
are removed from the natural habitats and are
placed in the safer areas under the control of man.
 Botanical gardens, zoos and the arboreta are the
traditional methods of ex-situ conservation.
 Germ plasm banks or Seed banks (also Gene
banks) are some other methods of ex-situ
conservation.
 In-situ Conservation

 In-situ conservation means “on-site”

conservation i.e. protection of species within
the natural habitat of the species of animals
and plants.
 It includes protection in the wildlife
sanctuaries, national parks and biosphere
reserves etc. that have been formed to
protect threatened and even rare species.
 In-situ Conservation

In India we have 608 protected areas.

 · National Parks: 95
 · Biosphere Reserves: 13
 · Wildlife Sanctuaries: 500
In India, there are four internationally recognized
Biosphere Reserves: Nilgiri, Gulf of Mannar,
Sunderbans and Nanda Devi (Man and Biosphere
Programme of UNESCO).
In Tamil nadu we have:
 National parks: 5
 Wild life sancturies: 20
 Biosphere reserves: 2
Biodiversity Hotspot Zones
 British ecologist Norman Myers gave the
concept of ‘biodiversity hotspots’ in 1988.
 There are 25 hotspots on a global level.
 Out of the 25 hotspots, 11 have lost at least
90% of their natural vegetation.
 The TWO Indian hotspots viz. the eastern
Himalayas and the western Ghats are rich in
flora, reptiles amphibians butter flies and
some mammals.
Indo-Burma hotspot region
 This region extends from North-east India to
Burma and has a rich treasure of biological
resources.
 The region has a remarkable diversity of
fresh water turtles and bird species (over
1300 species).
 A number of dipterocarps, orchids and ginger
11 species are present in this region.
 The Himalayan Hotspot
 The Himalayan Hotspot has over 10,000
plant species of which 31.6 5 are endemic.
 These include pines, firs, spruces,
rhododendrons and variety of orchids,
mosses and ferns.
 A number of birds and mammals including
vultures, tigers, elephants, rhinos and wild
water buffaloes exist in the Himalayas.
Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
 Western Ghats and Sri Lanka is one of the
richest biodiversity areas with a high rate
(52%) of endemism of plants species.
 A number of unique and rare plants and
ferns are present in this hotspot.
 Biodiversity Act of India (2002)

 The Government of India approved biodiversity bill

in December 2002 which became an ACT known
as Biological Diversity Act of 2002.
 Later, Biological Diversity Rules, 2004 were
formulated as a step towards conservation of
biodiversity.
 According to this act, any one who destroys
biodiversity in any way or takes it away for
commercial utilization or any other purpose without
approval of authorities is liable to be imprisoned for
up-to five years or to pay a fine of Rs.10 lakhs.
Some closing thoughts
How do we restore ecological
balance and meet human needs?
 Don’t deplete non-renewable resources
 Use renewable resources efficiently and
sustainably
 Don’t create persistent toxicity
 Respect and protect biodiversity
 Organic farming provides the foundation for
restorative agriculture.
Biological Diversity
Biological Diversity
Biodiversity quotes

 Every country has three forms of wealth:

material, cultural and biological. The first two
we understand well, because they are the
substance of our everyday lives. The
essence of the biodiversity problem is that
biological wealth is taken much less
seriously. . . ..”
-EDWARD WILSON, The Diversity of Life
(1992).
“Harmony with the land is
like harmony with a friend;
you cannot cherish his
right hand and chop off his
left. The land is one
organism. Its part
compete with each other
and co-operate with each
other. To keep every cog
and wheel is the first
precaution of intelligent
thinking”

– Aldo Leopold
We remember we
depend on each
other, 
live and let live.