Biodiversity

Sat Aug 2,4, 2008

AM220 Lecture 10-11

Outline

What is Biodiversity?
Estimation of Biodiversity
Benefits of Biodiversity
Threats to Biodiversity
Biodiversity of India
Genetic Engineering and Biodiversity

What is Biodiversity?
Variation of life forms within a given
ecosystem, biome or for the entire Earth.
Measure of the health of biological systems.
Biodiversity on Earth today consists of
many millions of distinct biological species,
which is the product of four billion years of
evolution.
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Definitions
Variation of life at all levels of biological organization
Measure of the relative diversity among organisms present
in different ecosystems.
Totality of genes, species, and ecosystems of a region.
1992 UN Earth Summit at Rio "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 part: this
includes diversity within species, between species and
of ecosystems".
adopted by the United Nations Convention on Biological
Diversity.

Biodiversity at 3 Levels
Species Biodiversity
Number or range of species in a given area

Genetic Biodiversity
Variations of genes within a species

Ecosystem Diversity
Diversity of habitat in a given area

Estimation of Biodiversity
Biodiversity is conceptobjectives measures for
empirical measurement
2 criteria : Species richness & Species Evenness
Measurement Indices:
Species richnessonly number of species.
Simpson indexno. and relative abundance
Shannon indexspecies as symbols and populations as
probability
Alpha diversityno. of taxa within the ecosystem
Beta diversity is species diversity between ecosystems;
unique taxa caomparison
Gamma diversity is a measure of the overall diversity
for different ecosystems within a region.
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Which is More Biodiverse?

Amrita: 4 species

Venkateshwara: 4 species

CIT: 2 species

How many species do we have?

Numbers of identified modern species as of 2004

287,655 plants, including:

58,808 vertebrates:
29,300 fish,
5,743 amphibians,
8,240 reptiles,
10,234 birds,
5,416 mammals.

15,000 mosses,
13,025 ferns,
980 gymnosperms,
199,350 dicotyledons,
59,300 monocotyledons;
74,000-120,000 fungi,
10,000 lichens;

1,250,000 animals, including:

1,190,200 invertebrates:
950,000 insects,
70,000 mollusks,
40,000 crustaceans,
130,200 others;

However the total number of

species for some phyla may be
much higher: 10-30 million
insects; 5-10 million bacteria;
1.5 million fungi; 1 million
mites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity

BenefitsAgriculture
Gigantic economic impacts
All food resources are products of biodiversity e.g.
Rice, wheat, potato
We depend upon 40,000 types of plants and
animals.
Few strains were domesticated. Thousands of wild
relatives exist.
80% of our food comes from just 15 species
Infinite wealth of genetic material. Help combat
crop diseases, and prevent failure and starvation
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Biodiversity Rescues Crops

Hybrid from a wild potato from Peru, for potato
blight resistance
Gene from a wild Ethiopian barley saved
Californian barley from lethal yellow dwarf virus
Genes from wild rice in India protect the Asian
rice crop from the 4 major rice diseases
Disease resistance inherited from a wild Brazilian
cassava, increased yields of crop in India and
Africa by 18 fold.
US sugarcane industry collapse saved by wild
Asian species
Wild Andean tomato increased sugar content of
tomatoes

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Benefits-Medicines and Chemicals

40% of pharmaceuticals have natural origin
121 prescription drugs from higher plants e.g. morphine,
codeine, quinine, atrophine, digitalis

Only a tiny fraction of species are utilized; less than 1 %

of rainforest plants have been tested
Pesticides
Calabar bean led to discovery of methyl carbamate insecticides
Daisy plantspyrethrin (pesticides, lice remedy, mosquito
coils). Synthetic forms are ineffective isomers.
South American vine stuns fishbiopesticide
Bacillus thuringienesistoxic proteins harmless to humans
biopesticides
Neeminsecticidesfungicidesspermicides; 90 patents
awarded on Neem based products.

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Benefits-Science
Unique materials produced by animals

Photosynthesis by plants; chlorophyll

Chemoluminescence by fireflies
Chitin from arthropods: biodegradable plastics
Spider silk: 8 times stronger than steel!
Biomimetic approaches in advanced and smart
materials

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Biodiversity, Stability and Evolution

Diversity leads to stability
Companies diversify to ensure survival; so does
nature
So do plants, animals and ecosystems

Enables adaptation to changing conditions

Co-existence of different species; each adapted
to slightly different conditions.
Redundancy
Selection
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Environmental Functions

Water Resource protection

Soil formation and protection
Nutrient storage and recycling
Pollution breakdown and absorption
Maintain climate stability
Maintain ecosystems
Recovery from catastrophic events
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Thinking Beyond Utility

Anthropocentric vs. Ecocentric and ethical views
Dont break what you cannot mend!
It took Gaia 4 million years to bring about this
biodiversity
You can be hanged to death for killing 1 person.
What should be the punishment for wiping out an
entire species from the face of the earth?
We are eliminating species at rates 1% per decade
or 2 species an hour!!!
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Endemic Species in India

Species, whose distribution is confined to a
small region
At high risk of extinction
Endemism-rich areas: NE, NW, and E
Himalayas, Western Ghats
44 mammals, 55 birds, 214 reptiles, 110
amphibians

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India as a Mega-Diverse Nation

8% of biodiversity on 2% of earths surface
One of 12 megadiverse countries
10 biogeographic zone 26 biotic provinces
representing all ecosystems in the world.
33% of life forms on earth are found in
India
5 World Heritage sites, 6 Ramsar Wetlands
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Biodiversity Hotspots

Regions that harbor a great diversity of endemic

species and at the same time be significantly
altered by human activities
Must support 1500 endemic species (0.1% of
global)
Must have lost more than 70% of original habitat
25 world hotspots have 44% of all plant species
and 35% of all vertebrates in 1.4% of land area
2 in India: Eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats
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The Biodiversity Hotspot Next-Door

17,000 km2 strip : Maharashtra to Kerala
49,219 plant species, 1600 endemics (40% of
Indias)
Evergreen and semi-evergreen forests
2 centers: Agastyamalai Hills and Silent
Valley/New Amambalam
Only 6.8% of vegetation & <8000 km2 of primary
forest exists today.
Significant endemic species for conservation:
Lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri Tahr, Nilgiri leaf
monkey, Brown palm civet
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Threats to Biodiversity

Manmade mass extinction

Habitat degradation and loss
Exotic and Invasive species
Pollution
Overexploitation of resources
Global Environmental Change

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Biodiversity Conservation
In Situ
1972 Project Tiger; 27 reserves; 35,000 km2
Estimated less than 4000 tigers left in India

1991-92 Project Elephant, 12 states, 60,000

km2. Providing corridors.

Ex Situ
Gene Banks
Zoos, Safari parks
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Genetic Engineering and Biodiversity

The precautionary principle
Species evolved in habitats with mutual
adaptation
Natural evolution is slow and avoids
catastrophic imbalance
Genetic engineering changes organisms
drastically for perceived human benefit;
disregarding effect on the environment
GMOs are not adapted to the environment and
other beings are not adapted to them
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Risks of GMOs
May require large chemical and
other inputs for their survival
May escape to the environment and
become invasive; catastrophic effects
In food, may produce substances that
may be dangerous to health.
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Arguments Against GMOs

Genes replicate; genetic pollution
perpetuates causing irreversible damage to
environment, biodiversity and humans
Genetic traits of GMOs may transfer to wild
relatives or other organisms
Corporate giants; Patented genetic
materials; unfair litigation; control of food
and genetic resources; farmers suffer
Safety for humans is not proven; allergies
and worse suspected

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