Biodiversity Notes for UPSC Exam

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Anecdote

• Researchers have put an average price tag of US $ 33 trillion a year on these fundamental ecosys
tems services, which are largely taken for granted because they are free. This is nearly twice the
value of the global gross national product GNP which is (US $ 18 trillion). Out of the total cost of
various ecosystem services, the soil formation accounts for about 50 per cent, and contributions
of other services like recreation and nutrient cycling, are less than 10 per cent each. The cost of
climate regulation and habitat for wildlife are about 6 per cent each.

Quotes

• We believe that the most crucial action India has to take is to step up our technology to chart
out and understand our biodiversity, to protect it, and above all to forge new technologies out
of our rich biodiversity. If we have to play the game of converting materials into intellectual
products or actual products to be protected legally, let us do so. Let us use these not merely to
enrich a few in our country but to create sustainable wealth for all people. Let us also attempt
global leadership in the production of such commodities. - Kalam, 2020

Pattern of biodiversity

• (i) Latitudinal gradient

o In general, species diversity decreases as we move away from the equator towards th
e poles.
o With very few exceptions, tropics (latitudinal range of 23.5° N to 23.5° S) harbour mor
e species than temperate or polar areas. Colombia located near the equator has nearly
1,400 species of birds while New York at 41° N has 105 species and Greenland at 71° N
only 56 species.
o Reasons why tropics harbour such biodiversity
▪ (a) Speciation is generally a function of time, unlike temperate regions subject
ed to frequent glaciations in the past, tropical latitudes have remained relative
ly undisturbed for millions of years and thus, had a long evolutionary time for
species diversification,
▪ (b) Tropical environments, unlike temperate ones, are less seasonal, relatively
more constant and predictable. Such constant environments promote niche sp
ecialisation and lead to a greater species diversity and
▪ (c) There is more solar energy available in the tropics, which contributes to hig
her productivity; this in turn might contribute indirectly to greater diversity.
• (ii) Species-
Area relationships : During his pioneering and extensive explorations in the wilderness of South
American jungles, the great German naturalist and geographer Alexander von Humboldt observ
ed that within a region species richness increased with increasing explored area, but only up t
o a limit. In fact, the relation between species richness and area for a wide variety of taxa (ang
iosperm plants, birds, bats, freshwater fishes) turns out to be a rectangular hyperbola

Causes of biodiversity losses: There are four major causes (‘ The Evil Quartet ’ is the sobriquet
(person’s nickname) used to describe them). - HVAC

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 • Habitat loss and fragmentation:
• Over-exploitation
• Alien species invasions
• Co-extinctions

Why Should We Conserve Biodiversity? (THIS IS GOLD)-

They can be grouped into three categories: narrowly utilitarian, broadly utilitarian, and ethical.

• The narrowly utilitarian arguments

o humans derive countless direct economic benefits from nature- food (cereals, pulses, f
ruits), firewood, fibre, construction material, industrial products (tannins, lubricants, dye
s, resins, perfumes ) and products of medicinal importance.
o More than 25 per cent of the drugs currently sold in the market worldwide are derived
from plants and 25,000 species of plants contribute to the traditional medicines used
by native peoples around the world. Nobody knows how many more medicinally useful
plants there are in tropical rain forests waiting to be explored.
o With increasing resources put into ‘bioprospecting’ (exploring molecular, genetic and s
pecies-
level diversity for products of economic importance), nations endowed with rich biodi
versity can expect to reap enormous benefits.
• The broadly utilitarian argument
o biodiversity plays a major role in many ecosystem services that nature provides.
o The fast-
dwindling Amazon forest is estimated to produce, through photosynthesis, 20 per cent
of the total oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere.
o Pollination (without which plants cannot give us fruits or seeds) is another service, eco
systems provide through pollinators layer – bees, bumblebees, birds and bats
o There are other intangible benefits – that we derive from nature–
the aesthetic pleasures of walking through thick woods, watching spring flowers in full
bloom or waking up to a bulbul’s song in the morning. Can we put a price tag on such
things?
• The ethical argument
o It
relates to what we owe to millions of plant, animal and microbe species with whom w
e share this planet.
o Philosophically or spiritually, we need to realise that every species has an intrinsic valu
e, even if it may not be of current or any economic value to us.
o We have a moral duty to care for their well-
being and pass on our biological legacy in good order to future generations

Issue - Biodiversity committees

• Biological Diversity Act 2008 espoused the formation of Biodiversity Management Committees
(BMC)
• Maharasthra has constituted these under the panchayat raj system

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 • Maharashtra’s biodiversity will now be mapped by locals.
• The committees at the ZP and PS levels will comprise seven members who will be experts in
agriculture, forest products, fishery, animal husbandry and related fields.
• The BMC is tasked with maintaining a register of biodiversity in their area of influence. The
catalogue will also mention the use of natural resources, permissions for the same and
monetary benefits.
• It will have the right to only remark or suggest in matters coming from the Maharashtra State
Biodiversity Board or the national body over the use of natural resources or information
related to it.

Positives

• It will surely give power to the people to decide on the use of their natural wealth, especially at
a time when resources are under threat from various companies and even the government.
• Would increase awareness

negatives

• Can be manipulated if members are not upright

way ahead

• Selection of erudite members

Issue - Declining Pollinators

• A new UN report has warned that many species of wild bees, butterflies and other insects that
pollinate plants are shrinking toward extinction.
• The report is based on the studies done by a scientific panel brought together by the
Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES).
• Two out of five species of invertebrate pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, are on the path
toward extinction

Importance of pollinators

• Pollinators are important to growing fruits, vegetables and cash crops though not so much for
cereal crops.
• Food output worth more than $250billion depend on pollinators especially industries like coffee,
fruits

Reasons for the decline

• Changing nature of agriculture with reduced diversity and wild flowers for pollinators to use as
food
• pesticide use

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 • habitat loss to cities
• disease, parasites and pathogens
• global warming

Indian context

• pollinator declines are well-documented in North America and Europe but have not yet been
well-researched in other parts of the world including India.
• In India, the important pollinators of food crops are various species of honeybee, Apis, such as
A. Dorsata, A. Cerana, A. Florae, A. Andreniformes and A. Laboriosa.
• However, the both pollinators and the quality of pollinator service has declined over time.
Various researchers have reported a decline in the number of honeybee colonies in India. Its
negative effects are increasingly being observed. For example, in the Himalayas, apple yields in
recent years have decreased.
• However the picture in the Indian context, about the exact causes of low yields, is still unclear.
That is to say, we have a very poor knowledge of the pollination systems of our animal
pollinated crops, and how best we can manage the pollinators for optimal yields. This
knowledge gap and lack of expertise have further aggravated this problem.

Solutions

• The IPBES report makes a number of recommendations

o strong regulations underlying pesticide use; promoting organic farming.
o restoration and protection of habitats for wild pollinators; e.g. planting strips of wild
flowers to attract pollinators to field of crops, growing plants in back gardens in cities
o . Better land management. This can be included in the ‘smart city mission’.
o Improvement in the science of pollination by monitoring wild pollinators, investment in
R&D
• For better monitoring of ecosystems of the country, India has launched a programme to
establish a network of Indian Long Term Ecological Observatories (I-LTEO). About IPBES

Way forward

• It is not only the science that requires attention. Policies and governance for managing
landscapes — natural, agricultural, urban — are equally important.
• Government agencies must rethink conventional sectoral approaches and narrow disciplinary
perspectives.
• There are many factors involved in the complex environmental challenges threatening human
security today. Only well-integrated approaches can successfully address them.

Issue - UN incitement on conservation of bio diveristy

• India supports the process to develop an international l legally binding instrument on the
conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity

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 • IndiA stesses that the rights of nations including freedom of the high seas are important
should not be restricted
o This should be developed under the UNCLOS
• It should encompass all marine resources in a real beyond the national jurisdiction which may
be discovered at any time in the future
• It should address issues relating to the access exploration exploitation conservation and
sustainable use of reosurces

6th mass extinction

• Study reveals modern rates of extinction up to 100 times higher than in past
• Many conservationists have been warning for years that a mass extinction event akin to the one
that wiped out the dinosaurs is occurring as humans degrade and destroy habitats.
• even when they analysed the most conservative extinction rates, the rate at which vertebrates
were being lost forever was far higher than in the last five mass extinctions.
• Under a natural rate of extinction, the study said that two species go extinct per 10,000
species per 100 years, rather than the one species that previous work has assumed.
• Modern rates of extinction were eight to 100 times higher, the authors found. For example,
477 vertebrates have gone extinct since 1900, rather than the nine that would be expected at
natural rates.
• “It’s really signalling we’ve entered a sixth extinction and it’s driven by man,”

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