Unit-III

Biodiversity
and
Biotic Resources

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 Introduction
 Earth is home to an impressive array of life forms.
From single-celled organisms to creatures made of
many trillions of cells, life has taken on many
wonderful shapes and evolved countless strategies
for survival.
 Recall that cell theory dictates that all living things
are made of one or more cells.
 The term "biodiversity" is a combination of two
words, "biology" and "diversity."
 It is the term applied to the variety of organisms that
occupy a given region. This includes all organisms
that live in the region, from microscopic protists to
large mammals.
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 Biotic resources are the living resources. These include the plants, animals and
microorganisms.
 Plants provide foods, medicines, timber, wood pulp
(paper), gums, wool, acetic acid, alcohol, and dry
fruits.
 They also provide the shelter to the other organisms
and provide oxygen.
 The vegetation affects the soil by preventing soil
erosion. The humus is formed by the decayed
leaves which provide nutrition to the soil.
 The spread of deserts is also checked by the plants.
 The humans mostly depend on the land vegetation
for survival.. The conservation of plants must be
done.
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The role of animals in the biotic environment
is very crucial.
They act as a food.
Some of them are used as a mode of
transport, agriculture operations, pearls
(mollusks).
The pollination and dispersal of seeds and
fruits is mainly done by the insects.
Some animals are used as a laboratory
research model.
The diseases of human beings are cured by
the secretion of hormones of some
mammals.
The conservation of animals must be done.
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 The micro organisms are present almost
everywhere on the earth. It consists of the
bacteria, protozoa, viruses and fungi.
 The fungi involve the yeast and moulds. The
fungi are organisms without chlorophyll.
 The fungi form a medicine known as
penicillin which is used to treat the bacterial
infections. The fungi also acts on the dead
organisms and act as a saprophyte.
 The protozoa can act as a harmful as well as
beneficial organism. They also act as a food
for the aquatic animals. The oil deposits are
found in association with the skeletal deposits
organisms.
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Loss of biodiversity may have
reverberating consequences on
ecosystems because of the
complex interrelations among
species.
The extinction of one species
may cause the extinction of
another. Biodiversity is
important to the survival and
welfare of human populations
because it has impacts on our
health and our ability to feed
ourselves through agriculture
and harvesting populations of
wild
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 Biodiversity definition
Biodiversity is the shortened form of
two words "biological" and
"diversity.”
It refers to total biotic agents that can
be found on Earth (plants, animals,
and micro-organisms).
Biodiversity is the variability among
living organisms from all sources,
including terrestrial, marine, aquatic
and the ecological complexes of
which they are part. This
includes diversity within species,
between
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species, and of ecosystems. 7
 Types of Biodiversity
Biodiversity further classifies into three major types. They are:

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I. Genetic Diversity
 It is basically the variety of
species expressed at the
genetic level by each
individual in a species.
 No two individuals belonging
to the same species are exactly
similar.
 For example, in the species of
human beings, each human
shows a lot of diversity in
comparison to another human.
 People living in different
regions show a great level of
variation.
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II.Species Diversity
 It is the biodiversity observed
within a community.
 It stands for the number and
distribution of species.
 The number of species in a
region varies widely depending
upon the varied environmental
conditions.
 For example, it is usually
observed that civilizations
residing beside water bodies show
more species than the one
compared to the areas away from
water bodies.
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III.Ecological diversity
 It defines the diversity observed among
the ecosystems in a particular region.
 Different ecosystems like mangroves,
rainforests, deserts, etc., show a great
variety of life forms residing in them.

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 Values of biodiversity
I. Direct values
These are those ways by which we can directly use biodiversity for our benefit.

A. Consumptive use Value: Consumptive use value is the value put on the

products of nature which are consumed directly without passing through a
market.
Ex: if we use firewood by cutting down a tree or consume an animal after
hunting it.

B. Productive use value: Productive use value is the value put on the products
of nature which are consumed after passing through a market.
Ex: if we buy fish from the market then it will have productive use value.
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II. Indirect values or Non-Consumptive value
These are those ways by which we don't physically use a plant or animal, but
by virtue of its existence it provides services that keep the ecosystem healthy

A. Social values: This includes aesthetic, recreational, cultural and spiritual

values. Ecosystem people value biodiversity as a part of their livelihood.

B. Ethical and Moral value: Every species has its moral right to exist on earth.
Every human culture, religion and society has its own ethical values, which is
associated with the conservation of biodiversity.

C. Economical value: We depend heavily on biological products for our

survival. Biodiversity has economic value because it is a source of important
products (Food, medicines, raw materials).
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D. Aesthetic value: Nature contributes greatly to the beauty of the world. Thus,
biodiversity has immense aesthetic value for us. It is important as a tourist
attraction.
E. Ecological value: Every species plays a unique role in the ecosystem.
Through this role its maintains the ecological balance.
F. Scientific value or Educational value: Many species of plants and animals
are the subjects of our research. We use many species for research and in turn
get a lot of knowledge from their study.
G. Cultural and Spiritual value: Many cultures of human beings are closely
related to many species of plants and animals(Tulsi, Lotus).
H. Option value: There are many plants and animals which have not yet been
discovered or even if they have been discovered we do not know if they can be
of any use to us. This untapped potential is referred to as option value.
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 Biodiversity hotspot or Mega biodiversity zones
 Biodiversity is not uniformly distributed across the all geographical regions of
the earth.
 A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region containing exceptional
concentrations of rarest, endemic species (specific to that region), which
experiencing high rates of habitat loss.
 Hotspots are a method to identify those regions of the world where attention is
needed to address biodiversity loss and to guide investments in conservation.
 There are 25 hot spots around the world that had lost 70% of its original habitat
and the remaining habitat is just 1.4 % of the land surface of the planet, yet
supports nearly 60 percent of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and
amphibian species.

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 Criteria to qualify as a hotspot, a region must meet two criteria:

A. It must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants

(> 0.5% of the world’s total) as endemics,
B. It has to lost ≥ 70% of its original native habitat.

Among the 25 hot spots of the world, two found in India are

I. The Western Ghats and Sri Lanka,

II. The Indo-Burma region (covering the Eastern
Himalayas);

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  Western Ghats: Region is home to
rich endemic assemblage of Plants,
reptiles and amphibians as well as
elephants, tiger and endangered
Lion tailed Macaque
 North-East Himalayas: Himalayas
is home to world’s highest
mountains. The ecosystems range
from grasslands and broad leaved
forests to alpine meadows. It’s a
home to a variety of large birds,
mammals, including tiger,
elephants rhinos and wild water
buffaloes.
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 MEGA BIODIVERSITY COUNTRIES
 A Countries that contain as much as 7-
8% per cent of the world's species is
Mega biodiversity Country.
 India is one of the twelve-mega
biodiversity countries of the world and
one of the four in Asia.
 The twelve Mega biodiversity
countries that have been identified are:
India, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru, Mexico, Madagascar, Zaire,
Australia, China, Indonesia and
Malaysia.
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 India as a mega diversity nation
 India is located in south Asia. India is situated at the tri-junction of three realms
Afro-tropical, Indo-Malayan and Paleo-Arctic realms, and therefore, has
characteristic elements from each of them.
 Biodiversity has three aspects, viz. genetics, species and ecosystem. India is
recognized to be uniquely rich in all these three aspects.
 The country has a wide spectrum of habitats from tropical rainforests to alpine
vegetation, and from temperate forests to coastal wetlands.
 Almost all the biogeographical regions of the world are represented here in India.
 With a mere 2.4% of the total land area of the world, the known biodiversity of
India contributes 8.22% of the known global biodiversity.
 India is one of the twelve mega-diversity nations of the world accounting for
7.31% of the global faunal and 10.88% of the global floral total species.
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The large species richness and abundance are due to immense variety of climatic
and altitudinal condition in country. These vary from the humid tropical Western
Ghats to the hot desert of Rajasthan, from cold desert of Ladakh and the icy
mountain of Himalayas.
 India has ecosystem diversity is highest in the world, which represents forest
ecosystems, grassland ecosystems, wetland ecosystems, coastal and marine
ecosystems and the desert ecosystems.
over 46,000 species of plants which accounts for 15% of the world plants in this
15000 species of the flowering plants.  
 India contains about 75000 animal species out of which 80% are insects.
 The Western Ghats in India, are treasures house of species diversity and has about
5000 species. It is estimated that almost one third of animals varieties found in
India have taken in Western Ghat of Kerala alone. 

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India has ten biogeographic regions, namely the Trans-Himalayan, the
Himalayan, the Indian desert, the semi-arid zone, the Western Ghats, the
Deccan Peninsula, the Genetic plain, North-East India, the Islands, and the
coasts.
India is one of the 12 mega-diversity nations of the world. There are two
hotspots in India. There are the Western Ghats and the Eastern Himalayas.
 India has 5 world heritage sites namely, Kaziranga, Nanda Devi, Sundarban
and Ghana National Park and Manas Wildlife Sanctuary.
 India has twelve biosphere reserves, namely Nilgiri, Nanda Devi, Nokrerk,
Manas, Sunderbans, Gulf or Mannar, Great Nicobar, Similpal, Dibru-Saikhowa,
Dehang, Pachmarchi and Kanchanjanga.
There are 167 crop species and wild relatives. Further, India is considered to be
the centre of origin of 30,000 to 50,000 varieties of rice, pigeon-pea, mango,
turmeric, ginger, sugarcane, gooseberries, etc.
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 Four endemic species of conservation significance occur in the Western
Ghats.
 They are the Lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri leaf monkey, Brown palm civet and
Nilgiri tahr.

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 biogeographic regions

NE Himalyas
Western Ghats

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 WORLD HERITAGE
SITES IN INDIA
Each World Heritage Site is
the property of the country
on whose territory the site is
located, but it is considered
in the interest of the
international community.
The protection and
conservation of these sites
are a concern of all the World
Heritage countries.
The 23 world Heritage Sites
in India.
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 Threats to biodiversity

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A. Habitat loss:
 Human activities such as cutting trees,
filling wetlands, Ploughing grass lands or
burning down forests may change or
completely destroy the natural habitat of a
species.
 Habitat destruction by human activity is
mainly for the purpose of harvesting
natural resources.
 Clearing habitats for agriculture is the
principal cause of habitat destruction.
 Other important causes of habitat
destruction include mining, logging,
trawling, and urban sprawl.
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B. Poaching of wildlife:
 Poaching is illegal hunting, killing of wild
animals and harvesting of plant species.
 Illegal hunting is for animal products such as
ivory, horn, teeth, skin and bone.
 India is home to some of the most
charismatic animals on the planet such as
Tiger, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, Lizard.
 These animals were used for sports hunting
and unfortunately, The population of these
wild animals are decreasing because of
Poaching.
 Many plant species have been over-exploitted
by humans sometimes to the point of
extinction which have high commercial
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 C. Human–wildlife conflict: 
 Human–wildlife conflict refers to the interaction
between wild animals and people, the resultant
negative impact on people or their resources, or
wild animals or their habitat.
 It occurs when growing human populations
overlap with established wildlife territory,
creating reduction of resources.
 Reduction in the availability of natural
prey/food sources leads to wild animals seeking
alternate sources.
 Alternately, new resources created by humans
draw wildlife resulting in conflict.
 The conflict takes many forms ranging from loss
of life or injury to humans, wildlife or both.
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The major outcomes of human-wildlife
conflict are

 Injury and loss of life of humans and

wildlife
 Crop damage, livestock depredation,
predation of managed wildlife stock.
 Damage to human property.
 Destruction of habitat.
 Collapse of wildlife populations and
reduction of geographic ranges.

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 Conservation of biodiversity

 Today we are losing about 1500 species every two months. It is impossible for
nature to compensate for this rapid loss and therefore it becomes extremely
important to conserve this threatened biodiversity.
 Biodiversity conservation is the scientific management at its optimum level and
derives sustainable benefit for both the present and the future.
 There are two major approaches for conservation of biodiversity
I. In situ (on site) conservation

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 Conservation of Biodiversity

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A. National Parks:
 The national park provides protection to the entire set of the ecosystem, i.e. flora,
fauna, landscape, etc.
 National parks are areas dedicated to conserve wild animals and natural scenery
of the environment.
 All private rights are non existent and other activities such as grazing of domestic
animals is prohibited.
 No human inhabitation is allowed in the park apart from on duty public servants.
There are 90 parks in India.

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B. Wildlife Sanctuary:
 Wildlife sanctuaries refer to an area which provides protection and favorable
living conditions to the wild animals.
 It is dedicated the wildlife but it considers the conservation of species only. In
India there are about 492 wildlife sanctuaries.
C. Biosphere reserve:
 It may be described as natural areas that are generally used for scientific study.

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Advantages of in situ
conservation:
Long term protection,
Better opportunity for
conservation as well as
evolution,
 Cheaper.

Limitations of in situ
conservation:
Proper protection against
environmental pollution
may not be enough in
natural types of
ecosystems
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A. Gene Bank: Gene banks also known as germplasm banks are established for ex
situ conservation. Sperms, Ova, Seeds, pollen grains and other parts of various
endangered plants and animal can be preserved in these gene bank under viable
conditions.

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B. Botanical Gardens: Botanical gardens are used for the conservation of rare and
endangered plant species for study and research to promote sustainable
development.
C. Aquaria: The aquaria are mainly used for the captive propagation of threatened
of endangered fresh water species.

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D. Tissue Culture Technique: Tissue culture refers to a special technique used for
asexual propagation in plants a very small piece of shoot apex ,leaf section or
even an individual cell is cut and placed in a sterile culture in a test tube,
petridish.
E. DNA technology: DNA of plant or animal cell or a part of it to be conserved.
DNA technology can provide an innovative and effective approach for
biodiversity conservation.

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Advantages of ex situ conservation
Long-term conservation,
The species survive longer and may breed more offspring than
usual.
The quality of offspring may be improved by genetic
techniques if so required,
Breeding of hybrid species is possible.
 
Limitations of ex situ conservation

Not a viable option for protection of rare species due to human

interference,
Can be adopted for only a few kinds of species,
Overprotection may result in loss of natural occurrence.
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