Ashutosh Dwivedi's Page

Biodiversity- The diminishing life line

What is biodiversity?
The term biological diversity was coined by Thomas Lovejoy in 1980, while the word biodiversity itself was coined by W.G. Rosen in 1985 while planning the National Forum on Biological Diversity organized by the National Research Council (NRC) which was to be held in 1986, and first appeared in a publication in 1988 when entomologist E. O. Wilson used it as the title of the proceedings of that forum. The word biodiversity was deemed more effective in terms of communication than biological diversity.
Since 1986 the terms and the concept have achieved widespread use among biologists, environmentalists, political leaders, and concerned citizens worldwide. This use has coincided with the expansion of concern over extinction observed in the last decades of the 20th century. Biodiversity has no single standard definition. The most straightforward definition is "variation of life at all level of biological organization. Another definition holds that biodiversity is a measure of the relative diversity among organisms present in different ecosystems. "Diversity" in this definition includes diversity within a species and among species, and comparative diversity among ecosystems.

Rich Indian biodiversity
India has a total of 89,451 animal species accounting for 7.31% of the faunal species in the world (MoEF 1997) and the flora accounts for 10.78% of the global total. The endemism of Indian biodiversity is high - about 33% of the country's recorded flora are endemic to the country and are concentrated mainly in the Northeast, Western Ghats, North-West Himalayas and the Andaman and Nicobar islands. However, this rich biodiversity of India is under severe threat owing to habitat destruction, degradation, fragmentation and over-exploitation of resources. India contains a great wealth of biological diversity in its forests, its wetlands and in its marine areas. This richness is shown in absolute numbers of species and the proportion they represent of the world total (see Table 1).
Table 1. Comparison between the Number of Species in India and the World.
Group Number of Species in India Number of Species in the world
Mammals 350 4,629
Birds 1224 9,708
Reptiles 408 6,550
Amphibians 197 4,522
Fishes 2546 21,730
Flowering Plants 15,000 250,000
India has a great many scientific institutes and university departments interested in various aspects of biodiversity. A large number of scientists and technicians have been engaged in inventory, research, and monitoring. The general state of knowledge about the distribution and richness of the country's biological resources is therefore fairly good. Inventories of birds, mammals, trees, fish and reptiles are moderately complete. The importance of these biological resources cannot be overestimated for the continued welfare of India's population.

Importance of biodiversity
Biodiversity has contributed in many ways to the development of Human culture, and, in turn, Human communities have played a major role in shaping the diversity of nature at the genetic, species, and ecological levels.
There are three main reasons which are commonly cited in various literatures:

Ecological Importance
All species provide at least one function in an ecosystem. Each function is an integral part of regulating the species balance, species diversity and species health: all aspects which are intrinsic for the ecosystem as a whole to survive and prosper. Research suggests that a more diverse ecosystem is better able to withstand environmental stress and consequently is more productive.

Economic Importance
Ecologists and environmentalists were the first to insist on the economic aspect of biological diversity protection. Thus, E. O. Wilson wrote in 1992 that: biodiversity is the one of the greater wealth of the planet, and nevertheless less recognized as such. For all humans, biodiversity is a resource for daily life. Many see biodiversity as a reservoir of resources to be drawn upon for the manufacture of food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic products.
Estimation of the value of biodiversity is a necessary precondition to any discussion on the distribution of biodiversity richness. This value can be divided into use value (direct such as tourism or indirect such as pollination) and non-use or intrinsic value. Some of the important economic commodities that biodiversity supplies to humankind are: unique scientific research tools, food, medicine, industry, recreation and Ecotourism.

Scientific Importance
Biodiversity is important because each species can give scientists some clue as to how life evolved and will continue to evolve on Earth. In addition, biodiversity helps scientists understand how life functions and the role of each species in sustaining ecosystems.
Now we can see the three most important role of biodiversity. But I think that besides of these three importances the economic and scientific importance play a major role in the depletion of the rich biodiversity of not only Indian but also the global biodiversity.

Threats to biodiversity
India has a total of 89,451 animal species accounting for 7.31% of the faunal species in the world (MoEF 1997) and the flora accounts for 10.78% of the global total. The endemism of Indian biodiversity is high - about 33% of the country's recorded flora are endemic to the country and are concentrated mainly in the Northeast, Western Ghats, North-West Himalayas and the Andaman and Nicobar islands. However, this rich biodiversity of India is under severe threat owing to habitat destruction, degradation, fragmentation and over-exploitation of resources.

According to the Red List of Threatened Animals (IUCN. 2000), 44 plant species are critically endangered, 113 endangered and 87 vulnerable. Amongst animals, 18 are critically endangered, 54 endangered and 143 are vulnerable. Ten species are Lower Risk conservation dependent, while 99 are Lower Risk near threatened. India ranks second in terms of the number of threatened mammals, while India is sixth in terms of countries with the most threatened birds (IUCN. 2000).

Threatened Species of India by taxonomic group

Taxonomic Group Nuber of threatened species
Mammal 86
Birds 70
Reptiles 25
Amphibians 3
Fish 3
Molluscs 2
Other Invertebrates 21
Plants 244
Total 459
Source: care4nature.org

The main causes of habitat loss are agricultural activities, extraction (including mining, fishing, logging and harvesting) and development (human settlements, industry and associated infrastructure). Habitat loss and fragmentation leads to the formation of isolated, small, scattered populations.

These small populations are increasingly vulnerable to inbreeding depression, high infant mortality and susceptible to environmental stochastic, and consequently, in the end, possible extinction. Changes in forest composition and quality, and the resultant habitat type lead to declines in primary food species for wildlife.

How to protect it?
The conservation of biological diversity has become a global concern. Although not everybody agrees on extent and significance of current extinction, most consider biodiversity essential. There are basically two main types of conservation options, in-situ conservation and ex-situ conservation. In-situ is usually seen as the ideal conservation strategy. However, its implementation is sometimes infeasible. For example, destruction of rare or endangered species habitats sometimes requires ex-situ conservation efforts. Furthermore, ex-situ conservation can provide a backup solution to in-situ conservation projects. Some believe both types of conservation are required to ensure proper preservation. An example of an in-situ conservation effort is the setting-up of protection areas. Examples of ex-situ conservation efforts, by contrast, would be planting germplasts in seed banks, or growing the Wollemi Pine in nurseries. Such efforts allow the preservation of large populations of plants with minimal genetic erosion.
At national levels a Biodiversity Action Plan is sometimes prepared to state the protocols necessary to protect an individual species. Usually this plan also details extant data on the species and its habitat. In the USA such a plan is called a Recovery Plan. India also has such a plan known as National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan (NBSAP).
The threat to biological diversity was among the hot topics discussed at the UN World Summit for Sustainable Development, in hope of seeing the foundation of a Global Conservation Trust to help maintain plant collections.

To conserve the Rich Indian Biodiversity India has established 14 Biosphere Reserve through UNESCO’s “Man and Biosphere” Programme.

To provide for conservation of Biological Diversity, sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of biological resources and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, India has enacted a Biological Diversity Act in the year 2002.

Ashutosh Kumar Dwivedi
Project Associate
(Centre For Environment Education)