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The term Biodiversity was coined by W.G. Rosen and was popularised by Edward Wilson.
Hierarchical Levels of Biodiversity
1. Genetic diversity - Genetic diversity refers to the variations of genes in a species. Genetic diversity
may be at the levels of genes, alleles or chromosomes.
eg. (i) Genetic diversity leads to variation in potency and concentration of the active chemical - reserpine
- present in medicinal plant Rauwolfia vomitoria growing in Himalayan ranges.
(ii) India has more than 50, 000 varieties of Rice and almost 1,000 varieties of mango.
Significance of genetic diversity
1. Genetic diversity leads to more stable community
2. Genetic diversity leads to speciation ie, origin of new species - basic step in evolution.
2. Species diversity - Species diversity is the variations of species within a region.
Eg. Western Ghats have greater amphibian species diversity as compared to Eastern Ghats

number of species
Species diversity is the product of species richness ie, and
Area
species evenness ie, number of individuals of different species.
They are having taxonomically unrelated speies is considered as most divers.
Significance
More species diversity shows more interspecific competitions and that community is more stable.
3. Ecological diversity - It is diversity at the level of communities and ecosystem.
Eg. In India, ecosystem diversity is high due to presence of large number of ecosystems like
deserts, rain forests, mangroves, coral reefs, wetlands, estuaries, alpine meadows etc.
Ecosystem diversity is low in small countries like Norway.
R.H. Whittaker divided ecological diversity in to three.

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Species Diversity on the Earth
¨ According to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) 2004,
the total number of plant and animal species described is slightly more than 1.5 million.
¨ Tropical region has more diversity than temperate regions.
¨ Some extreme estimates species diversity range from 20 - 50 million.
¨ According to Robert May the most accepted estimate for Global biodiversity is 7 million
Interesting aspects about the earth’s biodiversity (Based on IUCN - 2004)
¨ Number of animal species is more than 70%
¨ Plant kingdom (Cryptogams and phanerogams) comprises upto 22% of total
¨ Among animals, insects are the most species-rich taxonomic group comprises 70%
There are
300000 species of Beetles
28000 species of fishes
20000 species of ants and nearby 20000 species of orchids
Pie Diagram Representing Diversity Species of Various Major Taxa

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Number of fungi species (72000) in the world is more than the combined total of the species of
fishes (28000) amphibians (4780), reptiles (7150) and mammals (4650)
Biologist are not sure about the number of prokaryotic species, because the conventional
taxonomical methods are not suitable for identifying microbial species.
Biodiversity in India
India with only 2.4% of the world’s land area but possess 8.1% of species diversity of the world. There
fore India is considered as a member of 12 megadiversity countries of the world. In India there are
10 major Biogeographical regions.
10 Major Biogeographical Regions in India
1. Trans himalaya
2. Himalaya
3. Desert
4. Semi-arid zone
5. Gangatic plain
6. Deccan Peninsula
7. North East Area
8. Western Ghats
9. Islands
10. Coastal Regions
Patterns of Biodiversity
The diversity of plants and animals is not uniform throughout the world but shows a rather uneven
distribution. Different patterns in diversity are latitudinal, altitudinal, geographical, topographical, humidity
gradients.
1. Altitudinal Gradients
The Biodiversity increases as we move from high altitude to low altitude.

1
Biodiversity a .
Altitude
The biodiversity is maximum in plain region and minimum in top of a mountain.
2. Latitudinal gradient
The biodiversity decreases as we move from low latitude to high latitude ie, from equator to the
poles.

1
Biodiversity a
Latitude
Biodiversity is maximum in tropical regions, (23.5 oN - 23.5oS) moderate in temperate regions and
minimum in polar region.

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 Different Countries Number of species of birds

Colombia 1400

Amazon rain forest 1300

India 1200

New York (41 oN) 105

Green land (71 oN) 56

Tropical Amazonian rain forest (South America) known as lungs of the planet, has the greatest
biodiversity on earth.

Biodiversity in Amazonian rainforest

Taxa Number of Species

Plant Species More than 40000
Mammals 427
Birds 1300
Reptiles 378
Amphibians 427
Fishes 3000
Invertebrates More than 125000

Reasons for Greater Diversity in Tropical Region

1. Tropical latitude remained undisturbed for millions of years. Therefore it had a long evolutionary
time for species diversification.

2. Tropical events are less seasonal, more constant and predictable

3. Tropical area receive more solar energy throughout the year, hence more productive and that can
support a wider range of species in tropical communities.

Species - Area Relationships

Species - Area Relationship is proposed by German naturalist and geographer Alexander von
Humboldt.

According to him within a region species richness increased with increasing explored area but only
upto a limit.

The relationship between species richness and area turned out to be a rectangular hyperbola for a
wide variety of organisms like angiosperm plants, birds, bats and freshwater fishes and can be
represented by an equation S = CAz

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On a logarithmic scale, the relationship is a straight line described by the equation ;

Log S = Log C + zlog A
Where
S = Species richness
A = Area
C = Y - Intercept
Z = Slope of the line (Regression coefficient)
Significance of slope of regression (Z) in a species - Area Relationship
¨ Slope of regression or regression coefficient of species - area relationship indicates that species
richness decreases with the decreases in area
¨ The value of z lies in the range of 0.1 - 0.2 when considering a very small areas like plants in Britain,
birds in California or molluscs in New York State.
¨ For a very large areas like the entire continent, the slope of the line (z-value) is much steep with the
range of 0.6 - 1.2
For example, z value is 1.15 for frugivorous (fruit - eating) birds and mammals in the tropical forests
of different continents.
¨ More is steepness of the slope of line, larger the explored area.
The Importance of Species Diversity to the Ecosystem
1. Stability - More species diversity provides more stability to the community.
¨ Too much variation in productivity from year to year is not shown in stable community
¨ It must be resistant to occasional natural as well as man-made disturbances.
¨ It must be resistant to invasion by alien species.

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David Tilmen’s Long term ecosystem experiments confirmed that ;
¨ Stable community shows less year to year variations in total biomass in plots with more species.
¨ Higher productivity was due to increased diversity
\ Species diversity is important for productivity and stability
2. Ecosystem Health
Rich biodiversity is important for ecosystem health but also for survival of human race on earth.
Stanford Ecologist Paul Ehrlich through Rivet popper hypothesis explained the effect of reduction in
biodiversity.
In an airplane (ecosystem) all parts are joined together using thousands of rivets (species). If every
passenger travelling in it starts popping a rivet to take home (causing a species to become extinct), it
may not affect flight safety (proper functioning of the ecosystem) initially, but as more and more rivets
are removed, the plane becomes dangerously weak over a period of time (Massive removal of species
leads to damage of ecosystem)
Which rivet is removed may also be critical. Loss of rivets on wings (key species) is obviously more
serious threat.

Loss of Biodiversity
IUCN (2004) estimates the extinction of 784 species including 338 vertebrates, 359 invertebrates and
87 plants in the last 500 years.
eg. Dodo - Mauritius
Quagga - Africa
Thylacine - Australia
Steller’s sea cow - Russia
3 sub species of Tiger - Indonasia
(Bali Javan and Caspian)
In the last 20 years, 27 species become extinct. Presently some 15500 species world - wide are facing
the threat of extinction. They include

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Amphibian species - 32%

Gymnosperm species - 31%
Mammal species - 23%
Bird species - 12%

Now it is sixth period of mass extinction due to human activities. It is 100 - 1000 times faster than the
rate of natural extinctions.
Results of Loss of Biodiversity
Loss of biodiversity in a region may lead to :
1) Decline in plant production or productivity
2) Reduced resistance to environmental perturbations like drought
3) Increased variability of ecosystem processes like productivity, water use and pest and disease
cycles.
Major Threats to Biodiversity
There are four major causes of biodiversity losses, they are collectively called as “The evil Quartet”.
They are :
I. Habitat loss and fragmentation - It is the primary and major reason for loss of biodiversity.
Fragmentation - Destruction of a large natural habitat into smaller fragments due to urbanization,
industrialization, making of water bodies, agricultural development etc.
Habitat - provide maximum protection and optimum level of food to organisms. Due to fragmentation
natural habitat of organisms destructed and leads to extinction of organisms.
II. Over - exploitation - It reduces the size of population, so that it becomes vulnerable to extinction.
eg. Dodo, Steller’s sea cow, passenger pigeon etc.
III. Alien species invasion - New species entering a geographical region are called exotic or alien or
non-native species.
Unmindful introduction of exotic species affects native species because ;
1) Competition for food and space increases
2) Prey - predator relations are changed
3) New diseases may be caused due to new host - parasitic interactions.
Exotic species have the maximum harmful impact on island ecosystems because of the small size
and small number of species.

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A few examples of exotic species
1. Nile perch - An exotic predatory fish introduced into Lake Victoria of East Africa. Nile perch killed
and eliminated ecologically unique assemblage of over 200 species of Cichlid fish that were endemic
to this fresh water aquatic system.
2. Eicchornia crassipes (water hyacinth) - It was introduced by Europeans in India. It may leads
to eutrophication.
3. Lantana camara - is a straggling shrub of tropical America which got introduced in India as a
garden variety does not allow other plants to grow.
4. Parthenium hysterophorus (Carrot grass) - is an exotic weed introduced in India as a contaminant
with imported wheat. It’s root system produces chemicals called parthenil, hysterin, ambrosin etc and
it does not allows the growth of other herbaceous plants in the same region and may causes amensalism.
Its minute pollen grain causes pollen allergy.
5. Clarias gariepinus (African catfish) - The recent illegal introduction of African cat fish for aquaculture
purposes is a threat to the indigenous Indian cat fish in rivers.
IV. Co-extinction - There are many obligate associations amongst different species in ecosystems. When
one of them becomes extinct, the plant and animal species associated with it in an obligatory way also
become extinct.
eg. Plant pollinator mutualism
Dodo and Calvaria tree
Red Data Book
It is a record of organisms on the verge of extinction (endangered) published by IUCN.
It contains record of plants and animals.
Examples for Endangered species of India
Black buck, Asian Lion, Golden langur, Pigmy hog, Lion Tailed Macaque, Snow leopard, Red panda,
Giant panda, One horned rhinoceros, Kashmiri stag (Hangul, Musk Deer, etc.)
IUCN Red List Categories
The IUCN Red list or Red Data List is an inventory of the global conservation status of biological
species. IUCN aims to review the status of each species every 5 - 10 years. The list also is a means
to convey the necessity of urgency in implementing conservation plans.
The IUCN Red List Categories are :
1. Extinct - No known individuals remaining. Eg. Passenger pigeon, Dodo, Cheetah etc.
2. Extinct in the wild - Species which do not found in their natural habitat and are conserved in
botanical garden, zoo etc.
3. Critically endangered - species facing extremely high risk of extinction in immediate future. eg.
Pigmy hog
4. Endangered - Species facing risk of extinction in near future. eg. Red Panda
5. Vulnerable - species facing risk of extinction in medium term future. eg. Black buck
6. Lower risk species
7. Data deficient
8. Non-evaluated
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Biodiversity Conservation
There are two basic strategies of biodiversity conservation.
I. In-situ conservation : Conservation of organisms within their natural habitat itself.
1. Hot spots : This concept was first introduced by Norman Mayer. The richest and the most threatened
reservoir of plant and animal life on earth are the hotspots.
The key criteria for determining a hotspots are :
1) Very high levels of species richness
2) High degree of endemism (Species confined to that region and not found anywhere else)
3) Degree of threat, which is measured in terms of habitat loss.
There are 34 hot spots around the world. It cover an area of less than 2% of earth’s land and can
reduce the extinction by almost 30%.
Biodiversity hotspots in India
1. Western Ghat and SriLanka
2. Indo-Burma
3. Himalaya (Eastern himalaya)
b) Protected Areas
Areas of land / sea, especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and
of natural and associated cultural resources are protected areas. These are managed through legal
or other effective means.
India has 14 biosphere reserves, 90 national parks and 448 wild life sanctuaries.
i) National Parks : These are maintained by government and reserved for betterment of wildlife both
flora and fauna.
` ¨ Private ownership rights are not permitted.
¨ Grazing, cultivation, felling of trees and habitat manipulation are not allowed.
First National Parks in India - Jim Corbett N.P in Uttarakhand.
ii) Sancturies - These are tracts of land where animals (fauna) are protected from all types of
exploitations and habitat disturbance. Collection of forest products, harvesting of timber, tilling of land
etc. are allowed.
iii) Biosphere reserves - Special category of protected areas, where tribal people are an integral
component of the system.
First biosphere reserves in India - Nilgiri Biosphere Reserves (1986)
A biosphere reserves consists of 3 zones.

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 i) Core zone - Inner most undisturbed and legally protected area.
ii) Buffer zone - Intermediate zone where limited human activities allowed for research and educational
purposes.
iii) Transition zone - Outermost zone, which is an area of active co-operation between reserve
management and the local people.
The main functions of Biosphere Reserves are :
¨ Conservation
¨ Development
¨ Scientific research, monitoring and education
iv) Sacred groves - A sacred grove or sacred forests are any grove of trees of special religious
importance
Sacred groves in India
Khasi and Jaintia Hill - Meghalaya
Aravalli Hills - Rajasthan
Western Ghat Regions of - Karnataka & Maharashtra
Sarguja, Chanda and Bastar areas - Madhya Pradesh
2. Ex-situ Conservation
Conservation of organisms outside their natural habitat. It is the desirable approach if an animal or
plant is endangered or threatened and needs urgent measures to save it from extinction.
Examples for exsitu conservation
1) Sacred plants, home garden, aquaria, safari parks
2) Seed bank, Field gene bank, Tissue culture, Cryopreservation
3) Botanical gardens, zoological gardens or zoos.
International Efforts for Conserving Biodiversity
The conservation of Biodiversity is a collective responsibility of all nations.
The Earth Summit - The historic convention on Biological diversity held in Riode Janerio Brazil in 1992.
Aims / Objectives
1) Conservation of Biodiversity
2) Sustainable use of Biodiversity
3) Fair and Equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
2nd World Summit
The 2nd world summit on sustainable development held in 2002 in Johannesberg, South Africa. 190
countries pledged their commitment to achieve by 2010.
Aim
To reduce the current rate of accelerated species loss at global, regional and local levels.

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