global_risks_2010_biodiversity_loss_species

BIODIVERSITY AND ITS CONSERVATION

Introduction

The great variety of life on earth has provided for men's needs over thousands of year. This diversity of living creatures forms a support system which has been used by each civilization for its growth and development. Those that used this bounty of nature carefully and sustainably survived, while those that overused or misused with disintegrated.

Science has attempted to classify and categorize the variability in nature for our century. This has led to an understanding of its organization into communities of plants and animals. This information has helped in utilizing the earths biological wealth for the benefit of humanity and has been integral to the process of “development”. This includes better health care, better crops and the use of these life-forms as raw material for industrial growth, which has led to a highest standard of living for the developed world. However, this has also produced the modern consumerist society, which adversely affects the diversity of biological recourses upon which it is based.

DEFINITION“Biological Diversity” of bio diversity is that part of nature which includes the difference in genes among the individuals of species; The variety and richness of all the plant an animal species at different scales in space-locally, in a region, in the century and the world; and the types of ecosystems, both terrestrial and aquatic, within a defined area.

What is Biodiversity?

Biological diversity deals with the degree of nature’s variety in the biosphere. This variety can be observed at three levels –the genetic variability within a species; The variety of species within a community; and the organization of species in an area into distinctive plant and animal communities.

Nature’s variety

GENETIC DIVERSITYEach member of any animal or plant species differs widely from other individuals in its genetic makeup, owing to the large number of combination possible in the genes that give every individual specific its characteristics. this genetic variability is essential for a healthy breeding population of a species. if the number of individuals is reduced, the dissimilarity of genetic makeup is reduced and in-breeding occurs. this leads to genetic anomalies and, eventually, to the extinction of that particular species

SPECIES DIVERSITYThe number of species of plants and animals that are present in a region constitutes its species diversity. This diversity is seen both in natural ecosystem and in agricultural ecosystems. Some area are richer in species than others. For e.g., natural undisturbed tropical forests have much greater species richness than monoculture plantation developed by a forest department for timber production.

SPECIES DIVERSITY

ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITYThere are a large variety of different ecosystems on earth, each having their own compliment of distinctive interlinked species based on the difference in the habitats. Ecosystem diversity can be described for a specific geographical region, or a political entity such as country, a state, a taluka. Distinctive ecosystems include landscapes like forests, grasslands, deserts, mountains, etc. as well as aquatics eco system like rivers, lakes, and sea’s. Each region also has man-modified areas such as farmland or grazing pastures.

ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY

BIOGEOGRAPHY CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA

Our country can be conveniently divided into ten major regions, based on the geography, climate and pattern of vegetations seen and the communities of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and other invertebrates that live in them. Each of these regions contains a variety of ecosystems such as forest, grasslands, lakes, rivers, wetlands, mountains and hills, which have specific plan and animal species.