UNIT 4: Biodiversity - UGC

81Biodiversity

UNIT 4:Biodiversity

4.1 INTRODUCTION – DEFINITION: GENETIC, SPECIES, ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY 824.1.1 Genetic diversity 824.1.2 Species diversity 824.1.3 Ecosystem diversity 83

4.2 BIOGEOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA 84

4.3 VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY: CONSUMPTIVE, PRODUCTIVE USE, SOCIAL, ETHICAL,AESTHETIC AND OPTION VALUES 84

4.3.1Consumptive value 854.3.2 Productive value 864.3.3 Social value 864.3.4 Ethical value 884.3.5 Aesthetic value 884.3.6 Option value 88

4.4 BIODIVERSITY AT GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS 88

4.5 INDIA AS A MEGA DIVERSITY NATION 89

4.6 HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY 90

4.7 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY: HABITAT LOSS, POACHING OF WILDLIFE,MAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICTS 91

4.8 ENDANGERED AND ENDEMIC SPECIES OF INDIA 944.8.1 Common Plant species 944.8.2 Common Animal species 99

4.9 CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY: IN-SITU AND EX-SITU 1044.9.1 In-situ conservation 1044.9.2 Ex-situ conservation 108

82 Environmental Studies for Undergraduate Courses

4.1 INTRODUCTION

The great variety of life on earth has providedfor man’s needs over thousands of years. Thisdiversity of living creatures forms a support sys-tem which has been used by each civilizationfor its growth and development. Those that usedthis “bounty of nature” carefully and sustainablysurvived. Those that overused or misused it dis-integrated.

Science has attempted to classify and catego-rize the variability in nature for over a century.This has led to an understanding of its organi-zation into communities of plants and animals.This information has helped in utilizing theearth’s biological wealth for the benefit of hu-manity and has been integral to the process of‘development’. This includes better health care,better crops and the use of these life forms asraw material for industrial growth which has ledto a higher standard of living for the developedworld. However this has also produced themodern consumerist society, which has had anegative effect on the diversity of biological re-sources upon which it is based. The diversity oflife on earth is so great that if we use itsustainably we can go on developing new prod-ucts from biodiversity for many generations. Thiscan only happen if we manage biodiversity as aprecious resource and prevent the extinction ofspecies.

Definition:‘Biological diversity’ or biodiversity is that partof nature which includes the differences in genesamong the individuals of a species, the varietyand richness of all the plant and animal speciesat different scales in space, locally, in a region,in the country and the world, and various typesof ecosystems, both terrestrial and aquatic,within a defined area.

What is biodiversity?Biological diversity deals with the degree ofnature’s variety in the biosphere. This variety canbe observed at three levels; the genetic variabil-ity within a species, the variety of species withina community, and the organisation of speciesin an area into distinctive plant and animal com-munities constitutes ecosystem diversity.

4.1.1 Genetic diversity

Each member of any animal or plant species dif-fers widely from other individuals in its geneticmakeup because of the large number of com-binations possible in the genes that give everyindividual specific characteristics. Thus, for ex-ample, each human being is very different fromall others. This genetic variability is essential fora healthy breeding population of a species. Ifthe number of breeding individuals is reduced,the dissimilarity of genetic makeup is reducedand in-breeding occurs. Eventually this can leadto the extinction of the species. The diversity inwild species forms the ‘gene pool’ from whichour crops and domestic animals have been de-veloped over thousands of years. Today the va-riety of nature’s bounty is being furtherharnessed by using wild relatives of crop plantsto create new varieties of more productive cropsand to breed better domestic animals. Modernbiotechnology manipulates genes for develop-ing better types of medicines and a variety ofindustrial products.

4.1.2 Species diversity

The number of species of plants and animalsthat are present in a region constitutes its spe-cies diversity. This diversity is seen both in natu-ral ecosystems and in agricultural ecosystems.Some areas are more rich in species than oth-ers. Natural undisturbed tropical forests have amuch greater species richness than plantationsdeveloped by the Forest Department for timber

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production. A natural forest ecosystem providesa large number of non-wood products that lo-cal people depend on such as fruit, fuel wood,fodder, fiber, gum, resin and medicines. Timberplantations do not provide the large variety ofgoods that are essential for local consumption.In the long-term the economic sustainable re-turns from non-wood forest products is said tobe greater than the returns from felling a forestfor its timber. Thus the value of a natural forest,with all its species richness is much greater thana plantation. Modern intensive agricultural eco-systems have a relatively lower diversity of cropsthan traditional agropastoral farming systemswhere multiple crops were planted.At present conservation scientists have been ableto identify and categorise about 1.8 million spe-cies on earth. However, many new species arebeing identified, especially in the floweringplants and insects. Areas that are rich in speciesdiversity are called ‘hotspots’ of diversity. Indiais among the world’s 15 nations that are excep-tionally rich in species diversity.

4.1.3 Ecosystem diversity

There are a large variety of different ecosystemson earth, which have their own complement ofdistinctive inter linked species based on the dif-ferences in the habitat. Ecosystem diversity canbe described for a specific geographical region,or a political entity such as a country, a State ora taluka. Distinctive ecosystems include land-scapes such as forests, grasslands, deserts,mountains, etc., as well as aquatic ecosystemssuch as rivers, lakes, and the sea. Each regionalso has man-modified areas such as farmlandor grazing pastures.

An ecosystem is referred to as ‘natural’ when itis relatively undisturbed by human activities, or‘modified’ when it is changed to other types ofuses, such as farmland or urban areas. Ecosys-tems are most natural in wilderness areas. Ifnatural ecosystems are overused or misused their

productivity eventually decreases and they arethen said to be degraded. India is exceptionallyrich in its ecosystem diversity.

Evolution and the Genesis of Biodiversity:The origins of life on earth some three and ahalf billion years ago are obscure. Life was prob-ably initiated as a product of organic reactionsin the Earth’s primordial seas. Alternative possi-bilities such as life beginning in a muddy ooze,or of life having been seeded from outer spacehave also been suggested. Once life took holdon the planet, it began gradually to diversify.Unicellular unspecialized forms gradually evolvedinto complex multi-cellular plants and animals.Evolution is related to the ability of living organ-isms to adapt to changes in their environment.Thus the abiotic changes in nature such as cli-matic and atmospheric upheavals, repeated gla-ciations, continental drift and the formation ofgeographical barriers, segregated different com-munities of plants and animals and graduallylead to the formation of new species over mil-lions of years.

Most species appear to have a life span extend-ing over several million years. Their adaptabilityto gradual changes in their habitat, and inter-actions with newly formed species producegroups of inter linked organisms that continueto evolve together. Food chains, prey-predatorrelationships, parasitism (complete dependenceon another species), commensalism (a partner-ship beneficial to both species), etc. are impor-tant examples. Behavioural patterns of thedifferent species comprising a community of spe-cies links them to each other through theirbreeding biology, feeding patterns, migrations,etc. As ancient species became extinct due togeological upheavals, they left behind empty‘niches’ in the habitat that stimulated existingspecies to fill them through the formation ofnew species. The Earth’s ancient history has seenperiods of mega extinctions, which have beenfollowed by periods of formation of new spe-cies. Though these repeatedly led to a drastic


reduction in the number of species, the diver-sity of life recuperated each time by graduallyincreasing the number of species existing onearth. This however took millions of years, asevolution is a very slow process. Thus when mancame on the scene some 2 million years ago,the earth was more rich in species than everbefore. During the recent past however, extinc-tions due to the activities of modern man havebegun to take place so rapidly that nature hashad no time to evolve new species. The earth isloosing species more rapidly than ever before.

The diversity of life at all three organisationallevels, genetic, species and ecosystem, is thusbeing rapidly modified by modern man. This isa great loss to future generations who will fol-low us.

4.2 BIOGEOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION OFINDIA

Our country can be conveniently divided intoten major regions, based on the geography, cli-mate and pattern of vegetation seen and thecommunities of mammals, birds, reptiles, am-phibia, insects and other invertebrates that livein them. Each of these regions contains a vari-ety of ecosystems such as forests, grasslands,lakes, rivers, wetlands, mountains and hills,which have specific plant and animal species.

India’s Biogeographic Zones

1. The cold mountainous snow covered TransHimalayan region of Ladakh.

2. The Himalayan ranges and valleys of Kash-mir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assamand other North Eastern States.

3. The Terai, the lowland where the Himalayanrivers flow into the plains.

4. The Gangetic and Bhramaputra plains.

5. The Thar Desert of Rajasthan.

6. The semi arid grassland region of theDeccan plateau Gujarat, Maharashtra,Andra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

7. The Northeast States of India,

8. The Western Ghats in Maharashtra,Karnataka and Kerala.

9. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

10. The long western and eastern coastal beltwith sandy beaches, forests and mangroves.

4.3 VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY

Environmental services from species and eco-systems are essential at global, regional and lo-cal levels. Production of oxygen, reducing carbondioxide, maintaining the water cycle, protect-ing soil are important services. The world nowacknowledges that the loss of biodiversity con-tributes to global climatic changes. Forests arethe main mechanism for the conversion of car-bon dioxide into carbon and oxygen. The lossof forest cover, coupled with the increasing re-lease of carbon dioxide and other gases throughindustrialization contributes to the ‘greenhouseeffect’. Global warming is melting ice caps, re-sulting in a rise in the sea level which will sub-merge the low lying areas in the world. It iscausing major atmospheric changes, leading toincreased temperatures, serious droughts insome areas and unexpected floods in other ar-eas.

Biological diversity is also essential for preserv-ing ecological processes, such as fixing and re-cycling of nutrients, soil formation, circulationand cleansing of air and water, global life sup-port (plants absorb CO

2, give out O

2), maintain-

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ing the water balance within ecosystems, wa-tershed protection, maintaining stream and riverflows throughout the year, erosion control andlocal flood reduction.

Food, clothing, housing, energy, medicines, areall resources that are directly or indirectly linkedto the biological variety present in the biosphere.This is most obvious in the tribal communitieswho gather resources from the forest, orfisherfolk who catch fish in marine or freshwa-ter ecosystems. For others, such as agriculturalcommunities, biodiversity is used to grow theircrops to suit the environment. Urban commu-nities generally use the greatest amount ofgoods and services, which are all indirectly drawnfrom natural ecosystems.

It has become obvious that the preservation ofbiological resources is essential for the well-be-ing and the long-term survival of mankind. Thisdiversity of living organisms which is present inthe wilderness, as well as in our crops and live-stock, plays a major role in human ‘develop-ment’. The preservation of ‘biodiversity’ istherefore integral to any strategy that aims atimproving the quality of human life.

4.3.1 Consumptive use value

The direct utilisation of timber, food, fuelwood,fodder by local communities.

The biodiversity held in the ecosystem providesforest dwellers with all their daily needs, food,building material, fodder, medicines and a vari-ety of other products. They know the qualitiesand different uses of wood from different spe-cies of trees, and collect a large number of localfruits, roots and plant material that they use asfood, construction material or medicines.Fisherfolk are highly dependent on fish andknow where and how to catch fish and otheredible aquatic animals and plants.

Man and the Web of Life

The Biodiversity of an area influences everyaspect of the lives of people who inhabit it.Their living space and their livelihoods de-pend on the type of ecosystem. Even peopleliving in urban areas are dependent on theecological services provided by the wilder-ness in the PAs. We frequently don’t see thisin everyday life as it is not necessarily overt.It is linked with every service that nature pro-vides us. The quality of water we drink anduse, the air we breathe, the soil on whichour food grows are all influenced by a widevariety of living organisms both plants andanimals and the ecosystem of which eachspecies is linked with in nature.

While it is well known that plant life removescarbon dioxide and releases the oxygen webreathe, it is less obvious that fungi, smallsoil invertebrates and even microbes are es-sential for plants to grow.

That a natural forest maintains the water inthe river after the monsoon, or that the ab-sence of ants could destroy life on earth, areto be appreciated to understand how we arecompletely dependent on the living ‘web oflife’ on earth.

The wilderness is an outcome of a long evo-lutionary process that has created anunimaginably large diversity of living species,their genetic differences and the various eco-systems on earth in which all living creatureslive. This includes mankind as well. Thinkabout this and we cannot but want to pro-tect out earth’s unique biodiversity. We arehighly dependent on these living resources.


4.3.2 Productive use value

Marketable goods.

Value of MFP>Timber (which is part of sus-tainable use).

The biotechnologist uses biorich areas to ‘pros-pect’ and search for potential genetic proper-ties in plants or animals that can be used todevelop better varieties of crops that are usedin farming and plantation programs or to de-velop better livestock. To the pharmacist, bio-logical diversity is the raw material from whichnew drugs can be identified from plant or ani-mal products. To industrialists, biodiversity is arich store-house from which to develop newproducts. For the agricultural scientist thebiodiversity in the wild relatives of crop plants isthe basis for developing better crops.

Genetic diversity enables scientists and farmersto develop better crops and domestic animalsthrough careful breeding. Originally this wasdone by selecting or pollinating crops artificiallyto get a more productive or disease resistantstrain. Today this is increasingly being done bygenetic engineering, selecting genes from oneplant and introducing them into another. Newcrop varieties (cultivars) are being developedusing the genetic material found in wild rela-tives of crop plants through biotechnology.

Even today, species of plants and animals arebeing constantly discovered in the wild. Thusthese wild species are the building blocks forthe betterment of human life and their loss is agreat economic loss to mankind. Among theknown species, only a tiny fraction have beeninvestigated for their value in terms of food, ortheir medicinal or industrial potential.

Preservation of biodiversity has now becomeessential for industrial growth and economic

development. A variety of industries such aspharmaceuticals are highly dependent on iden-tifying compounds of great economic value fromthe wide variety of wild species of plants locatedin undisturbed natural forests. This is called bio-logical prospecting.

4.3.3 Social values

While traditional societies which had a smallpopulation and required less resources had pre-served their biodiversity as a life supporting re-source, modern man has rapidly depleted it evento the extent of leading to the irrecoverable lossdue to extinction of several species. Thus apartfrom the local use or sale of products ofbiodiversity there is the social aspect in whichmore and more resources are used by affluentsocieties. The biodiversity has to a great extentbeen preserved by traditional societies that val-ued it as a resource and appreciated that itsdepletion would be a great loss to their society.

The consumptive and productive value ofbiodiversity is closely linked to social concernsin traditional communities. ‘Ecosystem people’value biodiversity as a part of their livelihood aswell as through cultural and religious sentiments.A great variety of crops have been cultivated intraditional agricultural systems and this permit-ted a wide range of produce to be grown andmarketed throughout the year and acted as aninsurance against the failure of one crop. In re-cent years farmers have begun to receive eco-nomic incentives to grow cash crops for nationalor international markets, rather than to supplylocal needs. This has resulted in local food short-ages, unemployment (cash crops are usuallymechanised), landlessness and increased vulner-ability to drought and floods.

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Commonly used modern drugs derived from plant sources:

DRUG PLANT SOURCE USE

Atropine Belladonna Anticholinergic: reduces intestinal pain in diarrhoea.

Bromelain Pineapple Controls tissue inflammation due to infection.

Caffeine Tea, Coffee Stimulant of the central nervous system.

Camphor Camphor tree Rebefacient: increases local blood supply.

Cocaine Cocoa Analgesic and local anesthetic: reduces pain andprevents pain during surgery.

Codeine Opium poppy Analgesic: reduces pain.

Morphine Opium poppy Analgesic: controls pain.

Colchicine Autumn crocus Anticancer agent.

Digitoxin Common foxglove Cardiac stimulant used in heart diseases.

Diosgenin Wild yams Source of female contraceptive: prevents pregnancy.

L-Dopa Velvet bean Controls Parkinson’s Disease which leads to jerkymovements of the hands

Ergotamine Smut-of-rye or ergot Control of haemorrhage and migraine headaches.

Glaziovine ocotea glaziovii Antidepressant: Elevates mood of depressed patients.

Gossypol Cotton Male contraceptive.

Indicine N-oxide heliotropium indicum Anticancer agent.

Menthol Mint Rubefacient: increases local blood supply and reducespain on local application.

Monocrotaline Cotolaria sessiliflora Anticancer agent.

Papain Papaya Dissolves excess protein and mucus, during digestion.

Penicillin Penicillium fungi General antibiotic, skills bacteria and controls infectionby various micro-organisms.

Quinine Yellow cinochona Antimalarial.

Reserpine Indian snakeroot Reduces high blood pressure.

Scopolamine Thorn apple Sedative.

Taxol Pacific yew Anticancer (ovarian).

Vinblastine, Rosy periwinkle Anticancer agent: Controls cancer in children.vincristine (Vinca rosea) (Sadaphali)

From: ‘The Diversity of Life’; Edward O. Wilson(Norton Paperback. In association with Havard University Press – 1993)


4.3.4 Ethical and moral values

Ethical values related to biodiversity conserva-tion are based on the importance of protectingall forms of life. All forms of life have the rightto exist on earth. Man is only a small part of theEarth’s great family of species. Don’t plants andanimals have an equal right to live and exist onour planet which is like an inhabited spaceship?We do not know if life as we know it exists else-where in the universe. Do we have the right todestroy life forms or do we have a duty to pro-tect them?

Apart from the economic importance of con-serving biodiversity, there are several cultural,moral and ethical values which are associatedwith the sanctity of all forms of life. Indian civi-lization has over several generations preservednature through local traditions. This has beenan important part of the ancient philosophy ofmany of our cultures. We have in our country alarge number of sacred groves or ‘deorais’ pre-served by tribal people in several States. Thesesacred groves around ancient sacred sites andtemples act as gene banks of wild plants.

4.3.5 Aesthetic value

Knowledge and an appreciation of the presenceof biodiversity for its own sake is another rea-son to preserve it. Quite apart from killingwildlife for food, it is important as a tourist at-traction. Biodiversity is a beautiful and wonder-ful aspect of nature. Sit in a forest and listen tothe birds. Watch a spider weave its complexweb. Observe a fish feeding. It is magnificentand fascinating.

Symbols from wild species such as the lion ofHinduism, the elephant of Buddhism and dei-ties such as Lord Ganesh, and the vehicles ofseveral deities that are animals, have been ven-erated for thousands of years. Valmiki beginshis epic story with a couplet on the unfortunate

killing of a crane by a hunter. The ‘Tulsi’ hasbeen placed at our doorsteps for centuries.

4.3.6 Option value

Keeping future possibilities open for their use iscalled option value. It is impossible to predictwhich of our species or traditional varieties ofcrops and domestic animals will be of great usein the future. To continue to improve cultivarsand domestic livestock, we need to return towild relatives of crop plants and animals. Thusthe preservation of biodiversity must also includetraditionally used strains already in existence incrops and domestic animals.

4.4 BIODIVERSITY AT GLOBAL, NATIONALAND LOCAL LEVELS

There are at present 1.8 million species knownand documented by scientists in the world. How-ever, scientists have estimated that the numberof species of plants and animals on earth couldvary from 1.5 to 20 billion! Thus the majority ofspecies are yet to be discovered.

Most of the world’s bio-rich nations are in theSouth, which are the developing nations. In con-trast, the majority of the countries capable ofexploiting biodiversity are Northern nations, inthe economically developed world. These na-tions however have low levels of biodiversity.Thus the developed world has come to supportthe concept that biodiversity must be consid-ered to be a ‘global resource’. However, ifbiodiversity should form a ‘common propertyresource’ to be shared by all nations, there is noreason to exclude oil, or uranium, or even intel-lectual and technological expertise as global as-sets. India’s sovereignty over its biologicaldiversity cannot be compromised without a revo-lutionary change in world thinking about shar-ing of all types of natural resources.

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Countries with diversities higher than India arelocated in South America such as Brazil, andSouth East Asian countries such as Malaysia andIndonesia. The species found in these countries,however, are different from our own. This makesit imperative to preserve our own biodiversityas a major economic resource. While few of theother ‘megadiversity nations’ have developedthe technology to exploit their species for bio-technology and genetic engineering, India is ca-pable of doing so.

Throughout the world, the value of biologicallyrich natural areas is now being increasingly ap-preciated as being of unimaginable value. In-ternational agreements such as the WorldHeritage Convention attempt to protect andsupport such areas. India is a signatory to theconvention and has included several protectedAreas as World Heritage sites. These includeManas on the border between Bhutan and In-dia, Kaziranga in Assam, Bharatpur in U.P.,Nandadevi in the Himalayas, and the Sunderbansin the Ganges delta in West Bengal.

India has also signed the Convention in theTrade of Endangered Species (CITES) whichis intended to reduce the utilization of endan-gered plants and animals by controlling trade intheir products and in the pet trade.

4.5 INDIA AS A MEGA DIVERSITY NATION

Geological events in the landmass of India haveprovided conditions for high levels of biologicaldiversity. A split in the single giant continentaround 70 million years ago, led to the forma-tion of northern and southern continents, withIndia a part of Gondwanaland - the southernlandmass, together with Africa, Australia andthe Antarctic. Later tectonic movements shiftedIndia northward across the equator to join theNorthern Eurasian continent. As the interven-ing shallow Tethis Sea closed down, plants andanimals that had evolved both in Europe and in

the Far East migrated into India before theHimalayas had formed. A final influx came fromAfrica with Ethiopian species, which, wereadapted to the Savannas and semi-arid regions.Thus India’s special geographical position be-tween three distinctive centres of biological evo-lution and radiation of species is responsible forour rich and varied biodiversity.

Among the biologically rich nations, India standsamong the top 10 or 15 countries for its greatvariety of plants and animals, many of whichare not found elsewhere. India has 350 differ-ent mammals (rated eight highest in the world),1,200 species of birds (eighth in the world), 453species of reptiles (fifth in the world) and 45,000plant species, of which most are angiosperms,(fifteenth in the world). These include especiallyhigh species diversity of ferns (1022 species) andorchids (1082 species). India has 50,000 knownspecies of insects, including 13,000 butterfliesand moths. It is estimated that the number ofunknown species could be several times higher.

It is estimated that 18% of Indian plants areendemic to the country and found nowhereelse in the world. Among the plant species theflowering plants have a much higher degree ofendemism, a third of these are not found else-where in the world. Among amphibians foundin India, 62% are unique to this country. Amonglizards, of the 153 species recorded, 50% areendemic. High endemism has also been re-corded for various groups of insects, marineworms, centipedes, mayflies and fresh watersponges.

India’s World Number ofRanking species in India

Mammals 8th 350

Birds 8th 1200

Reptiles 5th 453

Amphibia 15th 182

Angiosperms 15th-20th 14,500


Apart from the high biodiversity of Indian wildplants and animals there is also a great diversityof cultivated crops and breeds of domestic live-stock. This is a result of several thousand yearsduring which civilizations have grown and flour-ished in the Indian subcontinent. The traditionalcultivars included 30,000 to 50,000 varieties ofrice and a number of cereals, vegetables andfruit. The highest diversity of cultivars is con-centrated in the high rainfall areas of the West-ern Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Northern Himalayasand the North-Eastern hills.

Gene-banks have collected over 34,000 cerealsand 22,000 pulses grown in India. India has 27indigenous breeds of cattle, 40 breeds of sheep,22 breeds of goats and 8 breeds of buffaloes.

4.6 HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY

The earth’s biodiversity is distributed in specificecological regions. There are over a thousandmajor ecoregions in the world. Of these, 200are said to be the richest, rarest and most dis-tinctive natural areas. These areas are referredto as the Global 200.

It has been estimated that 50,000 endemicplants which comprise 20% of global plant life,probably occur in only 18 ‘hot spots’ in theworld. Countries which have a relatively largeproportion of these hot spots of diversity arereferred to as ‘megadiversity nations’.

The rate at which the extinction of species isoccurring throughout our country remains ob-

Global species diversity

Group No. of Described Species

Bacteria and blue-green algae 4,760Fungi 46,983Algae 26,900Bryophytes (Mosses and Liverworts) 17,000 (WCMC, 1988)Gymnosperms (Conifers) 750 (Reven et al., 1986)Angiosperms (Flowering plants) 250,000 (Reven et al., 1986)Protozoans 30,800Sponges 5,000Corals and Jellyfish 9,000Roundworms and earthworms 24,000Crustaceans 38,000Insects 751,000other arthropods and minor Invertebrates 132,461Molluscs 50,000Starfish 6,100Fishes (Teleosts) 19,056Amphibians 4,184Reptiles 6,300Birds 9,198 (Clements, 1981)Mammals 4,170 (Honacki et al., 1982)

Total: 1,435,662 SPECIES

From ‘Conserving the World’s Biological Diversity WRI, IUCN, CI, WWF-US, The World Bank.’

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scure. It is likely to be extremely high as our wil-derness areas are shrinking rapidly. Our globallyaccepted national ‘hot spots’ are in the forestsof the North-East and the Western Ghats,which are included in the world’s most biorichareas. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands areextremely rich in species and many subspeciesof different animals and birds have evolved.Among the endemic species i.e. those speciesfound only in India, a large proportion are con-centrated in these three areas. The Andamanand Nicobar Islands alone have as many as 2200species of flowering plants and 120 species offerns. Out of 135 genera of land mammals inIndia, 85 (63%) are found in the Northeast. TheNortheast States have 1,500 endemic plant spe-cies. A major proportion of amphibian and rep-tile species, especially snakes, are concentratedin the Western Ghats, which is also a habitatfor 1,500 endemic plant species.

Coral reefs in Indian waters surround theAndaman and Nicobar Islands, LakshadweepIslands, the Gulf areas of Gujarat and TamilNadu. They are nearly as rich in species as tropi-cal evergreen forests!

4.7 THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY: HABITATLOSS, POACHING OF WILDLIFE, MAN-WILD-LIFE CONFLICTS

Man has begun to overuse or misuse most ofthese natural ecosystems. Due to this ‘unsus-tainable’ resource-use, once productive forestsand grasslands have been turned into desertsand wasteland have increased all over the world.Mangroves have been cleared for fuelwood andprawn farming, which has led to a decrease inthe habitat essential for breeding of marine fish.Wetlands have been drained to increase agri-cultural land. These changes have grave eco-nomic implications in the longer term.

The current destruction of the remaining largeareas of wilderness habitats, especially in the

CASE STUDY

Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary – SawaiMadhopur, Rajashtan

While conservation efforts are associatedwith conflicts between villagers and ForestOfficials in most Protected Areas across thecountry, the Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary inRajasthan has involved local community ini-tiatives for conservation and regeneration.The Sanctuary was initiated in 1983, over674 sq km forming a part of the 1334 sq kmRanthambore Tiger Reserve. It is locatedwithin the Karauli and Sapotra blocks ofSawai Madhopur district.

The primary occupation of the predominantMeena and Gujjar communities is pastoral-ism and subsistence agriculture.

Pressures on the sanctuary included migrantgrazers known as the Rabaris, who camefrom the Mewar region of Rajasthan withherds of over 150,000 sheep. Other pres-sures were from exploitation of timber andfuelwood and mining. The threat poised bythe migrant grazers spurred the formationof the “Baragaon ki Panchayat” in 1990,which in turn initiated a ‘Bhed BhagaoAndolan’.

The Forest Department supported the villag-ers in the formation of Forest ProtectionCommittees and Van Suraksha Samitis. Thebenefits of involving local people in protec-tion of their resources were obvious. Illegalfelling was checked. The use of forest re-sources for local use was monitored. TheForest Protection Committees (FPCs) werealso successful in stopping the mining in theSanctuary. Mining is now banned in theSanctuary. The people not only protect theirforests but also use their resources judi-ciously.


super diverse tropical forests and coral reefs, isthe most important threat worldwide tobiodiversity. Scientists have estimated that hu-man activities are likely to eliminate approxi-mately 10 million species by the year 2050.

There are about 1.8 million species of plants andanimals, both large and microscopic, known toscience in the world at present. The number ofspecies however is likely to be greater by a fac-tor of at least 10. Plants and insects as well asother forms of life not known to science arecontinually being identified in the worlds’ ‘hot-spots’ of diversity. Unfortunately at the presentrate of extinction about 25% of the worlds’ spe-cies will undergo extinction fairly rapidly. Thismay occur at the rate of 10 to 20 thousand spe-cies per year, a thousand to ten thousand timesfaster than the expected natural rate! Humanactions could well exterminate 25% of theworld’s species within the next twenty or thirtyyears. Much of this mega extinction spasm isrelated to human population growth, industri-alization and changes in land-use patterns. Amajor part of these extinctions will occur in ‘bio-rich’ areas such as tropical forests, wetlands, andcoral reefs. The loss of wild habitats due to rapidhuman population growth and short term eco-nomic development are major contributors tothe rapid global destruction of biodiversity.

Island flora and fauna having high endemism insmall isolated areas surrounded by sea have sofar been most seriously affected by human ac-tivity, which has already led to extinction of manyisland plants and animals (the dodo is a famousexample). Habitat loss also results from man’sintroduction of species from one area into an-other, disturbing the balance in existing com-munities. In the process, the purposely oraccidentally introduced organisms (Eupatorium,Lantana, Hyacinth, Congress grass orParthenium) have led to the extinction of manylocal species.

Loss of species occurs due to the destruction ofnatural ecosystems, either for conversion toagriculture or industry, or by over-extraction oftheir resources, or through pollution of air, wa-ter and soil.

In India, forests and grasslands are continuouslybeing changed to agricultural land. Encroach-ments have been legalized repeatedly. Similarlynatural wetland systems have been drained toestablish croplands resulting in loss of aquaticspecies. Grasslands that were once sustainablyused by a relatively smaller number of humanbeings and their cattle are either changed toother forms of use or degraded by overgrazing.

CASE STUDY:

Kokkare Bellure – Karnataka: Co-exist-ence (Man and Wildlife)

The pelican, which is an endangered speciesbreeds in large numbers at Kokkare Bellurwhich is one of the ten known breeding sitesin India. Kokkare Bellure is a village inKarnataka in Southern India. In Decemberevery year, hundreds of spot billed pelicans,painted storks, ibis and other birds migrateto this area to establish breeding colonieson the tall tamarind trees in the center ofthe village. The local people have protectedthe birds, believing that they bring good luckwith regard to rain and crops. The villagerscollect a rich supply of the natural fertilizerthat collects below the nests – the guano.The droppings of fish-eating birds are rich innitrates.

The owners of the trees inhabited by thebirds dig deep pits under the trees, into whichthe guano falls. Silt from nearby lakes andponds is mixed with the guano which is usedin their fields and sold as fertilizer. They havenow planted trees around their homes toencourage nesting.

93Biodiversity

Our natural forests are being deforested for tim-ber and replanted using teak, sal or other singlespecies for their timber value. Such plantationsdo not support the same biological diversity asa multi-storied natural forest, which has a closedcanopy and a rich understorey of vegetation.

When excessive firewood is collected from theforest by lopping the branches of trees, the for-est canopy is opened up and this alters localbiodiversity. Foraging cattle retard the regen-eration of the forest as seedlings are constantlytrampled.

Increasing human population on the fringes ofour Protected Areas degrade forest ecosystems.

This is a major factor to consider in evaluatingthe quality of the ecosystem. Repeated firesstarted by local grazers to increase grass growthultimately reduces regeneration and lowers thediversity of plant species. Without alternatesources of fodder this pressure cannot be de-creased.

Another factor that disrupts forest biodiversityis the introduction of exotic weeds which arenot a part of the natural vegetation. Commonexamples in India are lantana bushes, Eupato-rium shrubs and ‘congress’ grass. These havebeen imported into the country from abroad andhave invaded several large tracts of our naturalforests. These weeds spread at the expense ofthe diverse range of indigenous undergrowthspecies. The impact on the diversity of insect,bird and other wildlife species, though not ad-equately studied, is quite obvious.

In our country a variety of traditional farmingtechniques have evolved over several centuries.Cultivation by slash and burn in the Himalayas,and ‘rab’ by lopping of tree branches to act as awood-ash fertilizer in the Western Ghats, aretwo such systems. When human population inthese areas was low, these were sustainable

methods of agriculture. Unfortunately these ar-eas now have a large number of people whosubsist largely on forest agriculture. These meth-ods are now unsustainable and are leading to aloss of forest biodiversity.

Overharvesting of fish, especially by trawling isleading to serious depletion of fish stocks. Turtlesare being massacred off the coast of Orissa. Therare whale shark, a highly endangered species,is being killed off the coast of Gujarat.

Poaching: Specific threats to certain animals arerelated to large economic benefits. Skin andbones from tigers, ivory from elephants, hornsfrom rhinos and the perfume from the must deerare extensively used abroad. Bears are killed fortheir gall bladders. Corals and shells are also col-lected for export or sold on the beaches ofChennai and Kanyakumari. A variety of wildplants with real or at times dubious medicinalvalue are being over harvested. The commonlycollected plants include Rauvolfia, Nuxvomica,Datura, etc. Collection of garden plants includesorchids, ferns and moss.

The Rights of Species

We do not see all the varied functions thatbiodiversity plays in our lives because theyare not obvious. We rarely see how they arecontrolling our environment unless we studynature. Thus we tend to take short-term ac-tions that can have serious impacts onbiodiversity leading to even extinction of spe-cies by disturbing their habitats. Man has noright to do so. We only share this planet withmillions of other species that also have a rightto survive on earth. It is morally wrong toallow man’s actions to lead to the extinctionof species.


4.8 ENDANGERED AND ENDEMIC SPECIESOF INDIA

To appreciate the endemic and endangered spe-cies of India it is important to understand thewide variety of plant and animal species thatare found in the country.

Of the well-known species, there are severalwhich are endangered by human activity. Theendangered species in the country arecategorised as Vulnerable, Rare, Indeterminateand Threatened. Other species are found onlyin India and are thus endemic or restricted toour country. Some of these may have very lo-calized distribution and are considered highlyendemic.

Several plant and animal species in the countryare now found in only one or a few ProtectedAreas. Among the important endangered ani-mals are charismatic species such as the tiger,the elephant, the rhino, etc. The less well-knownmajor mammals restricted to a single area in-clude the Indian wild ass, the Hangul orKashmir stag, the Golden langur, the pygmyhog and a host of others. There are also endan-gered bird species such as the Siberian crane,the Great Indian Bustard, the Florican andseveral birds of prey. During the recent past,vultures which were common a decade ago,have suddenly disappeared and are nowhighly threatened. Equally threatened are sev-eral species of reptiles and amphibia. Manyinvertebrates are also threatened, including alarge number of species that inhabit our coralreefs.

Many plant species are now increasingly threat-ened due to changes in their habitats inducedby human activity. Apart from major trees,shrubs and climbers that are extremely habitatspecific and thus endangered, there are thou-sands of small herbs which are greatly threat-ened by habitat loss. Several orchids are yetanother group of plants that are under threat.

Many plants are threatened due to overharvest-ing as ingredients in medicinal products.

To protect endangered species India has createdthe Wildlife Protection Act. This includes lists ofplants and animals categorised according to thethreat on their survival.

We know so little about the species diversity ofour country. There are several groups of whichwe know very little. Most of us are only awareof the plight of a few glamorous large mam-mals, but we need to appreciate the threat tothe less known species of plants and animals.We need to find ways to support the conserva-tion of our incredible wildlife for future genera-tions.

4.8.1 Common Plant species

Teak: This tree is from the Southwest parts ofpeninsular India. It is a common tree in decidu-ous forests. It yields a much sought after timberused for making excellent furniture. During theearly British period it was cut down from manyforest tracts to build ships. As the stocks werediminishing, the British selected areas which theycalled Reserved Forests where teak was plantedfor the Government’s use. Teak is grown ex-tensively by the Forest Department and is ahighly priced wood.

The teak tree is identified by its large leaves,which grow to more than 40 or 50cms long and20cms wide. It has tiny flowers and fruit. In thewinter, the trees shed all their leaves. In thegrowing season, which begins in April and ex-tends through the monsoon, teak forests arebright green and shady. Most natural teak for-ests have various other species of plants andhave a large number of wild animals. Some ar-eas of teak forests that have exceptional popu-lations of wildlife have been included in ourNational Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.

95Biodiversity

Neem

Sal: This is a common species of several typesof forests of the Northeastern region of India,extending into Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. Ithas bright green foliage and its canopy remainsgreen nearly throughout the year. Sal wood ishard and durable. Sal gets a large number ofseeds which are used in making cosmetics. Thesal forests are rich in wild mammals, birds, rep-tiles and insect life. Several areas are includedin our network of National Parks and Sanctuar-ies.

Mango: This has become one of our most popu-lar horticultural species with different varietiesgrown all over the country. The wild mango treehas small tangy fruit and a big seed in compari-son to the large pulpy fruit used in horticulture.The mango tree is an evergreen species and getssmall flowers that are pollinated by insects. Inthe forest, fruit dependent animals such asmonkeys, squirrels and fruit eating birds relishits ripe fruit.

berries on which the larvae feed and grow. Theficus trees bear berries throughout the year, thussupplying nutritious food to several animal spe-cies when other trees have no fruit. Ficus spe-cies are thus known as ‘keystone’ species in theecosystem and support a major part of the foodweb in several ecosystems. Ficus trees such asPeepal and Banyan are considered sacred andare protected in India.

Neem: This species is known as Azadirachta In-dica. It has been traditionally used in indigenousmedicine. It has small yellow fruit. The leavesand fruit are bitter to taste. It is used extensivelyas an environmentally friendly insecticide. Itgrows extremely well in semi-arid regions andcan be planted in afforestation programs wheresoil is poor and rainfall is low.

Ficus sp.: Peepal, Banyan and many other ficusspecies form a part of this group of importanttrees. They are all ecologically of great impor-tance as many different species of insects, birdsand mammals live on ficus berries. The flowersare inside the berries. They are pollinated by aspecific wasp which lays its eggs inside the

Mango

Ficus

Tamarind: One of the best known Indian trees,it grows to a large size and is known to live forover 200 years. Its familiar fruit is a curved podwith sour pulp and contains a number of squar-ish seeds. The pulp in the fresh fruit is eithergreen or red. As it ripens, it turns sticky andbrown and separates from the skin. The tree iscommonly cultivated as a shade tree and for itsedible sour fruit which contains high concen-trations of vitamin C. It is used as an additive infood to give a tangy flavour. It is valued for itstimber as well as for fuelwood.


Babul: This is a thorny species that is character-istic of semi arid areas of Western India and theDeccan plateau. It grows sparsely in tracts ofgrassland and around farms. It is used for fod-der and fuelwood. It remains green throughoutthe year even under the driest conditions and isbrowsed by wild animals and cattle. It has smallleaves and bright yellow flowers and small seed-pods with multiple seeds. Its main characteristicis its long sharp, straight thorns which preventexcessive browsing of its older branches.

Zizyphus: These are the typical small trees andshrubs that are found in the arid and semi aridareas of India. Z. mauritiana and Z. jujuba arethe most frequent species. It is a favourite offrugivorous birds. The tree fruits extensively andis eaten by a variety of birds and mammals. Thepopular fruit is commonly collected and sold inlocal markets.

Jamun: This tree is an evergreen species whichhas a tasty purple fruit. It is a favourite with notonly people but also with many wild birds andmammals. It grows in many parts of India andhas several varieties with fruit of different sizes.

branches profusely forming a dense crown. Theleaves are elliptical and leathery and its youngleaves are extensively used for making ‘bidis’.The fruit is brownish yellow and astringent.Tendu leaf collection necessitates burning un-dergrowth and slashing the branches of the treesto get at the leaves. The resulting disturbanceto wildlife is a serious issue in Protected Areas.

Jackfruit: A tree that is planted around manyvillages and has huge fruit growing from itsbranches. The fruit has a prickly skin. The fruitwhen unripe is cooked. Once ripe it is eaten rawafter it turns into a sweet, sticky, golden-yellowfruit which has a strong smell.

Flame of the Forest (Butea monosperma):This tree grows in many parts of India. It hasbright orange flowers when it is leafless, thus itis called ‘flame of the forest’. The flowers arefull of nectar which attracts monkeys and manynectar dependent birds.

Jamun

Tendu is a mid-sized, deciduous tree, commonin dry deciduous forests throughout the Sub-continent. There are around 50 Indian species.Its bark exfoliates in large rectangular scales. It

Flame ofthe forest

Coral Tree (Erythrina): A common deciduoustree that is leafless in February when it getsbright scarlet flowers that are used for theirnectar by many birds such as mynas, crows andsunbirds, that act as its major pollinators. Its longblack seed pods contain several shiny brownseeds which germinate well. This tree can alsobe propagated by cutting and planting its young

97Biodiversity

branches. It is a rapid grower and usually be-gins to flower in four or five years time.

Amla: This deciduous medium sized tree isknown for its sour, green-yellow fruit which isrich in vitamin C. It is used as a medicine, inpickles and for dying and tanning. It is frequentlyreferred to as the Indian ‘olive’, to which it hasno similarity either in appearance or taste.

Dipterocarps: This group of trees grows in ev-ergreen forests of the southern part of theWestern Ghats and in the Northeast of India, inhigh rainfall areas. It grows to an enormousheight with a wide girth. The seed has a pair ofwing like structures which aid in wind dispersal.

Quercus (Oak) is a large tree and is economi-cally an important genus which includes manytrees known for their beautiful shape and theirchanging seasonal colours. There are 30 to 40Indian species of this genus found in the tem-perate areas throughout the Himalayas. The fruitis a large, hard, solitary characteristic nut (acorn).Oaks provide the finest hardwoods of greatstrength and durability and were once used forbuilding ships and bridges. It is a famous woodfor high quality furniture. Some of its speciesare excellent fodder plants.

Pine: There are 5 species of true pines that arefound in India in the Himalayan region. The tim-ber of these trees is frequently used in construc-tion, carpentry and the paper industry. Pine resinis used to make turpentine, rosin, tar and pitch.Pine oils are obtained by distillation of leavesand shoots. Pine leaves are thin and needle-like.

The male and female spores are produced inwoody cones. Dispersal of pollen is aided by eachgrain having two wings.

Cycas: These plants are uncommon in India andhave a palm-like appearance. Cycads along withconifers make up the gymnosperms. They areamong the most primitive seed plants, and haveremained virtually unchanged through the past200 million years. There are five species foundin India, mostly in high rainfall areas.

Coconut: This tall stately palm has a more orless straight trunk with circular markings. Itmostly grows in coastal plains. The base is sur-rounded by a mass of fine roots. It produces thefamiliar coconut, filled with liquid and a softwhite edible, initially jelly like material that hard-ens when the fruit ripens. It is a common ingre-dient of food in India, especially in the SouthernStates. It is extensively cultivated along thecoastal regions and islands of India. Most partsof the tree yield several useful products such asbroomsticks from its leaves and fiber from thehusk of dried coconuts.

Orchids: This is the largest group of floweringplants in the world with over 18,000 knownspecies. Of these, 1500 species are found in In-dia, making it one of the largest plant familiesin the country with a high concentration of astaggering 700 species in the NortheasternStates. These plants are terrestrial or epiphyticherbs. Flowers show a range of bright colours

Erythrina Pine


and great variations in structure. In some spe-cies, one of the petals is distinct from the othersand is called a lip or labellum. This colourful petalattracts pollinators. In India a large number oforchid species are found in the Western Ghats,the Northeast, and the Andaman and NicobarIslands. Orchids are however seen in several eco-logical conditions except extremes such as verycold or very hot and dry ecosystems.

Drosera: This is a small insectivorous plant, usu-ally 5 or 6cms in height, which has tiny hair whichsecrete a sticky droplet of fluid on which insectsget stuck. The leaf winds around the strugglinginsect which is then slowly digested. The plant

has pretty flowers. It grows in shal-low poor quality soil. It is a rareplant and is found in small patches.

Lotus: An aquatic floating plantwith a large rhizome, which isrooted in mud. Its leaves are circu-lar flat and covered with a waxycoating which protects it fromwater. The flower grows on anerect stalk with several petals rang-ing from pink violet to white. Thefruit is a spongy cone with mul-tiple round seeds. It is widely dis-tributed in wetland habitats andshallow parts of lakes and marshy

areas. The rhizome, stalks of the leaves andseeds are considered delicacies. The fruit is usedfor dry decorations. The flower has been a tra-ditional motif in Indian art. The lotus is the Na-tional flower of India.

Grasses: Grasses form the second largest groupof flowering plants in the world. They are a veryimportant group of plants as they are used forvarious purposes such as making fiber, paper,thatching material for roofs, oil, gum, medicinesand many other useful products. The economi-cally important grasses include sugarcane, bam-boo and cereals like rice, wheat, millets, maize,etc. Grasses are important as they provide fod-der for domestic animals.

Bamboo: This is a group of large grasslike spe-cies that grow as a clump to great heights inmany forests of India. It is extremely useful andis used for constructing huts and making sev-eral useful household articles in rural areas suchas baskets, farm implements, fences, householdimplements, matting, etc. The young shoots areused as food. It is extensively used in the pulpand paper industry as a raw material.

Bamboos flower after more than two decades.The plant then dies. The flowering producesthousands of seeds which results in the slow

Orchid

Drosera

99Biodiversity

regrowth of the bamboo. Bamboo is a favoritefood of elephants and other large herbivores ofthe forest such as gaur and deer.

Wild relatives of crop plants: All our presentday cultivated varieties of rice, which are grownfor food, come from wild varieties of rice, manyof which have originated in India, China andIndonesia. Rice forms one of the staple foods ofthe world. Although wild varieties are not usedas food crops, they are important as they con-tain genes, which can be used to develop dis-ease or pest resistance in crops. Many localvarieties of rice have already been lost, as mostfarmers now grow only high yielding varieties.

4.8.2 Common Animal species

Mammals:The common deer species found in India includethe sambar, chital, barasingha and barking deer.Sambar live in small family parties especially inhilly forested areas and feed mainly on shrubsand leaves of low branches. They are dark brownin colour and have large thick antlers, each hav-ing 3 branches. Chital or spotted deer live inlarge herds in forest clearings where they grazeon the grass. They have a rust brown body withwhite spots which camouflages them in the for-est. Each antler has three branches called tines.

The rare Hangul deer is found only in Kashmir.It has a magnificent spread of antlers with 6branches on each antler. The Barasingha, orswamp deer, has wide hoofs that enable thisbeautiful animal to live in boggy areas of theTerai. Each antler has 6 or more branches. Thetiny barking deer lives in many forest areas allover India. It has two ridges on its face and ashort antler with only 2 branches. Its call soundslike the bark of a dog.

Chital

Barasingha

Blackbuck

Chinkara

Nilgai

The blackbuck is the only true antelope foundin India. It lives in large herds. The males areblack on top and cream below and have beau-tiful spiral horns that form a ‘V’ shape. Thechinkara, also known as the Indian gazelle, isa smaller animal and is pale brown in colour ithas beautiful curved horns. The rareChausingha, or four horned antelope, is theonly animal in the world that has four horns.The nilgai is the largest of the dryland herbi-


A very special rare species is the Indian wildass, endemic to the Little Rann of Kutch. Hima-layan pastures support several species of wildgoats and sheep, many of them restricted tothe region, like the goral and the Himalayantahr. A single species, the Nilgiri tahr is foundin the Nilgiri and Annamalai hills in south India.

The rhinocerous is now restricted to Assam butwas once found throughout the Gangetic plains.The wild buffalo is now also restricted to theTerai. The elephant is distributed in the North-eastern and Southern States. It is threatened byhabitat loss and poaching for ivory. Gaur isfound in patches in several well-wooded partsof India.

The best known predator of our forests is thetiger. Its gold and black stripes hide it perfectlyin the forest undergrowth. It preys on herbivoressuch as sambar or chital or less frequently ondomestic animals. The tiger kills only three or

four times a month. Its numbers have declineddue to poaching for its superb skin, and for thesupposed magical value of its teeth, claws andwhiskers. In the recent past it has been exten-sively killed for the supposed medicinal proper-ties of its bones that are used in Chinesemedicine.

The Asiatic lion is now found only in the Girforests of Gujarat.

The leopard is more adaptable than the tigerand lives both in thick forests and degraded for-est areas. Its beautiful ring like markings cam-ouflage it so perfectly that its prey cannot seeits stealthy approach. The smaller jungle cat,which is a light brown animal and the leopardcat, which is a little bigger than a domestic cat,are very rare. The most typical predator of theHImalayas is the snow leopard, which is veryrare and poached for its beautiful skin which ispale grey with dark grey ring-like markings.

Indianwild ass

Nilgiri Tahr

Tiger

Leopard

The wolf, jackal, fox and the wild dog or‘dhole’ form a group called canids. Anotherthreatened predator is the Himalayan wolf.The wolves are now highly threatened as theyhave become increasingly dependent onshepherd’s flocks. Thus shepherds constantlyfind ways to kill the wolves.

Snow Leopard

vores. The males are blue-gray. Nilgai have whitemarkings on the legs and head. They have shortstrong spike-like horns.

101Biodiversity

One of the common monkey species of the for-est is the bonnet macaque, which has a redface, a very long tail and a whorl of hair on thescalp which looks like a cap. Our other com-mon monkey is the rhesus macaque, which issmaller and has a shorter tail than the bonnet.A rare macaque is the lion-tailed macaquefound only in a few forests of the southernWestern Ghats and Annamalai ranges. It is blackin colour, has long hair, a grey mane and a tas-sel at the end of its tail that looks like a lion’stail. The common langur has a black face andis known as the Hanuman monkey. The raregolden langur, is golden yellow in colour andlives along the banks of the Manas River inAssam. The capped langur is an uncommonspecies of Northeast India. The rare black nilgirilangur lives in the southern Western Ghats,Nilgiris and Annamalais.

Birds:

There are over 1200 bird species found in Indiain different habitats. Most of our forest birdsare specially adapted to life in certain foresttypes. Some Himalayan species however can also

Wolf

Fox

Hornbill

Paradiseflycatcher

Bee-eater

be seen in the WesternGhats. There are severalspecies of Hornbills thatlive on fruit. They haveheavy curved beaks with aprojection on top.

Frugivores such as para-keets, barbets and bul-buls live on fruit and areoften seen eating Ficus

fruits such as those of banyan and peepal.

Bird of pray

Insectivorous birds of many species live on for-est insects. They include various species of fly-catchers, bee-eaters, and others. The maleparadise flycatcher is a small beautiful white birdwith a black head and two long white trailingtail feathers. The female is brown and does nothave the long tail feathers. There are severaleagles, falcons and kites many of which are nowendangered.

Grasslands support many species of birds. Themost threatened species is the Great Indianbustard, a large, brown stately bird with longlegs which struts about through grasslands look-


ing for locusts and grasshoppers. Another raregroup of threatened birdsare the floricans. There aremany species of quails,partridges, larks, muniasand other grain eating birdsthat are adapted to grass-lands.

There are several species ofaquatic birds such as waders,gulls and terns, which livealong the seashore and go outfishing many kilometers to thesea. Many of these birds havelost their coastal habitats dueto pollution. Aquatic birds in

freshwater are those with long legs and areknown as waders such as stilts and sandpip-ers. The other group form birds that swim onwater such as several species of ducks andgeese.

There are many species ofspectacular large birds as-sociated with water ormarshy areas. These in-clude different species ofstorks, cranes, spoon-bills, flamingo and peli-cans. Many aquatic speciesare migrants. They breedin Northern Europe or Siberia and come to Indiain thousands during winter.

Reptiles:

India has a widevariety of lizards,snakes and turtles,with a high level ofendemism. The liz-ards include the

common gar-den lizard,Fan throatedl i z a r d ,Chamelion,Skink, Com-

mon Monitor and Water Monitor. Some ofthese are threatened due to trade in reptile skins.Indian snakes include the Rock Python,Russell’s viper and the Vine snake. We rarelyappreciate the factthat only a few spe-cies of snakes arepoisonous and mostsnakes are harm-less. The Star tor-toise andTravancore tor-toise are now rare. The Olive Ridley and Flap-shell turtle are the well-known turtles of India.Many turtles are becoming increasingly rare dueto poaching of adults and eggs. The crocodile

is our largest reptilewhich is poached forits prized skin. Thegharial is endemic toIndia and is highlythreatened.

Amphibia:

Most of the amphibians found in India are frogsand toads. These include several species like theIndian Bull frog, Tree frog, etc. These amphib-ians are mostly found in the hotspots in theNortheast and the Western Ghats. It is nowthought that global warming and increasing lev-

Startortoise

Gharial

Great IndianBustard

Stilt

Flamingo

MonitorLizard

Fanthroated Lizard

Partridge

103Biodiversity

els of UV radiation may be seriously affectingamphibian populations in some areas.

Invertebrates:

Invertebrates include a va-riety of taxa that inhabitboth terrestrial and aquaticecosystems. Microscopicanimals like protozoa andzooplankton form the basis of the food chain

in aquatic habitats.Coral is formed bycolonies of polyp likeanimals. Worms, mol-luscs (snails), spiders,crabs, jellyfish, octo-pus are a few of the

better known invertebrates found in India.

There are more than a mil-lion insect species on earththat are known to science.They include grasshop-pers, bugs, beetles, ants,bees, butterflies andmoths. India is rich in its but-terfly and moth species.

Marine Life:

Marine ecosystems are most frequently associ-ated with fish and crustacea like crabs andshrimp, which we use as food. The other spe-cies that are endangered include the marineturtles, which are reptiles, and whales that aremammals. There are a large number of speciesof freshwater fish found in our Indian rivers andlakes that are now threatened by the introduc-tion of fish from abroad as well as due to being

Snail

Crab

Spider

Beetle

Marine Life


introduced from one river into another. Fish arealso now seriously affected by pollution. Ma-rine fisheries are being over harvested in ourcoastal waters and the fish catch has decreasedseriously over the last few years. Mechanizedboats with giant, small-meshed nets are a ma-jor cause of depleting this resource. There aremany endangered fish such as the Mahseerwhich once grew to over a meter in length.Many species of marine animals such as thewhales, sharks and dolphins that live in theIndian Ocean are now threatened by extinctiondue to fishing in the deep sea.

For further details see:

1) CD ROM on ‘The Biodiversity of India’, MapinPublications, Ahmedabad, [email protected]

2) The Book of Indian Animals, SH Prater, BNHS.

3) The Book of Indian Birds, Salim Ali, BNHS.

4.9 CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY: IN-SITU AND EX-SITU

4.9.1 In-situ conservation

Biodiversity at all its levels, genetic species andas intact ecosystems, can be best preserved in-situ by setting aside an adequate representa-tion of wilderness as ‘Protected Areas’. Theseshould consist of a network of National Parksand Wildlife Sanctuaries with each distinctiveecosystem included in the network. Such a net-work would preserve the total diversity of lifeof a region.

In the past National Parks and Sanctuaries inIndia were notified to preserve major wildlifespecies such as tigers, lions, elephants, and deer.The objective of these areas should be expandedto the preservation of relatively intact naturalecosystems, where biological diversity – frommicroscopic unicellular plants and animals, tothe giant trees and major mammals – can all bepreserved.

Project Tiger: Project Tiger was launchedby the Government of India with the sup-port of WWF-International in 1973 and wasthe first such initiative aimed at protectingthis key species and all its habitats. ProjectTiger was initiated in nine Tiger Reserves indifferent ecosystems of the country cover-ing an area of 16339 sq km. By 2001 thenumber of Tiger Reserves increased to 27,covering an area of 37761 sq km. The tigercount climbed from 268 in 1972 in the nineTiger Reserves, to around 1500 in 1997 inthe 23 Tiger Reserves. The Project tiger rec-ognized the fact that tigers cannot be pro-tected in isolation, and that to protect thetiger, its habitat needed to be protected.

Crocodile Conservation: Crocodiles havebeen threatened as their skin is used formaking leather articles. This led to the nearextinction of crocodiles in the wild in the1960s in India.

A Crocodile Breeding and Conservation Pro-gram was initiated in 1975 to protect theremaining population of crocodilians in theirnatural habitat and by creating breedingcenters. It is perhaps one of the most suc-cessful ex situ conservation breeding projectsin the country.

Crocodiles have been extensively bred in over30 captive breeding centers, zoos and othersites where successful breeding takes place.Thousands of crocodiles of all three specieshave been bred and restocked in 20 naturalwater bodies.

105Biodiversity

However species cannot be protected individu-ally as they are all inter dependent on each other.Thus the whole ecosystem must be protected.The biologist’s view point deals with areas thatare relatively species rich, or those where rare,threatened or endangered species are found,or those with ‘endemic’ species which are notfound elsewhere. As rare endemic species arefound only in a small area these easily becomeextinct due to human activity. Such areas mustbe given an added importance as theirbiodiversity is a special feature of the region.

Animals such as elephants require different typesof habitat to feed in during different seasons.They utilize open grasslands after the rains whenthe young grass shoots are highly nutritious. Asthe grasses dry, the elephants move into theforest to feed on foliage from the trees. A Pro-tected Area that is meant to protect elephantsmust therefore be large enough and include di-verse habitat types to support a completecomplement of inter linked species.

Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks ofIndia: There are 589 Protected Areas in India ofwhich 89 are National Parks and 500 are Wild-life Sanctuaries. They include a variety of eco-systems and habitats. Some have been createdin order to protect highly endangered speciesof wild plants and animals found nowhere elsein the world.

The Great Himalayan National Park is thelargest sanctuary in this ecosystem and is oneof the last homes of the beautiful snow leop-ard. Dachigam Sanctuary is the only placewhere the rare Hangul or Kashmir stag is found.There are several Sanctuaries in the Terai region,Kaziranga National Park is the most famouswhich has elephant, wild buffalo, gaur, wildboar, swamp deer, and hog deer, in large num-bers, as well as tiger and leopard. Its bird life isextremely rich and includes ducks, geese, peli-cans and storks. The Manas Sanctuary, in ad-dition to the above Terai species, also includesthe rare golden langur and the very rare pygmyhog, the smallest wild boar in the world. Theflorican is found only in a few undisturbed grass-lands in the Terai sanctuaries.

In the sal forests of Madhya Pradesh, there areseveral Protected Areas. Kanha offers a won-derful opportunity to observe wild tigers fromelephant back. It is the only Protected Area inwhich a sub species of the Barasingha is found.

Bharatpur is one of the most famous water birdsanctuaries in the world. Thousands of ducks,geese, herons, and other wading birds can beseen here. This is the only home of the very rareSiberian crane which migrates to India everywinter. During the last 20 years, the 30 or 40Siberian cranes have dwindled to only 2 or 3.During 2002-3 no cranes were seen and it ispossible that this beautiful bird will never againcome to India.

In the Thar desert, the wild life is protected inthe Desert National Park. Here large numbersof black buck, neelgai and chinkara can be seen.The Great Indian Bustard lives in these arid lands.

Ranthambor was the most well known sanc-tuary for observing tigers in the wild till about 3or 4 years ago. Since then many tigers have beenkilled by poachers.

Project Elephant: Project Elephant waslaunched in 1992 to ensure the long-termsurvival of a viable population of elephantsin their natural habitats in north and north-eastern India and south India. It is beingimplemented in 12 States. In spite of this,our elephant herds are at threat as their habi-tat is shrinking and their migration routesare disrupted by human activities.


The Great and the Little Rann of Kutch havebeen made into sanctuaries to protect the veryrare wild ass, the flamingo, the star tortoise andthe desert fox.

In Gujarat, the Gir Sanctuary protects the lastpopulation of the majestic Asiatic lion. This thornand deciduous forest is also the home of largeherds of chital, sambhar, and nilgai.

The Sanctuaries of the Western Ghats and as-sociated hill ranges protect some of the mostdiverse forest types in the country. The few ex-amples of highly threatened species include theMalabar giant squirrel, the flying squirrel and avariety of hill birds, several species of amphib-ians, reptiles and insects. These regions are alsorich in highly endemic plant life. Sanctuaries suchas Bhimashankar, Koyana, Chandoli andRadhanagari preserve this rich flora inMaharashtra, Bandipur, Bhadra, Dandeli,Nagarhole, etc. in Karnataka, and Eraviculum,Perambiculum, Periyar, Silent Valley, inKerala.

In the Nilgiri Hills the rich forest Sanctuaries pro-tect some of the last pockets of the Indian el-ephant in South India. Examples includeBandipur, Madhumalai, Wynad and Bhadra.During the last 10 years, a large number of thegreat tusker elephants of this region have beenruthlessly killed for their ivory. Now very few ofthese magnificent animals are left in thesejungles.

Two important sanctuaries meant for preserva-tion of coastal ecosystems are the Chilka Lakeand Point Calimere. The Sunderbans protectthe largest mangrove delta in India. The Ma-rine National Park in Gujarat protects shallowareas in the sea, islands, coral reefs and exten-sive mudflats.

Over a hundred Protected Areas have been cre-ated in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands topreserve their very special island ecosystems.

CASE STUDY

Orissa – Olive Ridley Turtles

Every year at Gahirmatha and two other siteson the Orissa coast, hundreds of thousandsof Olive Ridley turtles congregate on thebeach, between December and April, formass nesting. This was the largest nestingsite for the Olive Ridleys in the world. In 1999by the end of March it was estimated thataround 200,000 turtles had nested at theGahirmatha beach. Marine biologists believethat only one out of every 1000 eggs actu-ally matures into an adult.

There are severe threats to these nestingsites. Shrinking nesting sites, construction ofroads and buildings close to these rooker-ies, and other infrastructure developmentprojects hamper nesting. Trawler fishing isanother large threat to the turtles.

After its ‘discovery’ in 1974, the beach wasnotified as a Sanctuary (the BhitarkanaikaSanctuary) and was closed for hunting.Recognising the threats to turtles from fish-ing by large trawlers, the Orissa Marine Fish-eries Regulation Act was passed in 1982. ThisAct prohibits trawling within 10 km of thecoastline throughout the state and makes itmandatory for all trawlers to use Turtle Ex-cluder Devices (TEDs). In 2001, the State Gov-ernment of Orissa declared that a five monthperiod between January to May should con-stitute a no-fishing season for a distance of20 km from the coastline.

Apart form these initiatives, OperationKachhapa is being coordinated by the Wild-life Protection Society of India, Delhi andWildlife Society of Orissa with many localNGOs as partners. The Orissa Forest Depart-ment, WII, Dehra Dun and the Coast Guardare also involved in the Project.

107Biodiversity

The need for an Integrated Protected AreaSystem (IPAS): Protected Areas, to be effec-tive, must be established in every biogeographicregion. A relatively larger representation mustbe included of highly fragile ecosystems, areasof high species diversity or high endemism. Pro-tected Areas must also be integrated with eachother by establishing corridors between adja-cent areas wherever possible so that wildlife canmove between them.

In our country, which has a rapidly growinghuman population, it is not easily feasible to setaside more and more land to create ProtectedAreas. The need to provide a greater amount ofland for agricultural and other needs has be-come an increasing cause of concern in land andresource management. This forms a major im-pediment for creating new Protected Areas.Having said this, there is an urgent need to addto our Protected Areas to preserve our very richbiological diversity. Much of the natural wilder-ness has already undergone extensive changes.The residual areas that have high levels of spe-cies richness, endemism or endangered plantsand animals must be notified as National Parksand Wildlife Sanctuaries. Other areas can bemade into Community Conserved Areas whichare managed by local people.

The International Union for Conservation ofNature and Natural Resources states that it isessential to include at least 10% of all ecosys-tems as Protected Areas if biodiversity is to beconserved in the long-term.

India has only 5% of land in its 589 ProtectedAreas in 2004. However much of this includesplantations of sal or teak, which were devel-oped for timber in the past and are thus rela-tively poor in diversity and have a low level of‘naturalness’. There are only a few good grass-lands left in our country that are notified as Pro-tected Areas. Some are overgrazed wastelandsin areas that were once flourishing grasslands.Most of these areas have a low biological value

and need careful management to allow themto revert to a more ‘natural’ state, with theirfull complement of plants and animals. Only afew wetlands have been made into Sanctuar-ies. These require better management.

A major strategy to reduce impacts on thebiodiversity of the PAs should be to provide asustainable source of resources for local peopleliving around them. A Protected Area curtailstheir traditional grazing practices and accessfuelwood sources. These resources must be pro-vided by developing them in buffer areas. Plan-tations of fuel wood and good grasslandmanagement in areas outside Protected Areascan help reduce the pressure on the habitat ofwildlife in the Protected Area. Managementmust ensure that local people derive a directeconomic benefit from the presence of the PA.Involving local people in Protected Area man-agement and developing tourist facilities thatsupport the income generation for local peoplehelps in involving their support for the ProtectedArea.

A carefully designed management plan whichincorporates an ‘ecodevelopment’ componentaimed at providing a source of fuel wood, fod-der and alternate income generation for localpeople, is an important aspect of PA manage-ment.

There are several species of plants and animalsthat survive without protection outside our cur-rent network of PAs. As it is not practical tonotify more PAs without affecting the lives ofpeople, alternate strategies such as CommunityReserves or Community Conserved Areas needto be created. These should be managed by lo-cal people to bring about the conservation ofbiodiversity while using the area’s resources inan equitable and sustainable way. A Commu-nity Conserved Area must have specific conser-vation goals that can be achieved withoutcompromising the area’s utilitarian potential.


A major drive for conservation of biological di-versity can only come from a mass environmen-tal education program on the value of protectingour dwindling biological resources.

4.9.2 Ex-situ conservation

Conservation of a species is best done by pro-tecting its habitat along with all the other spe-cies that live in it in nature. This is known asin-situ conservation, which is conserving a spe-cies in its own environment by creating NationalParks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. However, thereare situations in which an endangered speciesis so close to extinction that unless alternatemethods are instituted, the species may be rap-idly driven to extinction. This strategy is knownas ex-situ conservation, i.e. outside its naturalhabitat in a carefully controlled situation suchas a botanical garden for plants or a zoologicalpark for animals, where there is expertise tomultiply the species under artificially managedconditions. These breeding programs for rareplants and animals are however more expen-sive than managing a Protected Area.

There is also another form of preserving a plantby preserving its germ plasm in a gene bank sothat it can be used if needed in future. This iseven more expensive.

When an animal is on the brink of extinction, itmust be carefully bred so that inbreeding doesnot lead to the genetic makeup becoming weak.Breeding from the same stock can lead to poorlyadapted progeny or even inability to get enoughoffspring.

Modern breeding programs are done in zoosthat provide for all the animal’s needs, includ-ing enclosures that simulate their wild habitats.There may also be a need to assist breeding ar-tificially. Thus while most zoos are meant to pro-vide visitors with a visual experience of seeing awild animal close up, and provide the visitors

with information about the species, a modernzoo has to go beyond these functions that in-clude breeding of endangered species as a con-servation measure.

In India, successful ex situ conservation programshave been done for all our three species of croco-diles. This has been highly successful. Anotherrecent success has been the breeding of the veryrare pygmy hog in Gauhati zoo. Delhi zoo hassuccessfully bred the rare Manipur brow ant-lered deer.

However the most important step of a success-ful breeding program is the reintroduction of aspecies into its original wild habitat. This requiresrehabilitation of the degraded habitat and re-moval of the other causes such as poaching,disturbance, or other manmade influences thathave been the primary cause of reducing thepopulation of the species.

Conservation of cultivars and livestockbreeds: There were an estimated thirty thou-sand varieties of rice grown in India till about 50years ago. Now only a few of these are stillgrown. The new varieties which are now beingcultivated everywhere have been developedusing germ plasm of these original types of rice.If all the traditional varieties vanish completelyit will be difficult to develop new disease resis-tant varieties of rice in the future. Several vari-eties have been preserved in gene banks.However, this is both very expensive and risky.Encouraging farmers to continue to grow sev-eral traditional varieties is thus an importantconcern for the future of mankind. At presentgene bank collections have over 34 thousandcereals and 22 thousand pulses.

109Biodiversity

In the past, domestic animals were selected andbred for their ability to adapt to local conditions.Traditional agropastoralists in India have selec-tively bred livestock for 2 to 3 thousand years.India has 27 breeds of cattle, 40 breeds of sheep,22 breeds of goats, and 8 breeds of buffaloes.These traditional breeds must be maintained fortheir genetic variability.

CASE STUDY

Beej Bachao Andolan (Save the SeedsMovement)

This movement began in the Himalayan foot-hills. The members have collected seeds ofdiverse crops in Garhwal. The movement hassuccessfully conserved hundreds of local ricevarieties, rajma, pulses, millets, vegetables,spices and herbs. Many different varieties arebeing grown as an outcome of this programin local farmer’s fields. This has also beensupported by local women’s groups who feltthese varieties were better than those pro-vided by the green revolution. In contrast,men who were interested in cash returns ina short time found it difficult to appreciatethe benefits of growing indigenous variet-ies.

Documents

UNIT 4: Biodiversity - UGC