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Biodiversity and Conservation, Cheat Sheet of Biology

Harvard University Biology

Biodiversity and Conservation Biodiversity occurs not only in the species level, but also in the macromolecular levels. ● Biodiversity as described by Edward Wilson is the combined diversity at all levels of biological organisation.

Typology: Cheat Sheet

2023/2024

Available from 08/29/2024

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BiodiversityandConservation



●Biodiversityoccursnotonlyinthespecieslevel,butalsointhe

macromolecularlevels.

●BiodiversityasdescribedbyEdwardWilsonisthecombineddiversity

atalllevelsofbiologicalorganisation.

●Themostimportantformsofbiodiversityare:

○Geneticdiversity(diversityatthegeneticlevel)

○Speciesdiversity(diversityatthespecieslevel)

○Ecologicaldiversity(diversityattheecosystemlevel)

●Therearecloseto1.5millionplantsandanimalsthathavetobe

discoveredanddescribed.Morespecieshavebeendiscoveredin

temperateregionsascomparedtotropics.

●AccordingtoanestimatemadebyRobertMay,globalspecies

biodiversityisabout7million.

●Ofthetotalspeciesdiscoveredsofar,70%areanimalsand22%are

plants.Oftheanimals,70%areinsects.

●Indiahas2.4%oftheworld’slandand8.1%ofthetotalspecies

diversity.AccordingtoMay’sestimate,78%ofthebiodiversityisstill

tobediscovered.

●ApplyingthistoIndia’sbiodiversityfigures,therestillisascopefor

discoveryofover1lakhspeciesofplantsand3lakhspeciesof

animals.

PatternsofBiodiversity

●Latitudinalgradients−Theplantsandanimalsarenotdistributed

evenlyworldwide.Thediversityoflivingformsdecreasesaswego

fromtheequatortowardsthepoles.Ahugeamountofplantsand

animalsareconcentratedinthetropicalregionbecauseofthe

followingreasons.

●Tropicalenvironmentislessseasonalandalmostconstantand

predictableascomparedtotemperateenvironment.

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Biodiversity and Conservation

● Biodiversity occurs not only in the species level, but also in the macromolecular levels. ● Biodiversity as described by Edward Wilson is the combined diversity at all levels of biological organisation. ● The most important forms of biodiversity are: ○ Genetic diversity (diversity at the genetic level) ○ Species diversity (diversity at the species level) ○ Ecological diversity (diversity at the ecosystem level) ● There are close to 1.5 million plants and animals that have to be discovered and described. More species have been discovered in temperate regions as compared to tropics. ● According to an estimate made by Robert May, global species biodiversity is about 7 million. ● Of the total species discovered so far, 70% are animals and 22% are plants. Of the animals, 70% are insects. ● India has 2.4% of the world’s land and 8.1% of the total species diversity. According to May’s estimate, 78% of the biodiversity is still to be discovered. ● Applying this to India’s biodiversity figures, there still is a scope for discovery of over 1 lakh species of plants and 3 lakh species of animals.

Patterns of Biodiversity

● Latitudinal gradients − The plants and animals are not distributed evenly worldwide. The diversity of living forms decreases as we go from the equator towards the poles. A huge amount of plants and animals are concentrated in the tropical region because of the following reasons. ● Tropical environment is less seasonal and almost constant and predictable as compared to temperate environment.

● Tropics receive the major part of the solar energy, which contributes to great productivity. ● Speciation is dependent upon time. Tropical areas have remained undisturbed for millions of years unlike temperate regions, which have experienced frequent glaciations in the past. ● Species Area relationships − Alexander von Humboldt observed that biodiversity increases with increase in explored area. This relationship can be given by, log S = log C + Z log A Where, S = Species richness A = Area Z = Slope of the line (regression co efficient) C = Y intercept Value of Z is found to lie in the range of 0.1 to 0.2 for comparatively smaller areas such as countries while for very large areas such as entire continents, the slope of the line is much steeper with Z value lying from 0.6 to 1.2.

Importance of biodiversity & Loss of

Biodiversity

What is the importance of biodiversity on the Earth?

● There is no exact answer to this question, but experiments conducted by many ecologists have demonstrated that a system with greater biodiversity is more stable and has greater productivity. ● In the long run, biodiversity is related with overall health of our ecosystem and survival of human race on the earth. ● Characteristics of a stable community: ○ It should not show much variation in productivity from year to year. ○ It must be either resistant or resilient to occasional disturbances.

○ Intangible benefits such as aesthetic pleasure are derived from nature. ○ Conserving the species we share our planet with and passing the rich legacy of biodiversity to our future generations is our ethical duty. ● Biodiversity can be conserved by: ○ In situ conservation In order to conserve biodiversity better, some of the world’s biodiversity hotspots (with high degree of biodiversity and endemism) have been identified and are protected. In India, biosphere reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, and national parks are built for this purpose. ○ Ex situ conservation The threatened species of plants and animals are taken out of their habitats and are kept in special settings as in zoological parks, botanical gardens, and wildlife parks. Nowadays, the gametes of endangered species can be preserved viable by methods such as cryopreservation and can be fertilized in vitro followed by propagation through tissue culture methods. Similarly, seeds can be preserved in seed banks.