Biodiversity | Threat to biodiversity | how to prevent biodiversity?

 -   Biodiversity 

         The term 'bio' means 'life' and 'diversity' means 'former. The term implies the occurrence of different ecosystem, different organism, different organism, their interaction with other living and non living forms, ete. 

           Biodiversity is of three types:

 1:- Genetic diversity:- it is the diversity in number and type of gene and chromosomes present in different species or variation of genes within the same species, for example, india had many varieties of mangoes and rice. 

2:- Species diversity:- It implies the variety in number and richness of a species in a particular region for example, variety of amphibian species are present in Western Ghats. 

3:- Ecological Diversity:- it is the variation in the ecosystems in a region. Variation can be in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, for example, desert, tropical rainforest, etc. 

The Himalayan biodiversity

-   Biodiversity Hotspot

          A region with significant levels of biodiversity, which is threatened with destruction, fir example, western ghats, the Himalayas, the Indo-burma region and the Sundaland. 

      They include areas with with natural ecosystem that are intact and communities associated with hotspots are wild. Such regions are also homes for endemic natural species. Endemic species are those which are found only in a particular area. For example, Nilgiri tahr,  also known as Nilgiri ibex or simply ibex, is endemic to the Nilgiri hills and the southern parts of Western Ghats in the states of tamil nadu and Kerala in the southern India. 

-  Threat to the biodiversity

            Significant decrease in biodiversity has taken place within the last few decades. Many organisms that were once abundant have vanished from the earth's surface. Some of the reasons that could have caused such massive destruction are given below:

• Habit loss:- ruthless cutting down of the trees and destruction of forest for human necessities have caused  loss of habitat of many species. 

• Over- exploitation of species:- whether a plant or an animal reduces it population. 

• Invasion of foreign species:- Invasion of some other species or introduction of some new species for economic use sometimes drives away the local communities. 

• Forestry:- Growing economically important trees, such as teak, Sundaland, etc., at the cost of normal forest trees drives away the local forest inhabitants. 

• Natural Calamities:- Calamities such as earthquake and tsunami wipe away many species at once 

• Pollution:- Is again a major factor responsible for the extinction of many species from earth as these are unable to survive in the polluted environment. 

• Co-extinction :-  When two different species are dependent on each other, extinction of one would affect the other species, which result in the extinction of other species also. This is called co-extinction of parasite also. 

-  Wildlife and it's Conservation

                  Traditionally, wildlife refers to undomesticated animal and plant species that occur in their natural habitat Or are in state of life in wild. Wildlife resources from an important link in the survival of human species and maintenance of the ecological balance of nature. It is also an area of much curiosity, research interest among naturalists all over the world. Most of the habitat are under severe pressure and a large number of wildlife species have become extinct Or are on the verge of extinction, due to the deleterious activity of humans. So finding and implementing effective means of conservation of wildlife animal is of utmost importance. 

              Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting and conserving plant and animal species in their natural habitat. 

              There are two main methods to conserve wildlife which are:

     1:- in situ conservation 

     2:- ex situ conservation

    

       1:- In Situ conservation :-    It involves preserving wildlife in its natural habitat. A few examples are national parks, sanctuaries and biosphere reserves in wild regions with plentiful biodiversity which are explained Separately in the following sections. 

      National Parks :-   A national is a reserved area of land under governmental control which is preserve to protect its biodiversity from human exploitation. It provides special protection to single species of plant or animal that are rare. 

For example, Silent national parks in Keral. This protects lion-tailed macaques. 

Kaziranga National Parks in assam. This protect one-horned rhinoceros. 

       Sanctuary :- A naturally occurring area as an island that provides protection for species from hunting, predation or competition. It is protected area, a geographic territory within which wildlife is protected. Limited human activities are allowed inside a sanctuary. 

Karakoram wildlife Sanctuaries, Bharatpur bird sanctuary, etc. 

         Biosphere Reserve :- A reserve in a special ecosystem with flora and fauna that requires protection. They are managed and studied for conserving the biodiversity present in that region and is a Biodiversity hotspot region. At present there are 18 Biosphere reserve in India. 

    2 :- Ex Situ Conservation - Ex situ conservation is conserving the components of an artificially environment. It involved conservation of not only wild and cultivated species but genetic species also,

 for example, gene banks, zoos, aquarium, botanical Gardens, etc. 

Some examples of ex situ conservation include :

Zoological Garden :- Here animals are enclosed and bred in captivity. They are exhibited to public for recreational purposes, for example, zoological gardens in Kolkata. 

Botanical Garden :- It is meant for protecting endangered plant species under artificial conditions away from their natural environment. They are displayed for public for education, scientific and recreational purposes,

 for example, Indian Botanical Garden, Howrah, west Bengal. 

       

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