Biodiversity At Global, National And Local Levels

Scientists have identified and documented 1.8 million species around the world. However, scientists estimate that the number of plant and animal species on the planet could range from 1.5 to 20 billion. As a result, the vast majority of species are still unknown.

 

•    The majority of the world's bio-rich nations are in the developing world's south. 

 

•    The majority of countries capable of exploiting biodiversity, on the other hand, are those in the economically developed countries in the northern hemisphere. These countries, on the other hand, have a low level of biodiversity. 

 

•    As a result, the developed world has come to believe that biodiversity should be considered a "global resource."

•    There is no reason to rule out oil, uranium, or even intellectual and technological expertise as global assets if biodiversity is to be considered a "common property resource" shared by all nations. 

 

•    India's sovereignty over its biological diversity cannot be jeopardized without a paradigm shift in how the world views the sharing of all natural resources.

 

•    Countries in South America, such as Brazil, and South East Asia, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, have higher diversities than India. These countries' species, on the other hand, are not the same as ours. As a result, preserving our biodiversity as a major economic resource is critical. 

 

•    While few other countries with high biodiversity have developed the technology to exploit their species for biotechnology and genetic engineering, India has not.

•    Geological events in India's landmass have created ideal conditions for biological diversity.

 

•    Around 70 million years ago, a split in the single giant continent resulted in the formation of northern and southern continents, with India as part of Gondwanaland - the southern landmass, which also includes Africa, Australia, and the Antarctic.

 

•    Tectonic movements later shifted India northward across the equator, bringing it into contact with the Northern Eurasian continent.

 

•    Plants and animals that had evolved in Europe and the Far East migrated into India before the Himalayas formed as the intervening shallow Tethys Sea dried up. 

 

•    Ethiopian species, which were adapted to the Savannas and semi-arid regions, were the final influx from Africa. As a result of India's unique geographic location between three distinct centres of biological evolution and species radiation, we have a diverse and rich biodiversity. 

 

•    India is one of the top 15 biologically diverse countries in the world, with a wide range of plants and animals, many of which are found nowhere else.

 

•    India has 350 different mammalian species (ranked eighth in the world), 1,200 bird species (ranked eighth in the world), 453 reptile species (ranked fifth in the world), and 45,000 plant species, the majority of which are angiosperms (fifteenth in the world). 

 

•    Ferns (1022 species) and orchids have particularly high species diversity (1082 species). 

 

•    India is home to 50,000 insect species, including 13,000 butterflies and moths. The number of unknown species is estimated to be several times higher.

 

•    It is estimated that 18 per cent of Indian plants are endemic to the country, meaning they can only be found there. 

 

•    Flowering plants have a much higher degree of endemism than other plant species, with a third of them being found nowhere else on the planet. 

 

•    62 per cent of the amphibians found in India are unique to the country. In the case of lizards, 50 per cent of the 153 species found are endemic. Insects, marine worms, centipedes, mayflies, and freshwater sponges have all been found to have high endemism.

 

•    Aside from the high biodiversity of Indian wild plants and animals, the country also has a wide range of cultivated crops and livestock breeds. This is the result of the Indian subcontinent's civilizations evolving and flourishing over thousands of years. 

 

•    Rice varieties ranging from 30,000 to 50,000, as well as cereals, vegetables, and fruit, were among the traditional cultivars. The highest diversity of cultivars can be found in the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Northern Himalayas, and North-Eastern hills, which receive a lot of rain.

 

•    Over 34,000 cereals and 22,000 pulses grown in India have been collected by gene banks. India has 27 indigenous cattle breeds, 40 sheep breeds, 22 goat breeds, and 8 buffalo breeds. The forests of the Northeast and the Western Ghats, which are among the world's most bio-diverse areas, are our internationally recognized national "hot spots." 

 

•    Many subspecies of different animals and birds have evolved on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are extremely rich in species. Large proportions of endemic species, or those found only in India, are concentrated in these three areas.

 

•     There are 2200 species of flowering plants and 120 species of ferns in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands alone.

 

•     In India, 85 (63%) of the 135 land mammal genera are found in the Northeast.

 

•     There are 1,500 endemic plant species in the Northeast States.

 

•     The Western Ghats are home to a large number of amphibian and reptile species, particularly snakes, as well as over 1,500 endemic plant species. 

 

•    Coral reefs surround the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Lakshadweep Islands, and the Gulf areas of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu in Indian waters. They are nearly as diverse as tropical evergreen forests in terms of species!

•    In 1988, British biologist Norman Myers coined the term "biodiversity hotspot" to describe a biogeographic region with both high levels of plant endemism and significant habitat loss. 

 

•    Myers added eight more hotspots in 1990, including four Mediterranean-style ecosystems. In 1989, Conservation International (CI) adopted Myers' hotspots as its institutional blueprint.

 

•    The biodiversity of the planet is divided into ecological zones. The world is divided into over a thousand major ecoregions. 

 

•    The richest, rarest, and most distinctive natural areas are said to be 200 of them. The Global 200 is a term used to describe these areas. 50,000 endemic plants, accounting for 20% of all plant life on the planet, are thought to be found in only 18 "hot spots" around the globe. 

 

•    Mega diversity nations are countries with a high proportion of these hotspots of diversity.

 

•    The rate at which species are becoming extinct in our country is unknown. Because our wilderness areas are rapidly dwindling, it is likely to be extremely high. 

 

1.    Himalaya: This term refers to the entire Himalayan region of India (and that falling in Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar)

 

2.    Indo-Burma: Includes all of North-Eastern India, except Assam and the Andaman Islands (and Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and southern China)

 

3.    Sandilands: Includes the Nicobar Islands (and Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines)

 

4.    Western Ghats and Sri Lanka: The Western Ghats are comprised of the entire Western Ghats (and Sri Lanka)

 

•    The majority of these natural ecosystems have been overused or misused by humans. 

 

•    Mangroves have been cleared for fuelwood and prawn farming, resulting in a reduction in the habitat required for marine fish breeding.

 

•    The most serious threat to biodiversity worldwide is the current destruction of large areas of wilderness habitats, particularly in the super-diverse tropical forests and coral reefs.

 

•    Scientists estimate that by 2050, human activities will have wiped out approximately 10 million species. Approximately 1.8 million species of plants and animals, both large and small, are currently known to science. 

 

•    However, the number of species is likely to be multiplied by at least ten. Plants and insects, as well as other forms of life previously unknown to science, are constantly being discovered in the world's diverse "hotspots."

 

•    Unfortunately, at the current rate of extinction, about 25% of the world's species will perish relatively quickly. This could happen at a rate of tens of thousands of species per year, a thousand to ten thousand times faster than the natural rate! 

 

•    Within the next twenty or thirty years, human actions could obliterate 25% of the world's species. 

 

•    Human population growth, industrialization, and changes in land-use patterns are all contributing to this mass extinction. 

 

•    Tropical forests, wetlands, and coral reefs will account for a significant portion of these extinctions. 

 

•    Rapid global biodiversity destruction is exacerbated by the loss of wild habitats as a result of rapid human population growth and short-term economic development.

 

•    Human activity has so far had the greatest impact on island flora and fauna with high endemism in small isolated areas surrounded by sea, which has already resulted in the extinction of many island plants and animals (the dodo is a famous example). 

 

•    Man's introduction of species from one area to another disrupts the balance of existing communities, resulting in habitat loss. Many local species have been wiped out as a result of the intentionally or accidentally introduced organisms (Eupatorium, Lantana, Hyacinth, Congress grass, or Ruthenium). 

 

•    Species extinction occurs as a result of the destruction of natural ecosystems, whether as a result of conversion to agriculture or industry, over-exploitation of resources, or pollution of the air, water, and soil. Forests and grasslands in India are constantly being converted to agricultural land.

 

•    Encroachments have been legalized on several occasions.

 

•    Natural wetland systems have also been drained to make way for croplands, resulting in the extinction of aquatic species. 

 

•    Grasslands that were once sustainably used by a smaller number of people and their cattle are now either converted to other uses or degraded due to overgrazing.

 

 

The endangered pelican breeds in large numbers at Kokkare Bellur, which is one of only ten known breeding sites in India. Kokkare Bellure is a village in the Indian state of Karnataka. Hundreds of spot-billed pelicans, painted storks, ibis, and other birds migrate to this area every December to start breeding colonies on the tall tamarind trees in the village's centre. The birds have been protected by the locals, who believe that they bring good luck in terms of rain and crops. The villagers collect a plentiful supply of guano, a natural fertiliser that collects beneath the nests. Nitrates are abundant in the droppings of fish-eating birds. The owners of the birds' trees dig deep pits beneath the trees into which the guano falls. Silt from nearby lakes and ponds is combined with guano and sold as fertiliser for their fields. To encourage nesting, they have now planted trees around their homes.

 

For their timber value, our natural forests are being deforested and replanted with teak, sal, and other single species. Plantations lack the biological diversity of a multi-story natural forest, which has a closed canopy and a diverse understory of vegetation. The forest canopy is opened up when excessive firewood is collected from the forest by lopping the branches of trees, affecting local biodiversity. Because seedlings are constantly tramped by foraging cattle, forest regeneration is slowed. Forest ecosystems are degraded by increasing human population on the edges of our Protected Areas. This is an important factor to consider when assessing the ecosystem's quality.