Prepared By:
Dr. Vikas Rena
Faculty, AEC: Environmental
Science- Theory Into Practice II
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Cont…
4. Sundaland:
• Includes Nicobar group of Islands (and Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore, Brunei, Philippines). It is one of the biologically richest
hot spot. It has about 25000 species of vascular plants, 60% of which
are endemic.
– 25,000 Plant species (15,000 endemic)
– 380 Mammal species (172 endemic)
– 452 Reptile species (243 endemic)
– 244 Amphibian species (196 endemic)
• Andaman and Nicobar alone have 2200 flowering plants and 120
species of fern.
• The Northeastern state have 1500 endemic plant species
• The Western Ghat is also a habitat of 1500 endemic plant species.
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Threats to Biodiversity
HIPPO Dilemma
Habitat Loss
Introduced invasive Species
Pollution
Population Growth
Over-consumption
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Threats to Biodiversity
• Habitat loss and fragmentation
• Introduction of Alien Invasive species
• Pollution and Disturbance
• Harvesting and Overexploitation
• Man-Wildlife Conflict
• Soil, water and atmospheric pollution
• Intensive agriculture and forestry
• Climate change
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Habitat loss and fragmentation
• Destruction and loss of natural habitat is
the single largest cause of biodiversity loss.
• Forest and grassland conversion into
agricultural land, pastures, settlement area or
developmental projects.
• Wetland biodiversity is under serious threat
due to pollution and treating them as useless
ecosystems.
• Loss of habitat in installments divides the
habitat into small and scattered patches, the
phenomenon is known as habitat
fragmentation.
• Large cats and bears get badly threatened as
they breed only in interiors of forests and
habitat fragmentation adversely affect their
requirement of large territories.
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Contd…
• Wasteland is increasing
• Mangroves get cleared for fuelwood and prawn
forming leads of habitat loss of marine fish.
• Human activities likely to eliminate approx. 10
million sp. By the year 2050
• Rate of disappearance of tropical forest in India: 0.6%
per year.
• Project Tiger
– 268 in 1972 in 9 tiger reserve which increase to
1500 in 1997 in 23 tiger reserve.
• Examples:
– Extinction of Dodo in Madagascar
– Breeding and feeding habitat get affected by
Dam-Construction.
Dodo
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Alien species
• Introduction of exotic weed and
disappearance of native species through lantana bushes
biotic interaction.
• Examples: lantana bushes, Eupatorium
shrubs, congress grass and water
hyacinth.
• The invasive species is a threat for island water hyacinth
ecosystem due to lack of competitors and
predators that control the population of
native ecosystem.
• Amazon sailfin catfish responsible for congress grass
destruction of fish population of wetlands Amazon sailfin catfish
of Kolkata.
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Pollution and Disturbance
• Natural disturbance are very much natural man-made
differ from man-made disturbance. Eg.
Fire
• Some human disturbance like synthetic
compounds like pesticides and massive
release of radiation or spillover of oil spillover of oil in sea
in sea.
• Pollution due to pesticides. Eg.
Pesticides linked with declining of fish
eating birds and falcon.
• Biomagnification
• Nitrogen deposition
• Eutrophication (nutrient enrichment)
• Effect of anti-inflammatory drug
(diclofenac) on vultures.
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Harvesting and overexploitation
• The exploitation include:
– Hunting
– Fisheries
– The impact of trade in species and
species-parts
• Due to exploitation, many species are
getting threated at global level such as birds
(30%), mammals (33%), amphibians (6%),
reptiles and marine fishes.
• The fishing often takes large incidental
catches of non-target species, and trawling
can destroy whole marine communities that
lives on sea floor.
Illegal poaching
• Illegala trade of wildlife products by killing
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prohibited endangered species.
Contd…
• Smuggling of wildlife items like, furs, hides, horns, tusks, live specimen and herbal
products
– E.g. Skin and bones of tigers, ivory of elephants, horns of rhinos, perfumes of the
musk deer.
– Coral and shells use to sell on the beaches of Chennai, Kanyakumari, and Andaman
and Nicobar islands.
• The worse part of poaching is that for every live animal that actually gets into the
market, about 50 additional animals are caught and killed.
• Many medicinal plants are getting overharvested that lead for threated of these species.
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Man Wildlife Conflicts
• Due to conflicts between man and wildlife, both
become threat for each other.
Examples:
– 195 humans were killed in Sambalpur, Orissa. And
in counter attack, the villagers killed 98 elephants
and badly injured 30 elephants.
– In Kote-Chamarajanagar belt in Mysore, the man-
elephant conflict has arisen because of the massive
damage done by the elephants to the farmer’s cotton
and sugarcane crops. The agonized farmers
electrocute the elephants and sometimes hide
explosives in the sugarcane fields.
– In 2004, a man eating tiger was reported to kill 16
Nepalese people and one 4 years child, which created
a terror situation in Royal Chitwan National Park
240 km. south-west of Kathmandu.
– In 2004, two men were killed by leopards in Powai,
Mumbai. A paic situation was created by leopards
from Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai by
killing 14 persons during 19 attacks.
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Cont…
• The major cause of confliction between man and wildlife are:
– Habitat loss which compels the wild animals to come outside forest and attack
the field and sometimes even humans. The main reason behind such habitat
dwindling is human encroachment into the forest area.
– Man-eating tendency: Usually the ill, weak and injured wild animals have a
tendency to attck human. But the biggest problem is that if human-flesh is tested
once then the tiger does not eat any other animal. At the same time, its also very
difficult to trace and cull the maneating tiger and in the process many innocent
tigres are also killed.
– Scarcity of food- When the favourite staple food of wild-animals is not
available within their natural habitat move out of forest in search of food.
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Contd…
– The elephants get injured by the Electric wiring put by the farmers around their ripe
crop field.
– Due to development of human settlement in the path (Corridors), following which the
wild animals migrate seasonally in groups, has been disrupted and animals attack the
human-settlement.
– The cash compensation paid by the government in lieu of the damage caused to the
farmers crop is not enough therefore the agonized farmer gets revebgeful and kills the
wild animals.
• Remedial Measures to curb the conflict:
1. Conservation Projects, Like Tiger Conservation Project
2. Adequate Crop Compensation
3. Solar Powered fencing
4. Cropping pattern: it should be changed near the forest borders and adequate fodder, fruit
and water should be available within the forest zones.
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5. Wildlife Corridors should be provided for mass migration of big animals.
Contd…
E.g. Kokkare Bellur, Karnataka: Coexistence (Human and wildlife)
– Promote for breeding and nesting of pelicans, painted storks, ibis and
other migratory bird by planting more trees (like Tamarandus sp.).
Painted Stork
Pelicans
Black-headed White-Ibis
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Climate change
• Climate change is a major threat for all the species
present on the globe.
• Due to climate change, the global temperature is rising
(0.74 ºC in global mean surface temperature relative to
pre-industrial levels), more extreme weather events,
changing pattern of rainfall and drought can
expected to have significant impacts on biodiversity.
• It can affect directly and indirectly to the species in
the form of:
– Loss of polar habitat
– Ocean acidification
– Loss of coral reefs
– Shifting of weather
– Effect on food chain
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