Threats to Biodiversity

1. AND THREATS TO IT….
Vivek Kumar,
St. Vincent Pallotti College of Engineering
and Technology, Nagpur

2. Contents
*Introduction
*Threats to biodiversity
*Habitat loss
*Poaching
*Man-wildlife conflicts
*Importance of
biodiversity
*Questions

3. Biodiversity and
threats to it
Biodiversity and
threats to it

4. Biodiversity:-
Biodiversity is that part of nature
which includes the differences in genes
among the individuals of a species.
The variety and richness of all the
plants and animals species at different
scales in space-locally, in a region, in
the country and the world.
And the type of ecosystem, both
terrestrial and aquatic within a defined
area.

5. Biodiversity can be observed at three levels
1)Genetic diversity:-
each member of any animal or plants
species differs widely from other individual in its
genetic makeup.
2)Species diversity :-
number of species of plants and
animals that are present in a region constitutes its
species diversity.
3) Ecosystem diversity :- there r large variety of
different ecosystems on earth. Each having their own
complement of distinctive interlinked species based on
the differences in the habitat.

6. Threats to biodiversity
-Habitat destruction - Important to protect habitat in order
to protect biodiversity within it. Huge pressure from the World’s
rapidly increasing population.
- Global climate change - Change in a biotic elements of
ecosystems leading to biotic change.
- Habitat fragmentation - From human activity. Reduces
ability of habitat to support species.
- Pollution - Introduction of pollutants such as nutrient overloading
with nitrate fertilizer as well as more immediately harmful chemicals.
- Over-exploitation - This includes the illegal wildlife trade as
well as overfishing, logging of tropical hardwoods etc.
- Alien species - Introduced by humans to regions where there
are no natural predators.
- Disease - Reduction in habitat causing high population densities,
encourages spread of diseases.

7. Habitat loss

9. Habitat loss:-
Habitat loss can be described when an animal loses their
home. Every animal in the animal kingdom has a niche, a
their in their animal community and without their habitat
they no longer have a niche.
Reasons of habitat loss by humans:
~ agriculture, farming
~ harvesting natural resources for personal use
~ for industrial and urbanization development
Habitat destruction is currently ranked as the primary
causes of species extinction world wide…!!!

10. Example :
The impact upon china’s panda, ones found across
the nation. Now it’s only found in fragmented and
isolated regions in the south west of the country
as a result of wide spread deforestation in the
20th
century.
There are natural causes too..
Habitat destruction through natural processes
such as volcanism, fire and climate change is
well documented in the fossil record. One
study shows that fragmentation of tropical
rainforest in euro 3000 million years ago lead
to a great loss of amphibian diversity.

12. Solutions on for this..
~ Protecting remaining intact section of natural habitat.
~ Reduce human population and expansion of urbanisation
and industries.
~ Educating the public about the importance of natural
habitat and bio diversity.
~Solutions to habitat loss can include planting trees, planting
home gardens so as to reduce need for man to need large lands
for agricultural farms which lead to habitat loss.

13. PoachingPoaching

14. Poaching:-
Poaching is the hunting and harvesting taking of wild
plants or animals, such as
through hunting, harvesting, fishing, or trapping.
History of poaching
~ Millions of years ago, in the Stone Age
~Followed through the ages, to even
the tribal natives
~but it was during the Late Middle Ages that
poaching became a punishable offense

16. Why Poaching is done???
~ Poaching is done for large profits gained by the
illegal sale or trade of animal parts, meat and pelts.
~ Exists because there is a demand for these
products, caused by a lack of education or disregard
for the law amongst the
buyers
~ Many cultures believe that certain animal parts
have medicinal value.

18. Poaching is not limited to animals
its also for plants too…………!
Three of the most often poached species in the park
are galax, black cohosh, and ginseng.
GALAX BLACK COHOSH GINSENG

19. How does poaching affect the
environment?
~Poaching or illegal hunting causes animals endangered
of being extinct. If more animals becomes extinct
there's a disruption in the food chain, and that will
cause major problems in our ecosystem, resulting
eventually in new adaptations of animals, and or
species beyond human control.
~Poaching results in animals being hunted too soon for
them to have time to reproduce and repopulate.

20. Man- wild conflicts

21. Man-wildlife conflict
 Any conflict that arises where the behavior of one (human or
wildlife) is unacceptably disadvantageous to other
 Increase in man wildlife conflict is due to resource limitation like :
 1. Space 2. Food 3. Shelter
 It is also due to Increasing population of human beings , Loss of
forest, decrease in quality of forest and development activities.

 Crops like sugarcane and tea estates are reported to provide
excellent cover for wild animals
 There are 661 Protected Areas in the country covering around 4.8%
geographical areas. There are 100 National Parks, 514 Wildlife
Sanctuaries, 43 Conservation Reserves and 4 Community Reserves in
the country

22. A ‘Conflict’ of Words
• One-sided Reporting Can Harm
Wildlife
• The headlines are invariably
provocative – menace, threat,
fear, attack and death!
• In 99.9 per cent of these cases
(with the exception of deliberate
stalking and predation on
humans by big cats), it’s never an
aggressive attack by the animal.
The animal gets cornered,
surrounded by people (big cats)
or faces an abrupt encounter at
short range because of its poor
senses (elephants, bear) and
then attacks out of fear.
• reporters and sub editors should
avoid biased or sensationalized
reports

23.  In India, wild elephants
probably kill far more people
than tiger, leopard or lion.
 Damage to agricultural crops
and property, killing of
livestock and human beings
are some of the worst forms
of man-animal conflict.
 Farmers sometimes poison
and shoot wild animals as
they damage their crops,
but this can be prevented
by taking certain measures.
 2006-07 / 31 / 342
 2007-08 / 34 / 241
 2008-09 / 46 / 726
 2010-11 / 52 / 689

25.  Governments is working on
improvement of habitat to
augment food and water
availability and to reduce
movement of animals from the
forests to the habitations.
 Training forest staff and police
to tackle these situations and
creating awareness among the
people about the Do’s and Don’ts
to minimize conflicts .
 construction of boundary walls
and solar fences around the
sensitive areas to prevent the wild
animal attacks.
 Some devices of Information
Technology, viz., radio collars with
Very High Frequency, Global
Positioning System and Satellite
uplink facilities can be used to
track the movements of wild
animals .
 Ways to reduce the conflicts

27. >> Generation of soils and maintenance of soil
quality
>> Maintenance of air quality
>> Maintenance of water quality
>> Pest control
>> Detoxification and decomposition of wastes
>> Pollination and crop production
>> Climate stabilization
>> Prevention and mitigation of natural disasters
>> Provision of food security

28. So…..please conserve the
Nature….

29. Thank you……..

30. Questions
Q.1 biodiversity is the total variety of ________________on planet earth.
a)Resources b) life c) materials d)plants
Q.2 the world is composed of ___________communities of living organisms.
a)Diverse b) similar d) a single group d) mammalian
Q.3) india has ____________species of plants.
a)4500 b)45000 c)450000 d) 450
Q.4the richness of the species in an ecosystem makes it___________
a)Unstable b)stable c)temporary d)unproductive
Q.5)extinction is a major problem as we loose___________
a) Genetic diversity b)ecosystem c)organism d)resources

31. Q.6) if one species or group of species are destroyed the whole interacting
system gets ________
a)Works b)reproduce c)changes
d)manipulates
Q.7)genetic divers type is the total number of ______possesses by a species
a)Genetics b) genetic material c) parts d)
substances
Q.8) in india, nearly _________species of flowering plants are found.
a)1700 b)17000 c)170000 d)175024
Q.9)what is biodiversity ?
Q.10) what is habitat loss?