Biodiversity And Conservation-Quick Revision

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Genetic diversity

1. Genetic diversity within a population refers to the number of different alleles (the alternate forms of genes) of all genes and the frequency with which they appear.

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Species diversity

1. Species diversity refers to the variety of species within a region.

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Ecological diversity

1. Ecosystem diversity refers to the variety of ecosystems in a given place.

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Importance of species diversity to ecosystem

1. Ecologists believe that communities with more species tend to be more stable than those with less species.

Attributes of a stable community-
1. It shall not show too much of variations in the year-to-year productivity.
2. It must be either resistant or resilient to seasonal disturbances.
3. It must be resistant also to alien species.
Feature of David Tilman’s ecology experiments –
1. The plots with more species showed less year-to-year variation in the total biomass.
2. Plots with increased diversity showed higher productivity.

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Conservation of wildlife

1. Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting wild plant and animal species and their habitats.
2. The goal of wildlife conservation is to ensure that nature will be around for future generations to enjoy and also to recognize the importance of wildlife and wilderness for humans and other species alike.

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Conservation of ecosystem

1. Conserving our biodiversity is extremely important, not only in terms of its intrinsic values but because many of our economic activities are based on healthy and functioning natural systems.
2. An ecosystem approach to conservation involves protecting or restoring the function, structure, and species composition of an ecosystem, recognizing that all components are interrelated.

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Strategies for conservation of biodiversity

In-situ conservation, the conservation of species in their natural habitats, is considered the most appropriate way of conserving biodiversity.Conserving the areas where populations of species exist naturally is an underlying condition for the conservation of biodiversity. That’s why protected areas form a central element of any national strategy to conserve biodiversity.Ex-situ conservation is the preservation of components of biological diversity outside their natural habitats. This involves the conservation of genetic resources of major crop plants and their wild relatives or species and draws on a diverse body of techniques and facilities. Some of these include:

1. Gene banks, e.g., seed banks, sperm and ova banks, field banks;
2. In vitro plant tissue and microbial culture collections;
3. Captive breeding of animals and artificial propagation of plants, with possible reintroduction into the wild; and
4. Collecting living organisms for zoos, aquaria, and botanic gardens for research and public awareness.