Download Biodiversity and Conservation

Biodiversity
and Conservation
Five Kingdom Classification
Protista (the single-celled eukaryotes);
 Fungi (fungus and related organisms);
 Plantae (the plants);
 Animalia (the animals);
 Monera (the prokaryotes).
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Kingdoms
 phylum
 class
 order
 family
 genus
 species.
 A species represents one type of
organism,
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Monera (includes Eubacteria and
Archeobacteria)
 single-celled, cell wall, no chloroplasts or
other organelles, no nucleus. Absorb
nutrients through the cell wall or produce
their own by photosynthesis.
 Protista
 single-celled, mobile. no cell wall. Has
organelles including a nucleus and may
have chloroplasts, photosynthesise,
ingestion of other organisms, or both.
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Fungi
multicellular, a cell wall, organelles including a
nucleus, but no chloroplasts. Do not move.
Nutrients are acquired by absorption.
Plantae
Multicellular, don't move, nucleus, chloroplasts
and cell walls. Nutrients are acquired by
photosynthesis.
Animalia
multicellular, mobile. organelles including a
nucleus, but no chloroplasts or cell walls.
Animals acquire nutrients by ingestion.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation
of life forms within a given species,
ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet.
 Biodiversity is a measure of the health of
ecosystems.
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Maintaining Biodiversity
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Maintaining and restoring biodiversity within the
environment is important for many reasons:
 biodiversity
provides us with many natural products
including food, medicines and timber
 ecosystems underpin many of our natural resources
and provide services such as clean water, healthy soil
and pollination of crops
 many people find enjoyment from the range of leisure
activities undertaken in the natural environment.
Endangered Species
An endangered species is a population of
organisms which is at risk of
becoming extinct because it is either few
in numbers, or threatened by changing
environmental or predation parameters.
 There are well over 5,000 species of
officially Endangered or Threatened
animals and birds on our planet.
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Tigers
Every single tiger in the world has their
own distinct pattern of stripes.
 6 species of tigers left in the world and 3
more are known to be extinct.
 Bengal Tigers are seriously endangered.
There are believed to be less than 2,000
Bengal tigers left in the world.
 White tigers are a result of a genetic
mutation.
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Total Population in the Wild: around 3,500
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Subspecies:
Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)
Population: Fewer than 2,000 Status: Endangered
Species
The Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti)
Population: Fewer than 500. Status: Endangered
Species
Malayan Tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni)
Population: Fewer than 500 Status: Endangered Species
Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae)
Population: Fewer than 500 Status: Critically
Endangered Species
Siberian Tiger (Panthera tigris alataica)
Population: Around 500 Status: Endangered Species
South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis)
Population: No sightings in years. May be 0. Status:
Critically Endangered Species
Why are they endangered?
In order to live in the wild, tigers need
water to drink, animals to hunt, and
vegetation in which to hide. As the
mountains, jungles, forests, and long
grasses disappear, so, too, do tigers.
 Since 1900, the tiger's habitat and
numbers have been reduced by up to 95
per cent.
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1. Population
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Asia's explosive population growth demands that
more be converted to agriculture.
In India, where about 60 per cent of the world's
wild tigers still roam, the human population has
grown by 50 percent in the past 20 years.
Over the past 40 years, China's population has
more than doubled; and 99 per cent of China's
original forest habitat has been destroyed.
2. Competition
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As tigers compete with humans and industry for land,
they find less and less to eat.
Local people hunt the same prey as tigers do, pressing
tigers to resort to domestic animals and, on rarer
occasions, even humans. (Tigers are one of only two
animals--the other is the polar bear--that are known to
stalk humans.)
Threatened villagers often poison, shoot, or snare the
encroaching tigers.
In addition to food, local communities also need to use
the surrounding patches of forest for livestock grazing
and wood for fuel.
3. Trade in tiger parts
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The single greatest threat of extinction that looms over
the tiger is the massive demand for traditional medicine.
The booming economies and personal incomes of
Southeast Asia have caused demand and prices to soar,
lifting the international trade in wildlife products to an
estimated $6 billion-a-year business.
The use of endangered tiger products and their
medicines is seen as a symbol of high status and
wealth.
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According to South Korean immigration
statistics, the country imported 3,994 kilograms
of tiger bones from Indonesia between 1970 and
1993. The bones of one tiger weigh
approximately 10 kilograms.
Due to increased demand, tiger bone prices
have skyrocketed in South Korea, Taiwan and
many other countries. The price is estimated to
be between $140-$370 per kilogram in U.S.
dollars depending on the size of the bones.
In Taiwan, a bowl of tiger penis soup (to boost
virility) goes for $320, and a pair of eyes (to fight
epilepsy and malaria) for $170. Powdered tiger
humerus bone (for treating ulcers rheumatism
and typhoid) brings up to $3,000 per kg. in
Seoul.
Tiger - Human Conflict
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To protect tigers from poachers and the rapidly
increasing loss of land, wildlife conservationists have
worked with governments to establish wildlife reserves.
Most reserves, however, are isolated islands of forest in
which the tiger has little chance to survive due to the
difficulty of meeting mates, the threat of disease, and
genetic drift and in-breeding. Furthermore, these
"protected areas" are extremely difficult to protect.
Forestry and wildlife departments are too understaffed
and under-budgeted to save the tiger from the intensity
of poachers.
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Lacking organization, compensation for high-risk
work, training, camps inside the protected areas,
night patrols, recognition, motivation, and
resources such as firearms, vehicles and
communication equipment, the guards'
enforcement of anti-hunting laws is limited.
Some efforts to protect tiger habitat have
focused on programs aimed at reducing conflicts
between tiger protected-area managers and
people living in and around the reserves,
although so far, few programs, if any, have been
successful.
Have Efforts to Curb the Trade in
Tiger Parts Worked?
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Several Asian nations have endorsed tough protections
for tigers in the Convention on the International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES).
Laws banning the trade of tiger derivatives, preserve
tiger habitat, and form a regional network to halt tiger
trade.
But lack of government resolve and corruption at the
highest levels have inhibited enforcement of other
wildlife agreements that the nations have signed.
A thriving black market is also very difficult to monitor.
Conservation
Wildlife reserves and National Parks
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A nature reserve is a protected area of
importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of
geological or other special interest, which is
reserved and managed for conservation and to
provide special opportunities for study
or research
A national park is a reserve of natural, seminatural, or developed land that a sovereign
state declares or owns.
Seed Banks
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The storage of material in the form of seeds is
one of the most widespread and valuable ex
situ approaches to conservation.
Seed banking advantages include ease of
storage, economy of space, relatively low labour
demands and consequently, the capacity to
maintain large samples at an economically
viable cost.
200 botanic gardens have seed banks
maintaining seeds in long term and mediumterm storage
Millennium Seed Bank Project
International Programme
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The Millennium Seed Bank Project is an
international collaborative plant conservation
initiative.
It aims to safeguard 24,000 plant species from
around the globe against extinction (10% of the
world's flowering flora).
It has already successfully secured the future of
virtually all the UK's native flowering plants.
Botanical Gardens
A botanical garden is a welltended area displaying a wide range of
plants labelled with their botanical names.
 In principle their role is to maintain
documented collections of living plants for
the purposes of scientific research,
conservation, display and education.
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Zimbabwe National herbarium and botanical
gardens
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The National Herbarium and
Botanic Garden is a center for
research and information on
the indigenous plants of
Zimbabwe.
It s responsible for the study of
Zimbabwe flora in order to
promote its conservation,
development and sustainable
use.
Its mission is To Increase
Knowledge and Appreciation
of Zimbabwean Plants.
The National Herbarium stores
preserved plant specimens
while the living specimens are
grown in the National Botanic
Garden.
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The institute has three interlinked sections:
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The Herbarium has about 500 000 plant specimens. It
is the main reference center for research on identifying
and naming plants of the Flora Zambesiaca
Region. This region comprises Zimbabwe, Zambia,
Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana and the Caprivi.
The Botanic Garden grows over 900 trees and shrubs
of Zimbabwe in groups to show the associations that are
found in various parts of the country. It has sections with
trees of the Highveld, Lowveld and Eastern
Highlands. Also growing are a number of trees from
other countries that have climatic conditions similar to
Zimbabwe e.g. Asia and Australia.
The Education Centre disseminates information on the
plants of Zimbabwe and the plant kingdom in general to
educational institutions especially schools.
Kew Gardens
Zoos
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Captive breeding programmes
 Try to keep genetic
 Surrogate mothers
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diversity using in vitro
Reintroduction programmes
 Preparation of habitat
 Education of local people
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Funding and Research
 Entrance fees etc can be donated to conservation
 Animals can be studied to find out about their needs
to help conservation