Biodiversity and Conservation for Higher Secondary School Biology

1. BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION FOR HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOLBIOLOGY Earthisabeautifulplaceforlivingthings.Ithasavarietyoflifeonearthtermed as Biodiversity. It consists of flora, fauna, tropical forests cover, rivers etc. Biodiversity conservation is very important for human life. All living things are dependent on biodiversity for their survival. Plants, animals, insects, humans are entirely dependent on biodiversity. It provides food, shelter, clothes, medicines, and infrastructure for livelihood. It isa crucial topic to be understood and discussed for many decades. This is a very important chapter in biology for 12th standard students of CBSE Board. Solutions to all the questions in this chapter can be easily found in any good solution key that provides NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Biology. Rapid environmental changes are causing mass extinctions of species on earth. Biodiversity is not evenly distributed. It varies from region to region. Some areas might have abundant resourcesandsomemightbeless. BIODIVERSITY The diversity of living things depends on temperature, altitude, soil, geography etc. Biodiversity hotspot is a region where there is a high level of endemic species that has become vulnerable to extinction. There are three types ofdiversity Geneticdiversity:Asinglespeciesshowshighdiversityatthegeneticlevel over its distributionalrange. Speciesdiversity:aspeciesshowsdiversityatspecieslevel. Ecological diversity: At the ecosystem level, it has deserts, rain forests, mangroves,coralreefs,wetlands,estuaries,andalpinemeadows. PATTERN OFBIODIVERSITY Latitudinal gradients: The plants and animals are not uniform throughout but have uneven distribution. The species diversity generally decreases as theymovetowardsthepolethanequator. Species area relationships: The species richness increases when the area increases. LOSS OFBIODIVERSITY Thebiologicalwealthofourplanetisrapidlydecliningduetoseveralfactors. The loss of biodiversity may lead to decline in plant production, increase in soil erosion, global warmingetc. Thevariousfactorsassociatedforthelossofbiodiversityare Habitat loss andfragmentation Overexploitation Alien speciesinvasion Coextinction Energy production andmining Urbanization Cattlegrazing Climatechange BIODIVERSITYCONSERVATION There is a need for conservation of biodiversity for the present and future generations. Humans derive a lot of economic benefits from nature with respect to food, firewood, fibre, construction material, industrial products andmedicinalproducts.Biodiversitycanbeconservedbyestablishingin-situ and ex-situ conservation. Government has taken many initiatives in conserving biodiversity. National parks and reserves are established by the government to protect the forest reserves from damage caused due to degradation. There is strict prohibition on hunting and illegal trading. Protected areas are set up all over the world to protect the wild animals in theirhabitatandalsoforestreserves. Embibe.com