This Presentation Contains: Defintion of Biodiversity Importance Factors Militating Against Biodiversity Why we should conserve Biodiversity and How to improve Biodiversity Conservation

1. BIODIVERSITY
CONSERVATION
By
Kumeh Mensah Eric
Final Year
BSc. Natural Resource Mgt.
FRNR-CANR
KNUST
Ghana

2. Presentation Outline
 Definition and origin of biodiversity
 Components of biodiversity
 Gene diversity
 Species diversity
 Ecosystem diversity
 Benefits of biodiversity
 Economic benefits
 Ecological and environmental benefits
 Aesthetic and scientific benefits
 Factors militating against biodiversity
 Population growth
 Climate change and global warming
 Deforestation
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3. Presentation Outline(Cont.)
 Factors militating against biodiversity
 Species Introduction
 Global Warming and Climate Change
 Pollution
 Definition of Conservation and Biodiversity
Conservation
 Why Biodiversity Conservation
 The Way Forward




Policy and Legislation
Education
Restoring Ecosystems
The Role of Natural Resource of Management
 Did You Know?
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4. Definition
What does ―Bio‖ mean?
BIO =
What does ―DIVERSITY‖ mean?
DIVERSITY = VARIETY
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5. Biodiversity
 Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth and
the essential interdependence of all living
things (species).
 The term was coined by
Edward O. Wilson amongst
others, as an ecological
concept to include all the
living organisms of a given
system, from the monera
to the trees, annelids to
mammals.
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6. Components of Biodiversity
Genetic Variety
 Differences in inheritable characteristics that
are present in a population
Chihuahua
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Beagle
Rottweilers

7. Species Variety
 Species is a particular type
of organism or population
of organisms which share
some characteristics and
can interbred to produce a
fertile offspring
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8. Ecosystem Variety
 An ecosystem is made up of interacting
populations and the abiotic factors that
support them.
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9. Benefits of Biodiversity
Food Security
 Many species not
now commonly
used for food
could be.
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10. Medicine
 Every species that
goes extinct
represents one lost
opportunity to find a
cure for
cancer, hepatitis &
HIV/AIDS.
Rosy periwinkle
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11. Economic Benefits
 Affluent tourists pay
good money to see
wildlife, and protected
ecosystems.
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12. Environmental & Ecological Benefits
Protection from floods
and droughts
 Stable ecosystems with
adequate trees help
regulate the water cycle
by acting as temporal
sinks.
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13. Soil Fertility Sustenance
 Micro-organism
and macroorganism
activities aerate
soils.
 Nutrient cycling
by deep rooted
trees
Earthworm in soils
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14. Aesthetic Benefits
 Biophilia; human love for and attachment to
other living things; ―the connections that human
beings subconsciously seek out with the rest of
life‖:
Keeping of pets
Valuing real estate
with landscape views
Interest in escaping
cities to go hiking,
birding, fishing,
hunting,
backpacking, etc.
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15. Benefits of Biodiversity
 Research (Motivation and generation of
ideas)
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16. Factors Militating Against Biodiversity
Population Growth
 7 billion people who
need to be fed.
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17. Overexploitation of Resources
 Extraction of flora
and fauna
resources beyond
sustainable
thresholds
Deforestation
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18. Global Warming and Climate Change
 Emissions of ―greenhouse
gases‖ are causing
temperatures to warm
worldwide, increasing the
frequency of extreme
weather events.
Polar bear on melting ice
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19. Species Introduction
 Accidental or intentional
introduction of exotic
species to new areas.
 Most do not establish
or expand, but some
do—likely because
they are ―released‖
from limitations
imposed by their
native
predators, parasites,
and competitors.
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Japanese Kudzu

20. Species Introduction
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21. Pollution
 Air and water pollution;
agricultural runoff, industrial
chemicals.
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22. Pollution (cont.)
Eutrophication
 Eutrophication occurs
when fertilizers,
animal wastes, sewage,
or other substances
rich in nitrogen and
phosphorus flow into
waterways, causing
extensive algae
growth.
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23. Pollution (cont.)
Acid Rains
 Sulfur and nitrogen compounds react
with water and other substances in the
air to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid.
 Acid precipitation removes
calcium, potassium, and
other nutrients from the
soil, depriving plants of
these nutrients.
 It damages plant tissue
and slows their growth.
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24. Pollution (cont.)
Biological magnification
 Biological
magnification is the
increasing
concentration of toxic
substances in
organisms as trophic
levels increase in a
food chain or food
web.
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25. Conservation
 Conservation is an ethic of use, allocation and
protection of valued resources.
 Biodiversity Conservation implies the
use, allocation and protection of the variety of
flora and fauna resources in a manner that
ensures the sustainability of these resources.
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26. Why Biodiversity Conservation?
1. To Ensure Food Security
Ireland Potato famine 1845
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27. Why Biodiversity Conservation?
2. Prevents extinction of species
 30 per cent of
amphibians, 23 per
cent of mammals
and 12 per cent of
birds are
threatened (IUCN
2006).
DODO BIRD
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28. Why Biodiversity Conservation?
3.To sustain
ecosystem
services
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29. Why Biodiversity Conservation?
4. Maintenance
of cultural
heritage.
Parrot – Totem of
Agona
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30. The Way Forward
Policy and Legislation
 Policy is a proposed or
adopted course of action that
guide decision to obtain
rational outcomes.
 Legislation proclamation
of laws by a recognized
institution.
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31. The Way Forward
 Conventions, Protocols & Treaties
Trade Record
Analysis of Flora
and Fauna in
Commerce
(TRAFFIC)
Cartagena
Protocol on
Biosafety
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32. The Way Forward
 Education
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33. The Way Forward
Restoring Ecosystems
 Bioremediation
 The use of living organisms, such as
prokaryotes, fungi, or plants, to detoxify or
remove pollutants.
 Technologies can be generally classified as in
situ or ex situ.
 Oleispira antarctica
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34. The Way Forward
Biological Augmentation
 Adding natural predators to
a degraded ecosystem is
called biological
augmentation.
 Ladybugs can be introduced
into an ecosystem to
control aphid populations.
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35. The Way Forward
Controlled breeding programs
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36. The Way Forward
Natural Resource Management
 Sustainable Forest and Wildlife Mgt.
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37. The Way Forward
Sustainable Aquaculture
Raising of fishery
resources in controlled
environments.
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38. The Way Forward
Agroforestry
Careful integration trees,
crops and/or animals
on the same land
management
unit.
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39. Did You Know?
 Bamboo can grow up to three feet in a 24 hour
period.
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40. Did You Know?
 According to UN Food and Agriculture
Organization estimates, 100 crop species
supply 90 percent of the world's food and bees
pollinate more than 70% of these crops!
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41. Did You Know?
 As estimated by the IUCN, 50 percent of all
endangered species live in the rainforest. The
planet’s largest rainforest –The Amazon – lost
more than 17 percent of its forest cover in the
last century due to human activity.
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42. Did You Know?
 Grasshopper Mouse uses Scorpion Venom as a
―Painkiller‖
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43. Conclusion
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44. References
 Admiraal, J.F., Wossink, A., de Groot, W.T., de Snoo,
G.R., 2013. More than total economic value: how to
combine economic valuation of biodiversity with
ecological resilience. Ecol. Econ. 89, 115–122.
 Bai, Y., Zhuang, C., Ouyang, Z., Zheng, H., Jiang, B.,
2011. Spatial characteristics between biodiversity and
ecosystem services in a human-dominated watershed.
Ecol. Complexity 8, 177–183.
 Dunne, J.A., Williams, R.J., 2009. Cascading extinctions
and community collapse in model food webs. Philos.
Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. B-Biol. Sci. 364, 1711–1723.
 Egoh, B.N., Reyers, B., Carwardine, J., Bode, M.,
O’Farrell, P.J., Wilson, K.A., Possingham, H.P., Rouget,
M., De Lange, W., Richardson, D.M., Cowling, R.M., 2010.
Safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services in the
little karoo, South Africa. Conserv. Biol. 24, 1021–1030.
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45. References Cont’d
 Haines-Young, R., Potschin, M., 2013. Common
International Classification of Ecosystem Services
(CICES): Consultation on Version 4, August-December
2012. EEA Framework, Contract No EEA/IEA/09/003.
 Reyers, B., Polasky, S., Tallis, H., Mooney, H.A., Larigau
derie, A., 2012. Finding common ground for
biodiversity and ecosystem services. Bioscience
62, 503–507.
 Tscharntke, T., Klein, A.M., Kruess, A., SteffanDewenter, I., Thies, C., 2005. Landscape perspectives
on agricultural intensification and biodiversity –
ecosystem service management. Ecol. Lett. 8, 857–874.
 Salles, J.-M., 2011. Valuing biodiversity and ecosystem
services: why put economic values on nature? C.R.
Biol. 334, 469–482.
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