Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation
Exam focus
Levels of biodiversity, measurement, threats, protected-area categories and the Indian legal and programme framework.
Core rules
- Three levels: genetic variation within species, species richness, and ecosystem/habitat variety.
- India is megadiverse; four global biodiversity hotspots touch India: Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Western Ghats–Sri Lanka and Sundaland (Nicobar Islands). The Sundarbans is a mangrove Ramsar site and tiger reserve, not itself one of the global hotspots.
- IUCN Red List categories: Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Least Concern, Data Deficient.
- In-situ conservation: national park, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve, community reserve. Ex-situ: zoo, botanical garden, seed bank, cryopreservation.
- A national park excludes human activity and grazing rights; a sanctuary may allow regulated rights. A biosphere reserve has core, buffer and transition zones.
- Indian Acts: Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972; Biological Diversity Act 2002; Forest Conservation Act 1980.
Worked example
In a 10 km² reserve, camera traps record 25 species. A nearby 10 km² plantation records 10 species. Species richness is higher in the reserve. If one species makes up 70% of individuals in the reserve, richness is still 25 but evenness is low. Richness counts species; evenness describes how individuals are distributed among them.
Traps
- Treating species richness as the same as diversity.
- Confusing national park with sanctuary rights.
- Naming the Sundarbans as a biodiversity hotspot instead of a mangrove, Ramsar and tiger reserve site.
- Forgetting that the Biological Diversity Act deals with access and benefit sharing, not protected-area notification.