This document discusses biodiversity hotspots and threats to biodiversity. It defines biodiversity hotspots as regions that are exceptionally rich in endemic species yet threatened by habitat loss. Two criteria are outlined to qualify as a hotspot: containing at least 1,500 endemic plant species and having lost at least 70% of primary vegetation. 25 global hotspots are listed, including the Eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats in India. Major threats include habitat loss, poaching, and human-wildlife conflicts. Conservation approaches of in situ and ex situ are described, along with examples like protected areas, gene banks, and projects like Tiger and Elephant.

1. PRESENTED BY
Jagan Kumar Ojha
M.Sc. Tutor
Dept. of Community Health
SNC, Bhubaneswar

3. Hotspots of Biodiversity
• Term “HOT SPOT”----Norman Myers (1988)
Those geographical regions:
 Rich in endemic, rare and threatened species
 Facing significant threats to habitat loss
 Due to direct and indirect interference of
human activities.

4. Hotspots of Biodiversity
• A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region
that acts as a significant reservoir of biodiversity
and also threatened with destruction by human
habitation.
• Biodiversity hotspots are places on earth that
homes to thousands of irreplaceable species and are
facing multiple, urgent threats.

5. Hotspots of Biodiversity
To qualify as a biodiversity, a region must meet two
strict Criteria:
 It must contain at least 0.5% or 1,500 species of
plants as endemics,
 It has to have lost at least 70% of its primary
vegetation.

6. Global hotspots of biodiversity
1)Tropical Andes 15) Caucasus
2)Mesoamerican forests 16) Sundaland
3)Caribbean 17) Wallacea
4)Brazil’s Atlantic forest 18) Philippines
5)Western Ecuador 19) Eastern Himalayas
6)Brazil’s Cerrado 20) South-central China
7)Central Chile 21) Western-Ghats
8)California Floristic Province 22) South-western Australia
9)Madagascar 23) New Caledonia
10)Eastern Arc and coastal 24) New Zealand
forest of Tanzania/Kenya 25) Polynesia/Micronesia
11)Western African Forests
12)Cape Floristic Province
13)Succulent Karoo
14)Mediterranean Basin

7. Salient features of Indian Hotspots
A) Eastern Himalayas:
• The eastern himalayan region encompasses Bhutan, North
east India, and south, central and eastern Nepal
• The region is home to 163 globally threatened species
including Asia’s Three largest herbivores –the Asian
elephant, the greater one horned rhinoceros, and the wild
water buffalo, Carnivore-The tiger & Birds-Vultures,
Storks and hornbills
• Out of the world’s recorded flora, 30% are endemic to India
of which 35,000 are in the Himalayas.

8. Salient features of Indian Hotspots
B) Western Ghats
• It extends along a 17000 sq.km strip of forests in
Maharashtra, Karnataka, TN and Kerala and has 40%
of total endemic plants.
• The major centers of diversity are Agastyamalai Hills
and Amambalam reserve.
• It is reported that only 6.8% of original forests are
existing today while the rest has been deforested or
degraded.

10. Threats to Biodiversity
• The process of extinction has become
particularly fast in this recent years of human
civilization.
• One of the estimates puts the figure of extinction
as 27/day
• If the present trend continues we would lose 1/3rd
to 2/3rd of our current biodiversity by the middle
of 21st century

11. Loss of Habitat
• Destruction and loss of natural habitat is the single
largest cause of biodiversity loss.
• Billions of hectares of forests and grasslands have been
cleared over the last few years i.e converted into
agricultural lands, pastures, settlement areas or
development projects.
• Thousand of species have freezing due to loss of their
natural habitation.
• As a result of human intervention, marine biodiversity
is under serious threat due to large scale destruction of
the fragile breeding and feeding grounds.

12. Poaching

13. Poaching
• Illegal trade of wildlife products by killing prohibited
animals, is a threat to wildlife
• Despite international ban on trade in products from
endangered species, smuggling of wildlife items like
furs, skins, tusks, etc. is continuing.
• The worse issue is that for every live animal that gets
into market, about 50 additional animals are caught and
killed

14. Man-wildlife Conflicts
• When wild life causes immense damage and danger to
man , the conflict occurs.
• In retaliation, the villagers electrocute or kill the animals
which sometimes exceed poaching.

15. Causes of man-animal conflict
1) Diminishing of habitats and human violations
into the forest areas
1) The wild life corridors through which
animals used to migrate seasonally have been
used for human settlements and hence
animals attack the settlements

16. Causes of man-animal conflict
3) The stopping of cultivation of paddy, sugarcane
etc.. within the sanctuaries have led the animals
to stray out
4) The compensation paid by the government in lieu
of the damage caused to the crops is not
adequate and the suffering farmer gets
revengeful and kills the wild animals
5) Usually the ill, weak and injured animals have a
tendency to attack man.

17. Conservation of Biodiversity

18. Conservation of biodiversity
• The enormous value of biodiversity due to their
genetic, commercial medical, aesthetic importance
emphasize the need to conserve biodiversity.
• There are two approaches of biodiversity
conservation;
– In situ conservation
– Ex situ conservation

19. In Situ conservation
 This is achieved by protection of wild flora and fauna in
nature itself. E.g Biosphere reserves, National parks,
Sancturies, Reserve forests etc.
 The Biosphere reserves conserve some representative
ecosystems as a whole for long term in situ conservation.
Gulf of mannar, Nilgiri, Sunderbans, Nanda devi are few
biosphere reserves
 A National park is an area dedicated for the conservation of
wildlife along with its environment.
 Each park aims at conservation of some particular species of
wildlife along with others

20. Important National Parks in India
Name of the National Park Important Wildlife
Kaziranga One horned Rhino
Gir national park Indian Lion
Dachigam Hangul
Bandipur Elephant
Periyar Elephant, Tiger
Kanha Tiger
Corbett Tiger
Dudwa Tiger
Ranthambore Tiger
Sariska Tiger

21. Wild Life Sanctuaries
 These are protected areas where killing, hunting,
shooting or capturing of wildlife is prohibited except
under control of highest authority.
Name of Sanctuary Major wild life
Ghana Bird Sanctuary 300 species of birds
Hazaribagh Sanctuary Tiger, Leopard
Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary Migratory birds
Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary Water birds
Abohar wildlife Sanctuary Black buck
Mudumalai wildlife Sanctuary Tiger, elephant, Leopard
Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary Water Birds
Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary Rhinoceros, elephant, Tiger
Wild Ass Sanctuary Wild ass, Wolf, nilgai, chinkara

22. Ex Situ Conservation
• Ex situ conservation involves conserving components
of biological diversity outside their natural habitat
• The maintenance and breeding of endangered plants and
animals under partially or wholly controlled conditions in
specific areas.
• The ex-situ conservation strategies include botanical
gardens, zoological gardens, conservation stands and
gene, pollen, seed, tissue culture and DNA banks.

23. Ex Situ Conservation
• In this the conservation in captivity under human care
• The objective is to conserve the total genetic variability
of different species for future improvement or
afforestation programmes.

24. Important gene bank/seed banks
1) National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR)-
Located in New Delhi
Here agricultural and horticultural crops are cryopreserved
2) National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources(NBAGR)-
Located in Haryana
Preserves semen of domesticated bovine animals
3) National Facility for Plant Tissue Culture Repository
(NFPTCR)-within NBPGR
Conservation of crop plants/trees by tissue culture

25. Project Tiger
• Project Tiger Scheme has been under implementation
since 1973 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of
Government of India
• The main objective of Project Tiger is to ensure a viable
population of tiger in India and to preserve for all time
• Main objectives under the scheme include wildlife
management, protection measures and site specific
ecosystem development to reduce the dependency of
local communities on tiger reserve resources.

26. Project Elephant
 Project Elephant (PE), a centrally sponsored scheme, was
launched in February 1992 to provide financial and
technical support to major elephant bearing States in the
country for protection of elephants, their habitats and
corridors
 The Project Elephant in India also aimed to decrease the
human-elephant battles and help in the welfare of
domesticated elephants in India.

27. THANK YOU