1. 1.3 Flora and Fauna
1.3.1 CONCEPTS
Flora and Fauna28
Flora and fauna are the living
components of nature, which,
together with nonliving components
such as water, air, etc., comprise the
natural environment.
There is a very close interrelationship between flora and fauna,
based on natural laws governing the structure and functions of
living being associations. Food relationships determine the socalled
food chains, in which herbivores (animals that feed on
plants and other vegetal organisms) are the basic food for other
groups of animals which, in turn, are consumed by still others
as food.
As a consequence of the above, a decline in population, or
disappearance of one of these links in the food chain –from either
natural or man-made causes– jeopardizes the entire system.
Flora and fauna are renewable natural resources of great
importance to humankind. A large number of foods and drugs
come from plants, as do raw materials for textile, lumber, and
other industries.
Wildlife29
Currently, the original “wildlife” concept (meaning wild animals)
has been expanded to also include plants and ecosystems (even
landscapes), and encompasses both flora and fauna in a given
region.
Flora in a region is made up of all uncultivated growing plants;
while weeds could be included in this concept, it is best to leave
them out.
Fauna is the collection of animals that have not been domesticated
or bred by humans, or that have subsequently become wild
after accidentally escaping or having been released through
wild animal reintroduction programs.
Wildlife Conservation30
This refers to the body of regulations concerning wild animals
and plants meant to insure their continuity as a natural resource.
The term “conservation” refers to natural resource use and
management by current and future generations. This concept
has implications for the aesthetic, sports-related, economic, and
ethical use of landscapes, minerals, animals (including game),
plants, soil, and water.
The term “wildlife conservation” has been used to include
an increasingly larger group of animals –mammals, birds,
fish, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods
(i.e., lobsters), and mollusks (such as
oysters)– and also includes plants.
The list tends to be dominated by

2. certain groups of aesthetically and/
or economically important animals,
but it is growing in proportion to
the extent that values are expanding,
interest in natural science is increasing,
and the often subtle, albeit always important,
relationships among plants and animals continue
to be discovered.
Animal conservation problems are highly varied depending on
the species (for instance, whether or not the species is widely
used for commercial or recreational purposes, orwhether or not
it is free to cross international borders) and the different nations’
social and economic conditions. In many countries animals
are extensively persued by sports hunters on both private and
public lands; therefore, a major wildlife conservation factor
in these regions consists of controlling hunting permits and
supervising hunters. Cross-border migrating game birds and
mammals require an international effort for their conservation.
Marine mammals and fish also are in need of international
agreements and legislation, since they live in borderless waters
and are captured by commercial fishermen from many countries.
Marine fish, mostly harvested for commercial purposes, are
protected by international agreements. However, fresh water
fishermen, mostly recreational fishermen (except in some large
fresh water bodies, such as the Great Lakes in North America)
get their fishing permits and are controlled locally.
Biodiversity31
Life on earth exhibits a seemingly endless diversity. Living
beings have conquered such different environs such as oceans
and the air; they have settled in warm and humid tropical
belts, as well as in cold and arid polar areas. In order to face
the challenges presented by locomotion, food, or reproduction,
they have displayed an overwhelming variety of solutions. Life’s
diversity, the result of 4 billion years of evolution, is earth’s
greatest treasure.
A close analysis of
biodiversity reveals that it
appears at various levels,
thesecorresponding to the
different scales at which
the phenomenon of life is
found.
z Species level. The vast array of species inhabiting the
earth constitutes the most dramatic manifestation of
biological diversity. Animal and plant encyclopaedias
contain an astounding assortment. And these are
only a small part of the huge list of species described
by scientists, numbering close to one million. In turn