Hunting, pollution, invasive species, overexploitation, and habitat loss are major threats to biodiversity in Pakistan. Unregulated hunting has reduced populations of many species like gazelles and Marco Polo sheep. Pollution from industrial toxins and fossil fuel emissions harms ecosystems. Invasive exotic species outcompete native species. Overexploitation through overharvesting and overfishing endangers populations. Habitat loss from activities like deforestation, agriculture, and mining displaces and reduces species. If these threats are not addressed, many more species in Pakistan could face extinction.

1. HUNTING
• Hunting has a long tradition in Pakistan. However, unregulated hunting has resulted
in the declining of many species of animals.
• Some species such as the gazelle and Marco Polo sheep, are on the edge of
extinction.
• The houbara bustard , Chlamydotis undulata, continues to be hunted by large parties
despite the fact that its hunting is prohibited to the locals.
• Such parties not only vastly exceed the limit but also destroy large tracts of
vulnerable desert habitats due to off-road driving.

2. • Migratory birds are shot for target practice, while other species are hunted for their
meat.
• As a result, the range of all large mammals has been reduced and they have been
forced to live in the most isolated parts of their habitat.
• Large scale hunting is a threat to biodiversity in Pakistan and will remain so until
hunting practices are made compatible with sustainable resource use.

3. Increased Pollution
• Pollution of air, soil, and water poses a serious problem to many ecosystems.
• Tiny bits of plastic suspended in ocean water build up inside fish, birds, and
other marine species.
• Industrial toxins (Chlorine, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide) kill many species in
rivers and lakes.
• Air pollution makes its way into soil, leaves, and water. It all adds up to fewer
species, less diversity, and weakened ecosystems.

4. • Be it water, air, or land pollution, all forms of pollution appear to be a threat to all life
forms on Earth.
• Another form of pollution that can damage and kill living organisms is acid rain.
• Any form of precipitation with acidic components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall
to the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms.

5. • This rain is usually a result of pollution coming from the excessive burning of
fossil fuels.
• When fossil fuels are burned, they release nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere,
which contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain.
• Some types of pollution can be reversible.
• However, this shall only happen when humans stop or limit the use of various
chemicals that contribute to its destruction.

6. Invasive species
• An exotic or unnatural species can be any kind of organism that has been introduced
to a foreign habitat.
• This introduction can cause major threats to the native species as they often become
subjected to great competition for resources, disease, and predation.
• When these species have successfully colonized the area, they are already called
“invasive” ones. (An invasive species is an organism that causes ecological or economic
harm in a new environment where it is not native).
• Next to habitat loss, invasive species are ranked as the second biggest threat to
biodiversity.

7. • The greatest threat that invasive species can bring is their capability to change an
entire habitat.
• These species are highly adaptable and can easily dominate a certain area.
• Some places have very low possibilities for the invasion of species.
• Usually, these places include those with harsh environmental conditions like
extreme temperatures and high salinity.
• Most exotic species are brought to a certain place to replace or add something to
the vegetation.

8. • Global trade brings species from their home ecosystems to other parts of the world, where
there are often no predators (an animal that lives by killing and eating other animals) to eat
them and keep their numbers in check.
• Alien species (that occur outside their ​natural range and dispersal potential) often throw
their new habitats severely out of balance.
• For instance, the brown rat, which originated in central Asia and has invaded almost
every part of the world, has driven hundreds of species extinct and causes an
estimated $19 billion in damage each year in the United States alone.

9. Overexploitation
• Overexploitation refers to the act of overharvesting species and natural resources
at rates faster than they can actually sustain themselves in the wild.
• Because of this, species population is put into great risk of reduction.
• Overharvesting, overfishing, and overhunting are some examples of
overexploitation.
• Additionally, some species of living organisms find it hard to reproduce when
their number is too small.

10. • So as a population or ecosystem continues to suffer from low species diversity, the
probability of getting wiped out completely when a natural disaster or other forces
increases.
• If the act of overexploitation continues, it can ultimately bring extinction to many
species, even if they still exist in the wild.

11. Habitat Loss and Degradation
• Habitat loss refers to changes in the environment that result to the rendering of a
specific habitat to be functionally valuable.
• The habitat can no longer accommodate and support the life of the organisms present,
thereby declining their population.
• Habitat loss may either be caused by natural events like natural disasters and geological
events or human caused activities like deforestation and man-induced climate change.
• In the process of habitat degradation, the organisms that were once living in a particular
area or region are displaced and are forced to relocate; thus resulting in biodiversity
reduction.

12. • Indeed, man-made efforts are the prime reasons for habitat loss.
• At present, the practice of clearing out ecosystems for agriculture conversion and
industrial expansion continues to displace organisms of their natural habitat.
• Other activities include logging (Logging is the process in which trees are felled (cut
down) usually as part of a timber harvest) and mining (is the extraction of valuable
minerals or other geological materials from the Earth).

13. 1988 – Devastating forest fires at Yellowstone
National Park.
• The Yellowstone fires of 1988 was the largest wildfire in the recorded history of
Yellowstone National Park in the United States.
• Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames quickly spread out of control
with increasing winds and drought and combined into one large fire.
• Only the arrival of cool and moist weather in the late autumn brought the fires to
an end.
• A total of 793,880 acres of the park was affected by the wildfires.

15. One year after the fire Note the appearance of weed

16. Ten years after the fires (1998)

17. Twenty years after the fires