Causes of the loss of biodiversity

The main cause of the loss of biodiversity can be attributed to the influence of
human beings on the world’s ecosystem, In fact human beings have deeply altered
the environment, and have modified the territory, exploiting the species directly, for
example by fishing and hunting, changing the biogeochemical cycles and transferring
species from one area to another of the Planet. The threats to biodiversity can be
summarized in the following main points:

This article throws light on the ten major causes for the loss of biodiversity, i.e,

(1) Destruction of Habitat, (6) Introduction of Exotic Species,

(2) Hunting, (7) Pollution,
(3) Exploitation of Selected Species, (8) Control of Pests and Predators,
(4) Habitat Fragmentation, (9) Natural Calamities, and
(5) Collection for Zoo and Research,
(10) Other Factors.

Cause #1 Destruction of Habitat:

The natural habitat may be destroyed by man for his settlement, agriculture, mining,
industries, highway construction, dam building etc.

As a consequence, the species must either adapt to the changes in the environment,
move elsewhere or may succumb to predation, starvation or disease and eventually
die. Several rare butterfly species are facing extinction due to habitat destruction in
the Western Ghats. Of the 370 butterfly species available in the Ghats, around 70 are
at the brink of extinction.

Cause #2 Hunting:
Wild animals are hunted for the commercial utilization of their products such as
hides and skin, tusk, fur, meat, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, perfumes and decoration
purposes. In Africa, in recent years 95% of the black rhino population have been
exterminated in Africa by poachers for their horn. Today, rhino horn fetches more
than $15,000 in the pharmaceutical market.

In the last one decade, over one-third of Africa’s elephants have been killed to collect
3,000 tonnes of ivory. International regulations have, to a great extent, reduced
illegal trading and poaching of African Tuskers. In 1987, the Indian Govt. also banned
the trade in Indian ivory. The scarlet macaw, once common throughout South
America, has been eliminated from most of its range in Central America.

1
Several species of spotted cats such as ocelot and Jaguar have been jeopardized by
the demand for their fur. In 1962, nearly 70,000 whales were slaughtered. However,
international trade in whale products is banned now.

In India, rhino is hunted for its horns, tiger for bones and skin, musk deer for musk
(medicinal value), elephant for ivory, Gharial and crocodile for skin and jackal for fur
trade in Kashmir. One of the most publicized commercial hunts is that on whale.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES) listed 9 Indian animal species which have been severely depleted due to
international trade.

These are Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus), Himalayan Musk Deer (Moschus
moschiferus), Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas), Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelya
imbricata), Olive Ridley Turtle (Dermochelys olivacea), Salt-water Crocodile
(Crocodylus porosus), Desert Monitor Lizard (Varanus griseus), Yellow Monitor Lizard
(V. flavesoens) and Bengal Monitor Lizard (V. bengalensis).
Officials of Trade Record Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC-India)
say poaching of the Indian tiger has risen because of increasing demand from south-
east Asian countries and China, where pharmaceutical factories consume the bones
of 100 tigers each year. Such demand has decimated the tiger population in China
and brought the Russian tiger to the brink of extinction.

As a result, in recent years much of the demand has been met by poachers in India.
One kg of tiger bones fetches $ 90 in India and $300 in the international market.
Hunting for sport is also a factor for loss of animal biodiversity.

Cause #3 Exploitation of Selected Species:

Exploitation of medicinally important plants has resulted in their disappearance from
many of their natural habitat. The pitcher plants, Nepenthes khasiana, Drosera sp.,
Gnetum sp., Psilotum sp. Isoetes sp. are ruthlessly sought and collected for teaching
and laboratory work.

They have already become rare. Medicinal plants like Podophyllum sp., Coptis sp.,
Aconitum sp., Rouvolfia sp., Saussura lappa, Atropa acuminata, Dioscorea deltoidea
etc. are also disappearing rapidly as a consequence of merciless over-collection.
Similarly, the natural populations of a number of economically important trees like
Pterocarpus santalum, Dysoxylon malabaricum, Santalum album which yield valuable
timber are fast dwindling.

2
In the category of over-exploited plants may also be placed a number of orchids
producing world’s most showy flowers. Plants like Paphiopedilum fairieyanum,
Cymbidium aloiflium, Aerides crispum etc. are in great demand but their natural
populations have almost disappeared.

Today, only nine varieties of wheat occupy more than half of United States wheat
fields. Almost 95% of the old strains of wheat grown in Greece before the Second
World War (1939-1945) have disappeared. They are replaced by a few new hybrid
varieties. Only four varieties provide almost 72% of the entire potato harvest of the
United States.

Over 2,000 varieties of apples were under cultivation during the earlier century.
Today, three-fourth of entire apple production of France consists of North American
varieties of which nearly 70% happens to be the Golden variety. Indonesia has lost
nearly 1,500 strains of rice and nearly three fourth of its rice production comes from
varieties discussed from a single maternal stock.

Practically all varieties of Sorghum grown in South Africa have disappeared following
introduction of high yielding hybrid varieties from Texas. In India, an estimated 50-60
thousand varieties of rice were cultivated before independence, most of which are
being dropped in favour of a few high yielding varieties.

All over the world traditional varieties which together constituted a diverse mosaic,
are being dropped one by one being replaced by a few high yielding strains. The
reduction of genetic diversity among the cultivated species and the disappearance of
their wild relatives, drastically limit possibilities of creating new cultivar in the future.

Cause #4 Habitat Fragmentation:

Habitat fragmentation may be defined as an “unnatural detaching or separation of
expansive tracts of habitats into spatially segregated fragments” that are too limited
to maintain their different species for an infinite future.

This phenomenon was observed as early as 1885 when de Candolle noticed that ‘the
breakup of a landmass into smaller units would necessarily lead to the extinction or
local extermination of one or more species and the differential preservation of
others’.

Habitat fragmentation is one of the most serious causes of erosion of biodiversity.

Fragmentation leads to artificially created ‘terrestrial islands’. Such fragments
experience microclimatic effects markedly different from those that existed in the
3
large tracks of habitats before fragmentation. Air temperature at the edges of
fragments can be significantly higher than that found in the interior; light can
penetrate deep into the edge, thereby affecting the growth of existing species.
Fragmentation promotes the migration and colonization of alien species. Such
substantial and continuous colonization, profoundly affect the survival of native
species.

The most serious effect of fragmentation is segregation of larger populations of a

species into more than one smaller population. There is considerable evidence that
the number of species in a fragmented habitat will decrease over time, although the
probable rates at which it will happen are variable. In fact, actual data on rain forests
show that forest fragments have lower species richness and fewer populations
compared with continuous undisturbed forests.

An example of loss of biodiversity as the result of the fragmentation is that of the

Western forest of Ecuador, which were largely undisturbed till 1960, where newly
constructed network of roads led to rapid human settlements and clearance of much
of the forest area, have been fragmented into small patches of one to few square
kilometers.

Such a patch, about 0.8 square kilometers in area at Rio Palenque Biological station
now contains only about 1,033 plant species many of which are represented by a
single specimen only and are endemic to the locality. Before 1960 the intact forest
had thousands of species as found in any other tropical regions of the world.

Cause #5 Collection for Zoo and Research:

Animals and plants are collected throughout the world for zoos and biological
laboratories for study and research in science and medicine. For example, primates
such as monkeys and chimpanzees are sacrificed for research as they have
anatomical, genetic and physiological similarities to human beings.

Cause #6 Introduction of Exotic Species:

Any species which is not a natural inhabitant of the locality but is deliberately or
accidentally introduced into the system may be designated as an exotic species.
Native species are subjected to competition for food and space due to the
introduction of exotic species.

There are many instances when introduction of exotic species has caused extensive
damage to natural biotic community of the ecosystem. The introduction of Nile perch

4
from north in Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake, has driven almost half of the 400
original fish species of the lake to near extinction.

Both Eucalyptus and Casuarina are plants introduced in India from Australia. The
remarkably fast growth of these plants has made them valuable source of rough
timber. However, these plants appear to be ecologically harmful as they tend to
suppress the original species of the locality.

While economically useful plants are deliberately introduced a large number of

exotic weeds are transferred from one locality to another accidentally. The wheat
imported to India from the USA under PL-480 scheme were contaminated with seeds
of Parthenium hysterophorus, the congress grass and Agrostemma githago, the corn
cockle.

Both of these plants have spread throughout India as a pernicious weed in wheat
fields. Parthenium was first observed growing on a rubbish heap in Pune in 1960. It is
an aggressive plant which matures rapidly and produces thousands of seeds. The
native grasses and other herbs are crowded out of existence. Water hyacinth,
Eichornia crassipes, was introduced in 1914 in West Bengal.

The first appearance of Alligator weed, Alternanthera philexeroides, was reported

near Calcutta airport in 1965, while Salvinia molesta was brought in India by an
aquarist. These plants grow vigorously and result in the formation of thick mat on the
water surface. They impede run off in streams and promote water logged conditions.
A number of useful water plants are displaced by these vigorous but useless plants.
There is an overall reduction in biodiversity wherever these exotic weeds migrate.

Cause #7 Pollution:
Pollution alters the natural habitat. Water pollution especially injurious to the biotic
components of estuary and coastal ecosystems. Toxic wastes entering the water
bodies disturb the food chain and so the aquatic ecosystems. Insecticides, pesticides,
sulphur and nitrogen oxides, acid rain, ozone depletion and global warming too,
affect adversely the plant and animal species.

The impact of coastal pollution is also very important. It is seen that coral reefs are
being threatened by pollution from industrialization, oil transport and offshore
mining along the coastal areas.

Noise pollution is also the cause of wildlife extinction. This has been evidenced by
the study by the Canadian Wildlife Protection Fund. According to a study, Arctic
5
Whales are seen on the verge of extinction as a result of increasing noise of ships,
particularly ice-breakers and tankers.

Pollution is a major threat to biodiversity, and one of the most difficult problems to
overcome; Pollutants do not recognize international boundaries. For example,
agricultural run-off, which contains a variety of fertilizers and pesticides, may seep
into ground water and rivers before ending up in the ocean. Atmospheric pollutants
drift with prevailing air currents and are deposited far from their original source.

Cause #8 Control of Pests and Predators:

Predator and pest control measures, generally kill predators that are a component of
balanced ecosystem and may also indiscriminately kill non-target species.

Cause #9 Natural Calamities:

Natural calamities, such as floods, draught, forest fires, earth-quakes, volcanic
eruptions, epidemics etc. sometimes take a heavy toll of plant and animal life. Floods
are frequent in moist tropical regions of the world which inundate much of the
ground vegetation, trap a large number of animals while leading away soil nutrients.
Failure of monsoon in succession for two or three years dries up ground vegetation
and as the subsurface water table recedes trees are also affected. With plant life
animals also suffer.

Forest fires in densely wooded localities often reduce to ashes a large number of
plant and animal species and so do earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions may at times
completely destroy plant and animal life in its surrounding areas. Epidemics
sometimes destroy large portions of a natural population. In nature such episodes
are usually confined to specific plant or animal populations as the pathogen is often
specific to particular species or group of species.

Cause #10 Other Factors:

Other Ecological Factors that may also Contribute to the Extinction of Plant and
Animal Diversity are as follows:
(a) Distribution range—The smaller the range of distribution, the greater the threat
of extinction,

(b) Degree of specialization— The more specialized an organism is, the more
vulnerable it is to extinction,

(c) Position of the organism in the food chain—The higher the organism in food
chain, the more susceptible it becomes,

6
(d) Reproductive rate—Large organisms tend to produce fewer off springs at widely
intervals.

5. Global Climate Change:

Many climatologists believe that the greenhouse effect is likely to raise world
temperatures by about 2°C by 2030, meaning that sea levels will rise by around 30-
50 cm by this time. Global warming, coupled with human population growth and
accelerating rates of resource use will bring further losses in biological diversity. Vast
areas of the world will be inundated causing loss of human life as well as ecosystems.

6. Population Growth and Over-consumption:

From a population of one billion at the beginning of the 19th century, our species
now numbers more than six billion people. Such rapid population growth has meant
a rapid growth in the exploitation of natural resources— water, foods and minerals.
Although there is evidence that our population growth rate is beginning to slow
down, it is clear that the exploitation of natural resources is currently not
sustainable. Added to this is the fact that 25 per cent of the population consumes
about 75 per cent of the world’s natural resources. This problem of over-
consumption is one part of the broader issue of unsustainable use.

7. Illegal Wildlife Trade:

The international trade in wild plants and animals is enormous. Live animals are
taken for the pet trade, or their parts exported for medicines or food. Plants are also
taken from the wild for their horticultural or medicinal value.

8. Species extinction:
Extinction is a natural process. The geological record indicates that many hundreds of
thousands of plant and animal species have disappeared over the eras as they have
failed to adapt to changing conditions. Recent findings however indicate that the
current rate of species extinction is at least a hundred to a thousand times higher
than the natural rate.

3. Overuse of Natural Resources:

The hunting and harvesting of wild plants and animals is needed for survival of man.
As long as the human population was small and methods of collection were
primitive, people could harvest the plants and animals in sustainable manner.

Now, as humans become more numerous and widespread, they start killing species
faster than those species can replace themselves, either through reproduction or

7
immigration from elsewhere. Increased human population has led to almost
complete depletion of large animals from many biological communities leaving
habitat ’empty’.

The illegal killing and smuggling of wildlife is rampant in almost all parts of the world.
In India, killing of elephants to obtain their tusk and tiger to obtain their multiple
benefits has taken place. Poaching of male elephant for tusk leads to imbalance in
the sex ratio to their population.

The one-horned rhino is poached for its horn, which is supposed to have some
aphrodisiac property. Earlier this animal was found in Tarai regions of Uttar Pradesh,
Assam and Bengal but now confined to only one or two pockets of country. Their
number has also decreased to about two to four hundred. Similarly, the musk dear,
formerly widespread throughout the Himalayan sub-alpine forests and alpine scrub,
is now confined within a quarter of its former range in India.

This animal is killed for a special gland or musk pod, which is found in abdominal
region of male. Today, musk fetches around 40,000 to 60,000 US dollars in the
international market and about 2,000 male musk deer are killed to obtain one
kilogram of musk (Joshi and Joshi, 2004).

Species introduced by humans have exterminated the native species by competing

with them, preying upon them or destroying their habitat. These introduced species
may displace native species through competition for limited natural resources; they
may push them on the verge of extinction or they may alter the habitat so that many
native species are no longer able to persist.

The introduction of exotic species into some areas has had devastating impacts on
the native biodiversity. Native species, most vulnerable to impact of exotic species
introduction, are those which have evolved in isolation from high level of
competition and predation. The majority of recent extinct species inhabited small
isolated oceanic islands.

Important examples of this is Doda, which were early target of sailors for much
needed protein but many more fight-less bird species were victims of species
introduced by man, accidentally and deliberately. Researchers have demonstrated
that 22 species and sub-species of reptiles and amphibians have disappeared
worldwide due to alien animals. Alien species are significant threat affecting 350
(30% of all threatened) birds and 361 (15% of all threatened species) of plants
species (Simaon, 2001).