7 6. biodiversity and conservation

Biodiversity and

Conservation

Created by Alfi_Msk, a Biology Teacher of GIS JH

• The destruction of tropical forest within one country can affect the whole world.

• Conservation of ecosystems has become so important because of the unity of ecosystem will affect human life.

• Many foundations and institutes have been established to conserve tropical forest ecosystems from destructive actions conducted by human.


• Indonesia is a country with vast areas of tropical forests.

• The biodiversity of tropical forests is extremely abundant.

• Tropical forests in Indonesia are classified into heterogenic forests which consists of hundreds of both identified and inidentified plants species, and also consist of thousands of species, starting from varieties of small insects to the largest animals.


• In addition, many endangered plants and animals live exclusively in Indonesian tropical forests and cannot be found in other parts ot the world.

• Endangered means that the population of an organism is very small and is threatened to become extint.

• Example of endangerd plants; ironwood, sandalwood, black orchid, etc.

• Example of endangered animals; anoa, lesser one-horned rhinocerose, babirusa, tapir, komodo, orangutan, etc.


• Endangered plants and animals are protected by the government.

• If they were not protected, rare plants and animals would become extinct much quicker.


The importance of biodiversity in an ecosystem

• An ecosystem is composed of diverse organisms which interact with each other.

• The more diverse the organisms are the more stable the ecosystem becomes.

• Organisms in an ecosystem are interconnected, for example in a food.


• When more organisms exist, there will be more food chains.

• If one food chain is gone, the balance of an ecosystem will not be disturbed.

• On the other hand, if one ecosystem only has a small number of species, the number of food chains will also be small.

• When one food chain is gone, the whole ecosystem will be affected, as a consequence the whole ecosystem will be threatened.


• Therefore, we need to conserve the diversity of living organisms.

• However it is not easy, human activities frequently reduce the biodiversity, for example when humans alter forests into settlements or plantation areas.

• Therefore, we need some preventive actions to maintain the biodiversity.


The act of damaging a biodiversity• Declines of biodiversity and environment are mostly caused by

human interference. • The following are some example ;

1. Deforestation illegal logging damages the habibat of wild animals and destroys

small plants because they cut down bigger trees and fall down to the small plants.

continuous illegal logging will also destroy the soil structure since there will be no more humus which is formed from decomposed leaves.

There will be no plant roots to retain and absorb rainwater, therefore rainwater will erode some layers of the fertile soil.

Because of this condition, young plants could die due to the lack of humus and water


2. Application of pesticides uncontrolled use of pesticides may not only

kill pests but also other organisms in a habitat.

if one organisms dies, other organisms will have trouble obtaining food since some their food has disappeared.

if this condition occurs continuously, it may cause the extinction of a biodiversity.


3. Illegal Hunting the hunting of wild animals is an activity

which can destroy the natural balance. for example, tigers are hunted just for their

skin, elephants for their ivories, rhinos for ther horns.

illegal hunting causes the hunted animals and other animals to be threatened.

it is because the existence of one animal affects the other animals in the food chain.


Conservation of Biodiversity

• Human really depend on their living environments.

• Therefore, humans must make a serious effort to maintain and conserve these environments along with their biodiversities.

• Some effort being done by people are as follows ;


1. Maintaining the forests through conservation

Some efforts conducted in order to protect forest are ;a. Reforestation is to replant depleted forestsb. Selective logging, to chop down the trees

with certain qualifications, such as their age and size.

c. Preventing forest fires


2. Defining protected natural areas

The government under the ministry of forestry has a legal body which specifically handles protected natural areas.

It is called PHPA ; Perlindungan Hutan dan Pelestarian Alam.

In Indonesia there are approximately 350 protected natural areas spread over various provinces.

These protected areas are categorized based on their sizes, uniqueness of their ecosystems, and functions.

The following are some examples of protected natural areas in Indonesia ;


a. Botanical Gardensgenerally occupy mid-large areas which have other functions such as recreation areas, especially for domestic tourists. Foe example, Bogor botanical garden

b. Nature Reserves is a place where protection of the nature is strongly

maintained, and the existence of living organisms inside the natural area should not be disturbed.

To visit a nature reserve area, we have to get a special permit issued by the PHPA.

Within the nature reserve area the reproduction of animals and plants is maintained using the in-situ method, which means reproduction in the original habitat.


c. National Parks is designed as a protected area for local,

national, and international species. this place is usually further expanded for

tourism either domestic or international. permit to enter a national park can be

obtained from a PHPA. there are approximately 26 nationalnparks

and 5 sea national parks which are spread all over Indonesia.


3. Rehabilitating endangered animals

Rare animal rehabilitation is already being done for orangutans

The purpose of the rehabilitation is to adapt orangutans to forest life.

The center of orangutan rehabilitation is in Samboja and Tanjung Puting, Kalimantan, and Bukit Lawang, Sumatra.


4. Conservation of endangered animals and plants

Endangered animals can be conserved in zoos or in defined conservation areas.

If their population has increased, some will be sent back to their original habitats.

Endangered plants may be also conserved in botanical gardens or other conservation areas.

Reproduction which is done outside the original habitat is called ex-situ reproduction.


Conservation can be conducted with the purpose of cultivating endangered plants and animals.

For example is the conservation of several rare orchid species and arowana.

Reproduction of endangered plants and animals is conducted within the conservation area, and then promoted in an exhibition to draw public attention.

After that endangered plants and animals are kept in homes so that their population will not be reduced.

Date post:	12-Jun-2015
Category:	Education
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7 6. biodiversity and conservation

Education