Indian Wildlife Club Forum

Biodiversity

Biodiversityis the degree of variation of life forms within a given species, ecosystem,biome, or planet. Terrestrial biodiversity tends to be highest at low latitudesnear the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and highprimary productivity. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts inthe Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest and in mid-latitudinalband in all oceans. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, andhas been increasing through time but will be likely to slow in the future.

Theperiod since the emergence of humans has displayed an ongoing biodiversityreduction and an accompanying loss of genetic diversity. Named the Holoceneextinction, the reduction is caused primarily by human impacts, particularlyhabitat destruction. Conversely, biodiversity impacts human health in a numberof ways, both positively and negatively.

TheUnited Nations designated 2011-2020 as the United Nations Decade onBiodiversity.

Backgroundof Project Biodiversity Park

I have beena student of Natural Science for more than two decades. It started when I wentto my undergraduate college in 1997 to study Botany and it’s still on when I amearning my livelihood as an Environmental Professional. Being a student ofnatural science I wanted to pay tribute to Mother Nature and I have chosen todo it by making replica of different terrestrial biodiversity model throughoutthis entire decade designated for Biodiversity.

Underthis project I have decided to make following seven different models withreplica of different animal species and their natural habitat:

1.    Mountain Forest

2.    Rain Forest

3.    Savanna Forest

4.    Polar Biodiversity

5.    Desert Biodiversity

6.    Countryside Farmhouse and

7.    Jurassic Park

Thisreport describes all the above mentioned models. All the information in thisreport is taken from Wikipedia, myfavourite website. In this report the first photographs of every chapter are ofmy hand made models and second photographs are taken from various websites.

Theanimal replicas are the products of Naturepavillionand scenic materials are bought from Woodlandscenicsand other regular local craft shops.

I have already made first three models and they are available for display in face book (https://www.facebook.com/arnab.basu.773/media_set?set=a.740265559317395.1073741828.100000018743674&type=1)

Jammu and Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre “ where I am working andhave to collect the data and if at this time the Government of Jammu andKashmir will cooperate than I will meet the ends of success. We must note itthat in future we will have clothes, homes but the food and medicine s will beshort as such shortage has to fulfill. We are living under the open sky that isright but living without food and medicine is IMPOSSIABLE.

Losing Habitat of Migratory Birds : Mote Majra

Mote Majra is a small village near Mohali which boasts of having  a rich fauna and flora too especially a great variety of birds. Last week there was a photograph with a caption

“ Winged Guests Are Here; Migratory Birds At Mote Majra in Mohali” by Vicky Gharu  in The Tribune. These migratory birds are not here for the entire winter but for a halt on their great migratory leap. So we planned to visit the visitors this weekend. To our utter surprise we could not locate even a single out of the flock despite waiting patiently for a long time. Yes there were some other birds of course like the common kingfisher, red wattle lapwing, Intermediate egret; Black winged Kite,Crow Pheasants and cormorants.

After a long wait we finally approached a local villager who told us that a person has hired the local pond on a contract for fishing and has put some people to work for him to put a net all over the pond so that the migratory birds are unable to catch the fish. This labour has been hired for an amount of 30000/. Now with no food on arrival, the migratory birds have no option but to carry on their migration path ahead. It’s really disheartening to see such human interference.

Water Bodies are providing the habitat to the local and migratory bird species and playing key role in maintaining the balance in natural environmental parameters. The human activities and interference are destroying the natural water bodies' characteristics thereby depriving the migratory birds of their natural habitat  at many places. There is a need to study such aquatic ecosystems for understanding the gravity of environmental problems and to find solutions to improve the habitat of migratory birds which directly help in protecting the bird species. The governments of such places should come forward to save the natural environment.