Conservation of wildlife

Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting animal species and their habitats. There are two approaches of biodiversity conservation:
 In situ Conservation: Protection of species in their natural habitat.
 Ex situ Conservation: Protection in a place away from their natural habitat.

         In situ Conservation

 National Parks

 A national park conserves the environment
and natural objects and wildlife therein.
National parks are areas dedicated to
conserve wild animals and natural scenery
of the environment. All private rights are non
existent and all forestry operations and other
activities such as grazing of domestic
animals is prohibited. No human inhabitation
is allowed in the park apart from on duty
public servants and people allowed by chief
wildlife warden. There are 103 national parks
in India. It comprises the core zone.

 Wildlife sanctuaries

 A wildlife sanctuary is an area specially
designated where it is illegal to interfere in
anyway with the natural life there. Hunting,
shooting and fishing would be prohibited.
 Wildlife sanctuary is a place where killing or
capturing of any animal is prohibited except
under orders of the authorities concerned. they
provide protection and optimum living conditions
to wild animals.
 A wildlife sanctuary is dedicated the wildlife but it
considers the conservation of species only in
addition , its boundary is not limited by state
legislation. In India there are about 514 wildlife
sanctuaries.

Biosphere reserves

 Biosphere reserves are areas of
terrestrial and coastal
ecosystems promoting solutions
to reconcile the conservation of
biodiversity with its sustainable
use. They are internationally
recognized, nominated by national
governments and remain under
sovereign jurisdiction of the
states where they are located.
There are 18 biosphere reserves
in India

In situ Conservation

 Advantages

 Ecological integrity is maintained and managed
 Better opportunity for conservation as well as evolution
 Cheaper way of conservation.

 Disadvantages

 Less protection against pollution
 Poachers and Eco tourists may cause damage

 Zones of a biosphere reserve

 Core zone
 In core or natural zone human activity is not allowed.
This area is legally protected and undisturbed
ecosystem.
 Buffer zone
 The immediate surrounding area of core zone is buffer
zone. Here limited human activities live like research,
education and research strategy is permitted.
 Transition zone
 transition zone is the outermost or peripheral area of
biosphere reserve. With the cooperation of reserve
management and local people several human
activities like settlements, cropping, recreation, and
forestry are carried out without disturbing the
environment.
 Restoration zone
 Through the restoration activities selected degraded
area called restoration region is restored to natural
form. This is a part of Buffer zone.

Ex situ Conservation

 Botanical Gardens:

 Botanical gardens are used for the conservation of rare and endangered
plant species for study and research of specific plant characters and for
disseminating scientific information and experiences to promote
sustainable development.

 Aquaria:

 The aquaria are mainly used for the threatened and endangered fresh water
species.

 Zoo:

 In the past, zoos were mainly display facilities for the purpose of public
enjoyment and education. As large numbers of the species traditionally on
display have become rarer in the wild, many zoos have taken on the
additional role of building up numbers through captive breeding
programmes.

 Tissue Culture Technique:

 Tissue culture refers to a special
technique used for asexual propagation
in plants a very small piece of shoot
apex ,leaf section or even an individual
cell is cut and placed in a sterile culture
in a test tube, petri dish.
 DNA technology:
 DNA of plant or animal cell or a part of it
to be conserved. DNA technology can
provide an innovative and effective
approach for biodiversity conservation

Ex situ Conservation

 Advantages

 Organisms are completely protected from predation and poaching
 The species survive longer and may breed more offspring than usual
 The quality of offspring may be improved by genetic techniques
 Breeding of hybrid species is possible.

 Disadvantages

 Animals may not behave as normal making reproduction difficult
 Animals may not survive reintroduction into the wild
 Overprotection may result in loss of natural occurrence.