Areas of marsh, fen, peatland/water, whether natural (or) artificial, permanent (or) temporary with water that is static (or) flowing, fresh, brackish (or) salt, including areas of marine

water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed 6 mtrs.

Wetlands Classification-

1. Inland wetland-

a)Natural- Lakes / Ponds, Ox-bow Lakes, Waterlogged, Swamp/marsh

1. b) Manmade- Reservoirs Tank, Ash pond
2. Costal Wetland-
3. A) Natural- Coral reef, Tidal flat, Mangroves, Salt marsh, Estuary, Lagoon, Creek,

Backwater, Bay

b)-manmade -• Salt pans, Aquculture

Functions of Wetlands-

• Habitat to aquatic flora and fauna, birds
• Filtration of sediments and nutrients from surface water,
• Nutrients recycling, Water purification Floods mitigation,
• Ground water recharging, Buffer shorelines against erosion,
• Genetic reservoir for various species of plants(rice)
• the National Lake Conservation Programme (NLCP) considers lakes as standing water
• bodies which have a minimum water depth of 3 m, generally cover a water spread of more than ten hectares, and have no or very little aquatic vegetation.
• Wetlands (generally less than 3 m deep over most of their area) are usually rich in nutrients (derived from surroundings and their sediments) and have .abundant growth of aquatic macrophytes

India’s Wetland

Wetlands occupy 18.4% of the country’s area of which 70% are under paddy cultivation.

Inland wetlands >Costal Wetlands

National Wetlands Conservation Programme (NWCP)

• NWCP was implemented in the year 1985-86.
• Under the programme, 115 wetlands have been identified by the Ministry which require urgent conservation and management interventions.

Aim

• Conservation of wetlands to prevent their further degradation and ensuring their wise
• use for the benefit of local communities and overall conservation of biodiversity.

Objectives

• to lay down policy guidelines for conservation and management of wetlands in the country.
• to provide financial assistance for undertaking intensive conservation measures in the identified wetlands
• The Central Government is responsible for overall coordination of wetland
• conservation programmes and initiatives at the international and national levels. It also provides guidelines, financial & technical assistance to state govt.
• State Governments/UT Administration are responsible for management of wetlands and implementation of the NWCP for ensuring their wise-use

Criteria for Identification of Wetlands of National Importance

Criteria for identification of wetlands of national importance under NWCP are same as those prescribed under the ‘Ramsar Convention on Wetlands’ and are as given below:

1. Sites containing representative, rare or unique wetland types

example of a natural or near-natural wetland type’ found within the appropriate biogeographic region.

2. Criteria based on species and ecological communities

• If it supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species; or
• threatened ecological communities.
• If it supports populations of plant and/or animal species important for maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region.
• If it supports plant and/or animal species at a critical stage in their life cycles, or provides refuge during adverse conditions.

3. Specific criteria based on water birds

• If it regularly supports 20,000 or more water birds.
• If it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterbirds.

4. Specific criteria based on fish

• If it supports a significant proportion of indigenous fish subspecies, species or families, life-history stages,  species  interactions  and/or  populations  that  are representative of wetland benefits and/or values and thereby contributes to global biological diversity.
• If it is an important source of food for fishes, spawning ground, nursery and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend.

5. Specific criteria based on water/life and culture

• If it is an important source of food and water resource, increased possibilities for recreation  and eco-tourism, improved scenic values, educational opportunities, conservation of cultural heritage (historic or religious sites)

The interaction between the organisms is fundamental for its survival and functioning of ecosystem as a whole.

Type of Biotic Interaction

1. Mutualism:

both species benefit.

Example: in pollination mutualisms, the pollinator gets food (pollen, nectar), and the plant has its pollen transferred to other flowers for cross-fertilization (reproduction).

2. Commensalism:

one species benefits, the other is unaffected.

Example: cow dung provides food and shelter to dung beetles. The beetles have no effect on the cows.

3. Competition:

both species are harmed by the interaction.

Example: if two species eat the same food, and there isn’t enough for both, both may have access to less food than they would if alone. They both suffer a shortage of food

4. Predation and parasitism:

one species benefits, the other is harmed.

Example : predation—one fish kills and eats ..parasitism: tick gains benefit by sucking blood; host is harmed by losing blood.

5. Amensalism :

One species is harmed, the other is unaffected.

Example: A large tree shades a small plant, retarding the growth of the small plant. The small plant has no effect on the large tree.

6. Neutralism :

There is no net benefit or harm to either species. Perhaps in some interspecific interactions, the costs and benefits experienced by each partner are exactly the same so that they sum to zero

Coral is actually a living animal.

has a symbiotic relationship (each gives something to the other and gets something back in return) With ‘zooxanthellae’ microscopic algae which live on coral [i.e. instead of living on the sea  floor, the algae lives up on the coral which is closer to the ocean surface and so that the algae gets lots of light.

The tissues of corals themselves are actually not the beautiful colors of the coral reef, but are instead clear (white). The corals receive their  coloration from the zooxanthellae living within their tissues.

• There are two types of corals: hard corals and soft corals, such as sea fans and gorgonians. Only hard corals build reefs.
• The builders of coral reefs are tiny animals called polyps. As these polyps thrive, grew, then die, they leave their limestone (calcium carbonate) skeletons behind. The limestone is colonized by new polyps.
• found in tropical and sub-tropical water, there are also deep water corals in colder regions
• The United Nations Environment Programme reports that there are more cold water coral reefs worldwide than tropical reefs.
• There are only about 6 different coral species associated in building with these reefs.
• The largest cold-water coral reef is the Rost ‘Reef off Norway occur in shallow tropical areas where the sea water is clean, clear and warm.
• one of the most productive and complex coastal ecosystems with high biological diversity classified depending on their locations into fringing, patch, barrier and atoll.
• The fringing reefs are contiguous with the shore and they are the most common – by occurring reef form, found in Andamans.
• Patch reefs are isolated and discontinuous patches, lying shoreward of offshore reef structures as seen in the Palk bay, Gulf of Mannar and Gulf of Katchchh.
• Barrier reefs are linear offshore reef structures that run parallel to coastlines and arise from submerged shelf platforms. The water body between the reef and the shore is termed as lagoon. Barrier reefs are seen in Nicobar and Lakshadweep.
• Atolls are circular or semi-circular reefs that arise from subsiding sea floor platforms as coral reef building keeps ahead of subsidence. The examples are the atolls of Lakshadweep and Nicobar.
• Among the four major reef areas of India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands are found to be very rich in species diversity followed by the Lakshadweep Islands, the Gulf of Mannar and finally the Gulf of Kachchh.

Coral Bleaching

Bleaching, or the paling of coral colour occurs; when (i) the densities of zooxanthellae decline and (ii) the concentration of photosynthetic pigments within the zooxanthellae fall.

Ecological causes of coral bleaching

• Temperature (Major Cause)
• Sub aerial Exposure-Sudden exposure of reef flat corals to the atmosphere during events such as extreme low tides, ENSO-related sea level drops or tectonic uplift can potentially induce bleaching.
• Sedimentation
• Fresh Water Dilution
• Inorganic Nutrients(e.g. ammonia and nitrate)
• Xenobiotics -Zooxanthellae loss occurs during exposure of coral to elevated concentrations of various chemical contaminants, such as Cu, herbicides and oil.
• Epizootics

ENERGY FLOW- Energy is the basic force responsible for all metabolic activities. The flow of energy from producer to top consumers is called energy flow  which is unidirectional.

Energy flows through the trophic levels: from producers to subsequent trophic levels. There is a loss of some energy in the form of unusable heat at each trophic level.

The trophic level interaction involves three concepts namely :-

1. Food Chain
2. Food Web
3. Ecological Pyramids
4. FOOD CHAIN- A food chain starts with producers and ends with top carnivores. The sequence of eaten and being eaten, produces transfer of food energy and it is known as food chain.

Grazing food chain-The consumers which start the food chain, utilising the plant or plant part as their food, constitute the grazing food chain.

This food chain begins from green plants at the base and the primary consumer is herbivore

For example, In terestrial ecosystem, grass is eaten up by caterpillar, which is eaten by lizard and lizard is eaten by snake.

In Aquatic ecosystem phytoplanktons (primary producers) is eaten by zoo planktons which is eaten by fishes and fishes are eaten by pelicans

Detritus food chain- The food chain starts from dead organic matter of decaying animals and plant bodies to the micro-organisms and then to detritus feeding organism called detrivores or decomposer and to other predators.

Litter —■Earthworms —■Chicken—■Hawk

Detritus food chain

The distinction between these two food chains is the source of energy for the first level consumers.

2. FOOD WEB

“A food web illustrates, all possible transfers of energy and nutrients among the organisms in an ecosystem, whereas a food chain traces only one pathway of the food”.

3. ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS

The steps of trophic levels expressed in a diagrammatic way are referred as

ecological pyramids.

The food producer forms the base of the pyramid and the top carnivore forms the tip. Other consumer trophic levels are in between.

The pyramid consists of a number of horizontal bars depicting specific trophic levels which are arranged sequentially from primary producer level through herbivore, carnivore onwards.  The length of each bar represents the total number of individuals at each trophic level in an ecosystem.

The ecological pyramids are of three categories-

1.Pyramid of numbers,

2.Pyramid of biomass, and

3.Pyramid of energy or productivity

1. Pyramid of Numbers

This deals with the relationship between the numbers of primary producers and consumers of different levels. Depending upon the size and biomass, the pyramid of numbers may not always be upright, and may even be completely inverted.

(a) Pyramid of numbers – upright

In this pyramid, the number of individuals is decreased from lower level to higher trophic level.

This type of pyramid can be seen in grassland ecosystem.

(b) Pyramid of numbers – inverted

In this pyramid, the number of individuals is increased from lower level to higher trophic level.

A count in a forest would have a small number of     large producers, for e.g. few number of big trees.   This is because the tree (primary producer) being

few in number and would represent the base of the pyramid and the dependent herbivores  (Example – Birds) in the next higher trophic level and it is followed by parasites in the next trophic level. Hyper parasites being at higher trophic level represents higher in number.

A pyramid of numbers does not take into account the fact that the size of organisms being counted in each trophic level can vary

the pyramid of number does not completely define the trophic structure for an ecosystem.

2. Pyramid of Biomass

In this approach individuals in each trophic level are weighed instead of being counted. This gives us a pyramid of biomass, i.e., the total dry weight of all organisms at each trophic level at a particular time.

Biomass is measured in g/m2.

(a) Upward -pyramid For most ecosystems on land, the pyramid of biomass has a large base of primary producers with a smaller trophic level perched on top

(b) Inverted pyramid-In contrast, in many aquatic ecosystems, the pyramid of biomass may assume an inverted form

3. Pyramid of Energy

To compare the functional roles of the trophic levels in an ecosystem, an energy pyramid is most suitable.

An energy pyramid, reflects the laws of thermodynamics, with conversion of solar energy to chemical energy and heat energy at each trophic level and with loss of energy being depicted at each  transfer to another trophic level.

Hence the pyramid is always upward, with a large energy base at the bottom.

Movement of these pollutants involves two main processes:

1. Bioaccumulation

refers to how pollutants enter a food chain. there is an increase in concentration of a pollutant from the environment to the first organism in a food chain.

2. Biomagnification

refers to the tendency of pollutants to concentrate as they move from one trophic level to the next.  there is an increase in concentration of a pollutant from one link in a food chain to another.

In order for biomagnification to occur, the pollutant must be: long-lived, mobile, soluble in fats, biologically active.

If a pollutant is not active biologically, it may biomagnify, but we really don’t worry about it much, since it probably won’t cause any problems Examples : DDT.

Biome

The terrestrial part of the biosphere is divisible into enormous regions called biomes, which are characterized, by climate, vegetation, animal life and general soil type.

No two biomes are alike.

The most important climatic factors are temperature and precipitation.

1. Tundra- Northern most region  adjoining the ice bound  poles. Devoid of trees except stunted shrubs in the southern part of tundra biome, ground flora includes lichen, mosses and sedges.

The typical animals are reindeer, arctic fox polar bear, snowy owl, lemming, arctic hare,  ptarmigan. Reptiles and amphibians are almost absent

2. Taiga- Northern Europe, Asia and North America. Moderate temperature than tundra. Also known as boreal forest.

The dominating vegetation is coniferous evergreen mostly spruce, with some pine and firs. The fauna consists of small seed eating birds, hawks, fur bearing carnivores, little mink, elks, puma, Siberian tiger, wolverine, wolves etc.

3. Temperate Deciduous Forest- Extends over Central and Southern Europe, Eastern North America, Western China, Japan, New Zealand etc.

Moderate average temperature and abundant  rainfall. These are generally the  most  productive agricultural areas of the earth The flora includes trees like beech, oak, maple and cherry. Most animals are the familiar vertebrates and invertebrates.

4. Tropical rain forest- Tropical areas  in  the equatorial regions, which is  a bound  with  life.  Temperature and rainfall high.

Tropical rainforest covers about 7% of the earth’s surface & 40% of the world’s plant and animal species.

Multiple storey of broad-leafed evergreen tree species are in abundance.

Most animals and epiphytic plants(An epiphyte is a plant that grows harmlessly upon another plant)  are concentrated in the canopy or tree top zones

5. Savannah- Tropical region: Savannah is most extensive in Africa

Grasses with scattered trees and fire resisting thorny shrubs.

The fauna include a great diversity of grazers and browsers such as antelopes, buffaloes, zebras, elephants and rhinoceros;  the carnivores include lion, cheetah, hyena; and mongoose, and many rodents

6. Grassland- North America, Ukraine, etc . Dominated by grasses. Temperate conditions with rather low rainfall. Grasses dominate the vegetation. The fauna include large herbivores like bison, antelope, cattle, rodents, prairie dog, wolves, and a rich and diverse array of ground nesting bird

7. Desert- Continental interiors with very low and sporadic rainfall with low humidity. The days are very hot but nights are cold. The flora is drought resistance vegetation such as cactus, euphorbias, sagebrush. Fauna : Reptiles, Mammals and birds.

Wetland Conservation Programme

• Wetlands are lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic system where the water table is usually near the water surface and land is covered by shallow water.
• Essential as: control floods, water treatment, recharging of water sources, reduce sediments, check soil erosion, bulwark against encroachment by the sea, winter resort for birds and important for flora and fauna. They also provide a variety of resources
• Ramsar Convention: mangroves, corals, estuaries, bays, creeks, flood plains, sea grasses, lakes etc included
• A programme on conservation of wetlands was initiated in 1987 with the basic objective of identification of wetlands of national importance, assessment of wetland resources, promotion of R&D activities and formulation and implementation of management action plans
• A steering committee in each state headed by the Chief Secretary consists of members from all departments related to the wetland conservation in the state. Successful model.
• India is a member of the Standing Committee of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, 1971

• Steps forward
  • Make use of the traditional knowledge of the people living near the wetlands for its conservation along with the engineering solutions
  • Monitor the impact of implementation of management action plans
• Wetlands of India under Ramsar Convention

The Montreux Record. Sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance which are considered to have undergone, to be undergoing, or to be likely to undergo change in their ecological character brought about by human action may be placed on the Montreux Record and may benefit from the application of the Ramsar Advisory Mission and other forms of technical assistance.

• Keoladeo national park and Loktak lake from India are included in the list

Changwon Declaration

The primary purpose of the  “Changwon Declaration on human well-being and wetlands”,adopted by Resolution X.3 of the recent meeting of the Conference of the Parties, “is to transmit key messages concerning wetland-related issues to the many stakeholders and decision-makers beyond the Ramsar community who are relevant to the conservation and wise use of wetlands, to inform their actions and decision-making”

1. Natural Ecosystem-

Terrestrial- Forests, Grasslands, Deserts

Aquatic- Fresh Waters, Saline Waters, Marine Waters

Ecotone :- a zone of junction between two or more diverse ecosystems. For e.g. the mangrove forests represent an ecotone between marine and terrestrial ecosystem.

Characteristics of Ecotone

It may be very narrow or quite wide. It has the conditions intermediate to the adjacent ecosystems. Hence it is a zone of tension.

It is linear as it shows progressive increase in species composition of one in coming community and a simultaneous decrease in species of the other out going adjoining community.

A well developed ecotones contain some organisms which are entirely different from that of the adjoining communities.

Sometimes the number of species and the population density of some of the species is much greater in this zone than either community. This is called edge effect For example the density of birds is greater in the mixed habitat of the ecotone between the forest and the desert.