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Biodiversity knowledge and Information System
S. K. Soam,
soam@igfri.up.nic.in
Economic Botanist, Indian Grassland and Fodder, Research Institute, Jhansi
J.P. Singh
Indian Grassland and Fodder, Research Institute, Jhansi
S. K. Soam,
soam@igfri.up.nic.in
Economic Botanist, Indian Grassland and Fodder, Research Institute, Jhansi
J.P. Singh
Indian Grassland and Fodder, Research Institute, Jhansi
Participation of all stake holders is the pre-requisitive in building efficient Biodiversity Knowledge and Information System.
Biodiversity refers
to the range of variations among a set of entities and it is commonly use to
describe variety and variability of living organisms in terms of genetic
diversity (heritable variations within populations), species diversity (species
richness in a habitat) and ecological diversity (biophysical
diversity).
At the global level, the biodiversity scenario is very grim; numerous important plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction, others are threatened or vulnerable. The accelerated rate of extinction of species has prompted a call to the scientific community to make comprehensive assessment of the status, causes and trends of biodiversity and recommend conservation strategies for proper monitoring and management of forests and grassland, along with their inventory at national and global level. Such kind of activity requires tremendous amount of information- here comes the role of Geographic Information System (GIS).
The objective of this article is; first, to notify the GIS community of the exigency of need of their skill in addressing the problem of loss of biodiversity, and second, to stimulate discussion on the potential use of GIS for manipulating and analyzing the data required for management of biological diversity. Nevertheless, application of GIS vis-a-vis collection of data, a process needs to be defined. In this discussion, we present our understanding for the development of a comprehensive Biodiversity Knowledge and Information System (BKIS), relevant to the sustainable preservation of biological diversity of grassland and forest ecosystems.
Table: 1 Taxonomic,
Ecological and Cultural Variables required for
assessment of biodiversity and corresponding
information scale
Comprehensive information system development:
The development of BKIS involving GIS is described in Fig.1. Taxonomic, ecological and cultural variables needed for assessment of biodiversity and their corresponding scales are given in table-1. Out put of this exercise is comprehensive knowledge and information system for efficient and integrated biodiversity management decisions.
The information system must also support the two most fundamental types of database queries; what attributes occur at a specific location? And where do specific attributes occur?
Data on biodiversity comes from many sources, ignoring community participation in the process of data collection, may lead to faulty database. Various techniques should be adopted to ensure community integration in the data acquisition process.
Figure :1 Logarthim of Biodiversity and Information System(BKIS)
Uses of Biodiversity Knowledge and Information System (BKIS):
Outputs of GIS based BKIS of forest and grassland ecosystems will provide products in the form of maps of species richness, habitat "hot spots" of restricted range species (endemic species), availability and requirement of fodder and fuel wood, specific locations requiring specific conservation measures. Human-livestock-natural resources linkage maps is another feasible output. Specific questions related to various kinds of threatened categories (Table-2), and assessment of degradation factors can also be answered. The system contributes to many activities of biodiversity conservation such as zonation based on multiple variables, defining unit of analysis, periodical assessment and updating of inventory of flora and fauna; identification of exemplary sites of high diversity value- leading to a concrete decision support system of indispensable activities for conservation and maintenance of biodiversity.
Various users of BKIS products are; foresters, natural resource managers, policy makers, Govt. and Non Govt. developmental organizations. These stakeholders require diverse information, which can be retrieved from GIS in the form of various outputs, BKIS will be able to answer following common questions:
GIS provides tool to manage and monitor the spatial relationships of various components making up the stratification (species distribution pattern, plant associations, bio-geo-climatic variables, forest and soil types etc.).
Lack of primary biological data for construction of species richness maps, less expertise of modelling for species richness maps based on ecological factors, lack of awareness of GIS application etc. are some of the constraints, which needs to be rectified at various levels.
Table2 : GIS application to various categories of threatened species
At the global level, the biodiversity scenario is very grim; numerous important plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction, others are threatened or vulnerable. The accelerated rate of extinction of species has prompted a call to the scientific community to make comprehensive assessment of the status, causes and trends of biodiversity and recommend conservation strategies for proper monitoring and management of forests and grassland, along with their inventory at national and global level. Such kind of activity requires tremendous amount of information- here comes the role of Geographic Information System (GIS).
The objective of this article is; first, to notify the GIS community of the exigency of need of their skill in addressing the problem of loss of biodiversity, and second, to stimulate discussion on the potential use of GIS for manipulating and analyzing the data required for management of biological diversity. Nevertheless, application of GIS vis-a-vis collection of data, a process needs to be defined. In this discussion, we present our understanding for the development of a comprehensive Biodiversity Knowledge and Information System (BKIS), relevant to the sustainable preservation of biological diversity of grassland and forest ecosystems.
| Information scale, area extent (Km2) and suggested map scale | Taxon distribution | Habitat factors | Cultural factors |
|
Biogeographic 104 - 106 1: 2,500,00- 1: 10,000,000 |
Species rannge (historicalmodern) |
Climate type
Physiography
Vegetation formation Soil type |
Dominant land use
Administratitive boundaries |
|
Regional
102-104
1:100,000-1:250,000 |
Species andsubspecies range
Population (rare, endangered, indicator spp.) |
Climate provinces
Land form Vegetation series Surface geology Soil order Community interactions |
Land use
Farm lands Land capability Natural resources Transportation Land ownership Air/water quality Nature reserve |
|
Local
10-2-102 1:10,000 - 1:100,000 |
Narrowly endemic spp.
Population occur-rences |
Microclimate
Topography Vegetation associations Surface geology Soil types Hydrography Community interaction |
Land use
Zoning Roads Air/water quality |
Comprehensive information system development:
The development of BKIS involving GIS is described in Fig.1. Taxonomic, ecological and cultural variables needed for assessment of biodiversity and their corresponding scales are given in table-1. Out put of this exercise is comprehensive knowledge and information system for efficient and integrated biodiversity management decisions.
The information system must also support the two most fundamental types of database queries; what attributes occur at a specific location? And where do specific attributes occur?
Data on biodiversity comes from many sources, ignoring community participation in the process of data collection, may lead to faulty database. Various techniques should be adopted to ensure community integration in the data acquisition process.
Figure :1 Logarthim of Biodiversity and Information System(BKIS)
Uses of Biodiversity Knowledge and Information System (BKIS):
Outputs of GIS based BKIS of forest and grassland ecosystems will provide products in the form of maps of species richness, habitat "hot spots" of restricted range species (endemic species), availability and requirement of fodder and fuel wood, specific locations requiring specific conservation measures. Human-livestock-natural resources linkage maps is another feasible output. Specific questions related to various kinds of threatened categories (Table-2), and assessment of degradation factors can also be answered. The system contributes to many activities of biodiversity conservation such as zonation based on multiple variables, defining unit of analysis, periodical assessment and updating of inventory of flora and fauna; identification of exemplary sites of high diversity value- leading to a concrete decision support system of indispensable activities for conservation and maintenance of biodiversity.
Various users of BKIS products are; foresters, natural resource managers, policy makers, Govt. and Non Govt. developmental organizations. These stakeholders require diverse information, which can be retrieved from GIS in the form of various outputs, BKIS will be able to answer following common questions:
- What is frequency and dominance of species/ communities ?
- What species and sites are at greatest risk ?
- Which sites possesses high biodiversity value to serve as exemplary sites ?
- What attributes are related to the sites of high biodiversity value ?
- Which ecosystems are well protected ?
- What are important degradation factors in a particular ecosystem ?
GIS provides tool to manage and monitor the spatial relationships of various components making up the stratification (species distribution pattern, plant associations, bio-geo-climatic variables, forest and soil types etc.).
Lack of primary biological data for construction of species richness maps, less expertise of modelling for species richness maps based on ecological factors, lack of awareness of GIS application etc. are some of the constraints, which needs to be rectified at various levels.
Table2 : GIS application to various categories of threatened species
| Category | Output from GIS |
| Extinct: Taxa,which no longer known to exist in the wild after regular searches of their type localities and other likely places |
|
| Endangered: Taxa in danger of extinction and whose survival is unlikely if the causal factors continue to operate |
|
|
Vulnerable : Include taxa of which, most or all the populations are decreasing because of over exploitation and environmental disturbances |
|
| Rare: Taxa with small population, that are not at present endangered or vulnerable but are at risk. These taxa are usually localized within restricted geographical areas |
|