The Ecological Balance

8/6/2019 The Ecological Balance

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The ecological balance

From molds to man, the entire living world lives off just athousandth of all the energy that pours down to the earth fromits central star, the Sun. This tiny fraction of the Solar energy istrapped by the green plants in the most massive of biochemical

reactions, photosynthesis, and foods are elaborated. The-foodsso built sustain the myriad variety of the living species.

Some of them straight draw their sustenance from the greenplants so benefited by the Sun and others, indirectly. The earthitself supplies the water and the mineral requirements of theliving world, contributing to the framework as well as theworking of the body. In other words, the biological and thephysical worlds from an inextricable integrated whole.

This understanding of Nature has led biologists to look for the inter-relationships that ramifythrough the different forms of life: the increase in numbers within one species has its own

impact upon the numbers of other species. As long as Nature worked unmolested by man,proper balance among the constituents of theliving world was maintained.

But when man began to bend Nature to satisfy his needs and, worse still, his fancy, heintroduced an element of imbalance into its working. When forests yielded place to farms, itwas not the landscape alone that suffered. The trees no doubt disappeared but with themalso disappeared the deer, the tiger, the beetles, the birds, the lichens, the mosses, themushrooms and a host of other forms of the living world.

Rodents and sparrows that feed upon the grains found a new haven in this new set-up. Andthat is not all. With the large trees also disappeared the great up-take of the soil water andits release into the atmosphere through transpiration. Consequently, rainfall suffered.

Subtle changes in the climate set in. Where in the beginning, the land yielded rich crop,over the years the farmer found to his chagrin his land was not as good a proposition as itused to be. He found it increasingly necessary to augment the water and mineral supplies.

Pests that he did not suspect appeared and began to reap hisharvest.

The tragic part of it was that it was all his own doing. Not thathe was not aware of the great danger that was building upbut he was too pre-occupied with his immediate gains to payheed to the warnings. It took the disappearance of severalspecies of animals and the near extinction of quite many

others for him to wake up. The frightening increase in thisdepletion in the numbers of other species lent a newperspective. Ecology, the environmental science, acquired anew importance.

What is Ecology? The word, ecology, is coined from two Greek words, oikos, meaning home,and logos, meaning science. Understanding of the home environments of each plant andanimal species is the subject-matter of ecological studies.


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Understanding the mutual impact of the various species living in a given locality is also thesubject-matter of ecological studies. It is hoped that with this understanding, there wouldgrow a greater consciousness which would bring man and his technological civilisation intune with Natures schemes.

The ecologist protests against the release of factor effluents into a nearby stream for it is

not the fish alone that is affected but also the cattle and the men that drink this water andeat that fish. At Malapadu in Andhra Pradesh, the cattle-heads suffered initially paralysis oflimbs and finally death due to the lead-poisoning caused by the effluents led into a nearbystream from a factory that extracted copper from the rich copper ore of a neighbouringhillock. It is feared that men living in the area are in real danger of suffering a similar fate ifthey continued to draw their water supply from this stream.

The stately palmyrah palms of Ennore in Chennai have almost disappeared, thanks to thesulphurous fumes that keep pouring out of the chimney of the fertiliser factory there. Sooften, the effects are not this visible. They tend to be subtle and insidious. The ecologistwarns us against these and his warnings can be ignored only at the peril of the humanspecies.

Nature works in ecosystems. An ecosystem comprises agroup of living organisms and their physico-chemicalenvironment. A system is an entity in its own right.

Disturbance at one point is sure to have repercussions allover the system and if not repaired on time, the system isliable to disintegrate. In every ecosystem, there is a balancenaturally attained in which each component is in perfectharmony with the rest. When man clears a forest or builds adam, he interferes with the ecological balance that has been there.

Without intending it, he disturbs the ecological balance of the area and is seeking toestablish a new ecosystem. A new system can come only in the place of an old one. In thebargain, the component inhabitants of the old system disappear. When older ecosystemsare upset over a large area, the migratory, the adaptive and such other limitations causethe total disappearance of a few species.

This is undesirable not only because the richness of the flora and fauna suffer but more sobecause in the new dispensation, there might be unforeseen and disastrous consequences.For instance, the rich Americans fancy for money purses made of snakeskin let loose aruthless rampage on rat snakes in south India.

The near elimination of this variety of snake has caused a burst in the numbers of field ratsin our paddy areas and I wonder what it cost the Indian exchequer! It occurs to me that the

acute frog-hunting indulged in by our money-crazy exporters is responsible for theresurgence of malaria, for with the diminishing numbers of frogs that feed on them, themosquitoes multiplied and that may be the reason why we have a National MalariaEradication Programme again on our hands. Far fetched, you might say, but quite probable,I say!

All this, however, is not to say that man should give up his technology orientation or that heshould go back to primeval conditions fighting his inter-specific battle with the rest of theliving world, unaided by adjuncts of civilisation. It is only to remind ourselves that much as


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we might wish we were not, we are part and parcel of a natural ecosystem and that oursurvival, if it should be comfortable, depends very much on the preservation of thisecosystem. We disturb this ecological balance that Nature worked out through ages andhanded down to us, only at our own peril.

This caution administered, I would like to wind up narrating to you a natural chain that

Julian Huxley mentioned. He was talking to an audience on how England fought to the lastman and woman, including widows and old spinsters, in that catastrophic war of 1939-1945.

Those old ladies were considered non-essential and ordered to villages where they movedalong with the kittens. The kittens roamed in the surrounding fields for their nocturnalpredations, feeding upon field rats. With the decline in the population of field rats, there wasa spurt in the bumble bee population and with that there was increased pollination in clover,the fodder for the English cattle. Well-fed, the English cattle yielded more beef and theEnglish soldier who had more beef to eat, grew stronger and fought better. You may notbelieve it but I would like to think that the Second World War was won on the strength ofthis ecosystem!


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Impact

y Japan was largely prepared for the earthquake and many buildings remained standingafterwards, but it was not prepared for the subsequent Tsunami.

y A tsunami warning extended to at least 50 nations and territories, as far away as South

America.y Damage was caused in Tokyo and many injuries in the north where the quake was

centredy The yen fell sharply but recouped most of its decline several hours later. Tokyo stocks

fell.y Local television showed smoke rising from a Tokyo port building, fire in the capitals

waterfront Odaiba district and an oil refinery ablaze in Ichihara, near Tokyo.y A tsunami measured at anywhere from one meter to 7.3 meters hit at various places along

the coast, while a 10-meter tsunami was seen at the port in Sendai, near the epicentre.y Aftershocks were continuing, with one hitting magnitude 7.1, according to the USGS.

Tall buildings swayed violently in central Tokyo as the aftershocks hit.y Immediate power outages in Tokyo and eight other prefectures reportedly affected some

4 million homes.y In Iwate Prefecture a bridge collapsed and a building was washed away, with boats and

cars swirling around in the rising waters.y In Tokyo, hundreds of concerned office workers tried in vain to make calls on jammed

cellphone networks, some wearing hard hats and other protective headgear. Many ofthem streamed out of buildings in the business district, gathering in open areas. The

crowd appeared spooked by the sound of glass windows rattling in tall buildings.y Traders said most of the selling was offshore as Tokyo traders evacuated. The yen could

be in for further declines as the scale of the damage becomes known.y Tokyos major airports halted flights, though Haneda Airport was later reported to have

reopened several runways. All Tokyo area trains were halted, while the shinkansen bullettrain service was suspended.


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y Water could be seen rising over cars and pouring into warehouses at Onahama port inFukushima Prefecture, with five deaths reported in Fukushima.

y Two nuclear plants on the Pacific coast in F

ukushima were automatically shut down.

y At Fukushima the subsequent tsunami disabled emergency generators required to cool the

reactors.y Over the following three weeks there was evidence of a partial nuclear meltdown in units

1, 2 and 3; visible explosions, suspected to be caused by hydrogen gas, in units 1 and 3; asuspected explosion in unit 2, that may have damaged the primary containment vessel;

and a possible uncovering of the units 1, 3 and 4 spent fuel pools.y Radiation releases caused large evacuations, concern over food and water supplies, and

treatment of nuclear workers.y The IAEA has rated the events at level 7, the same as Chenobyl, and the highest on the

scale meaning that there is a major release of radio active material with widespreadhealth and environmental effects.

y The situation has been further compounded by numerous aftershocks.

y 2,000 people confirmed deady 10,000 more people expected to be confirmed dead

y 2,000 people injuredy 530,000 people displaced, staying in 2,500 evacuation centres, such as schools and public

hallsy 24,000 people still completely isolated and cannot be reached

y 1.2 million homes without powery 1.4 million homes without water

y 4,700 destroyed housesy 50,000 damaged houses

y 582 roads cut offy 32 bridges destroyed

Response

y A Tsunami warning was issued 3 minutes after the earthquake.y Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who convened an emergency Cabinet meeting, urged the

nation to be calm and said the government will do its utmost to minimize damage from


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the quake. He told a news conference a large amount of damage had occurred in thenorthern Tohoku region.

y A Meteorological Agency official appeared on TV urging those affected by the quake notto return home because of possible tsunamis.

o In some areas we have issued a warning of tsunamis of higher than 10 meters

and we expect these areas will experience the high water levels soon, said theofficial. Please stay on high alert.y The governor of Miyagi Prefecture asked for Japanese military forces to be sent in to

help.y The Defence Ministry was sending eight fighter jets to check the damage, the agency

said.y The government set up a task force at the Prime Ministers Office. The Bank of Japan set

up a disaster control team, headed by BOJ Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa, to assess the impactof the earthquake on financial markets as well as on financial institutions business

operations.y In response, 91 countries have offered aid, from blankets and food to search dogs and

military transport.y The Japanese government is among the best prepared in the world for disasters and has so

far only made specific requests for help, such as calling for search and rescue teams.y Several charities, including Save the Children UK, British Red Cross and World Vision

UK, are asking for donations.y A British rescue team has arrived in Japan to join the search for survivors of the

earthquake and tsunami.y Fifty-nine search and rescue experts, four medics and two sniffer dogs flew out on a

private charter plane with 11 tonnes of equipment on board.y New-age innovations, such as Twitter were bringing updates on the situation far earlier

than the media.

Areas of high biodiversity & conservation interestAfter considering threatened habitats in general, and areas of particularly high biodiversity, nineareas - some large, some small - of conservation interest have been identified within the Four

Corners area (see Map 6) and are described below:Map 6: Areas of high biodiversity and conservation interest in the Four Corners TBNRMAProtected Areas/

National Parks

Forest Areas

Wetlands/Lakes

Communal natural resource

management /Game

Management Areas

Communal Area

Conservancies

(Namibia)

Areas of high

biodiversity/

conservation

interest

AWF FOURCORNERS BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION PACKAGE No 2:


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SUMMARY OF TECHNICAL REVIEWSTHE AWF FOURCORNERS TBNRM PROJECT IS FUNDED BY USAID THROUGH THE REGIONAL CENTERFORSOUTHERN AFRICA

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(a) Okavango SwampsAn extensive area of perennial and seasonal swamp with numerous islands and backwaters in

north west Botswana, fed by the Okavango/Kavango river from the Angolan Highlands. It is

one of the largest and probably the most pristine wetland within south central Africa, and hasa high habitat diversity. The swamps lie immediately adjacent to dry woodland dominated bymopane or Kalahari vegetation. Both perennial swamp, indicated by stands of papyrus, andseasonal swamp are present, with many heavily wooded islands. A significant portion is

protected as Moremi Wildlife Reserve, and cattle raising as a land use option is curtailed insome parts by the presence of tsetse fly and cattle fences. Although it contains no endemic orparticularly threatened species, it is the best example of an increasingly threatened habitat

and has a rich biodiversity.

(b) Kavango / Okavango river fringesAn area of woodland and grassland mixed with wetland vegetation flanking the

Kavango/Okavango river in western Caprivi and northern Botswana (the "panhandle"). Thewoodlands are still fairly pristine over much of their extent and not severely impacted byelephant. Good riparian woodland is becoming increasingly scarce in southern Africa. There

is a moderately high species diversity, although with no endemics or species under particularthreat. The area is not formally protected, except on the east bank of the Kavango in

Namibia. There is a real threat of implementation of a water abstraction scheme that wouldimpact on both this area and, particularly, the Okavango swamps.

(c) Makgadikgadi Pans and lower Nata RiverAn extensive area of north central Botswana containing salt flats surrounded by drywoodland (mostly mopane) and grassland of various types. Although not particularly underthreat, the habitats here are very unusual. There is one endemic grass (Panicum coloratum

var. makarikariense) and one endemic lizard, (the Spiny AgamaAgama makarikarica). Sua

Pan is one of only two breeding sites for the threatened Lesser Flamingo in southern Africa,and the Nata Delta in the north is also used for breeding by the White Pelican. The mouth ofthe Nata River supports woodland of an unusual type, and is important for waterbirds. Only asmall part of the area is formally protected (Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve).

(d) Zambezi riparian woodland below SenangaPatches of riparian woodland in western Zambia flanking the Zambezi River upstream ofNgonye Falls. The area supports riparian woodland containing a number of plant species ofrestricted distribution. Such woodland is becoming increasingly rare owing to damage byelephant as well as human settlement. The area is not formally protected, and it is not clear

what its present status is. Any remaining patches are a conservation priority.


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(e) Zambezi riparian woodland between Kazungula

and Victoria FallsAn area of what was well-developed riparian woodland with a rich assemblage of plant,mammal and bird species. The woodlands contain a number of rare woody species of very

restricted distribution, and are also important for butterflies. However, much has beencleared on the Zambian side for agriculture and settlement. On the Zimbabwe side, althoughprotected as the Zambezi National Park and Matetsi Safari Area, it has been heavily

impacted by elephants; what was closed woodland has been opened up quite rapidly overAWF FOURCORNERS BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION PACKAGE No 2:


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much of its extent. Very unusual stands of Floodplain AcaciaAcacia kirkii are found on mudflats at Kazungula and elsewhere dating from Pleistocene times, but have also been almost

destroyed by elephants.

(f) Victoria Falls and Batoka GorgeThe Zambezi abruptly changes its nature here from a wide, relatively sluggish river withmany wooded islands to a narrow rushing river enclosed in a 100 m deep gorge carved intothe basalt. The permanent spray zone at Victoria Falls, in both Zambia and Zimbabwe,allows for the development of moist woodland and herbaceous vegetation with a number ofunusual plants. The 'rainforest', essentially an extensive riparian forest caused by the

permanent spray from the waterfalls, contains plant species which are localised indistribution or outlying populations. The Batoka gorge contains four endemic plants, and isimportant for birds such as the Taita Falcon and raptors (36 species identified). The gorges

are mostly unprotected, although generally inaccessible. The Batoka Gorge dam, if built, will

flood much of the bottom of the gorges and change the microclimate. The Victoria Falls areais protected on both the Zambian and Zimbabwe sides, although it is heavily utilised byvisitors. Invasive plants such as Lantana camara are now a problem.

(g) Kazuma PanA transfrontier area of northern Botswana and north west Zimbabwe centred on a large

seasonal pan and grassland surrounded by various types of woodland, on both Kalahari sandand black clays. There is a high habitat diversity and such grasslands are very unusual in theregion. Oribi found here may prove to be taxonomically different from other populations,and previously there were several White Rhinoceros. Roan antelope also occur, but their

numbers have diminished in recent years. The whole area in Zimbabwe is protected as

national park or forest land. A significant portion of the adjacent Pandamatenga grasslandsin Botswana, just to the south, is under commercial farming.

(h) Southern Hwange dunes and Nata mudflatsAn extensive mosaic, mostly in Zimbabwe although crossing into Botswana, of relativelyuntouched dense woodland (Zambezi TeakBaikiaea, CamelthornAcacia erioloba andKalahari Sand AcaciaAcacia luederitzii) on Kalahari sand dunes dating from the Pleistoceneperiod, mudflats with grassland,Acacia and mopane, and shallow sand areas withCombretum scrub. Many small seasonal pans with ephemeral species are also present. There

is a high habitat diversity with a number of unusual plant species as it is a meeting place ofthe Zambezian and Kalahari floras. The biodiversity of the area is very poorly known, and islikely to be rich. Much of the area lies within Hwange National Park, although a significant


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portion lies to the south in Tsholotsho communal land.

(i) Ngamo Pan and surroundsA large area straddling Hwange National Park and Ngamo Forest Land in western Zimbabwe

with calcareous pans set in Kalahari sand and remnants of old dunes. Many of thesurrounding woodlands are open with Zambezi TeakBaikiaea and MukwaPterocarpus

angolensis, while the grasslands have a high density ofHyphaenepalms. The pans andgrasslands are important for such mammals as gemsbok and wildebeest and for waterbirds. It

is protected as either national park or as forest land, although the southern portion lies incommunal land with no protection.AWF FOURCORNERS BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION PACKAGE No 2:SUMMARY OF TECHNICAL REVIEWSTHE AWF FOURCORNERS TBNRM PROJECT IS FUNDED BY USAID THROUGH THE REGIONAL CENTERFORSOUTHERN AFRICA

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The value of a transfrontier approach to

Conservation

The Four Corners is proposed as a transfrontier conservation area (TFCA), an area where natural

resource and conservation management policies are harmonised across international boundaries.The TFCA includes five countries (with

Angola) and over 1400 km of internationalborders.

One of the main forms of land use in this largearea of 322,000 km2 is wildlife-based tourism,asreflected in the high proportion of landgiven over to conservation and wildlifemanagement. Some ofthe most obvious andcharismatic animals present - elephant, buffalo,carnivores and a number of birds- readily andfrequently cross these boundaries in search offood and water. As mentioned previously,

thearea as a whole has one of the best remainingassemblages of large mammals remaining in Africa,

with healthy populations of both predatorsand prey.Such an assemblage needs a large area,one that isdifficult to find in any onecountry. Thus for conservation to beeffective, and for the economicbenefitsof tourism and other forms of utilisationto be optimised, some form of transfrontier


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management of both wildlifeand habitat is required. Policies regarding exploitation and marketing,e.g. of timber, fisheries or tourism infrastructure at Victoria Falls, need to be harmonised, along with

accepted management practices such as fire prevention and fishing techniques.

A number ofimportant habitats cross borders, for example Kazuma Pan, while the health of the

Okavango Swamps depends on continued flows in the Kavango River from Angola throughNamibia.From a biological perspective, a transfrontier approach to conservation makes much sense

in the,Four Corners area. It is an area held together by perennial rivers and wetlands - Rivers ofLife -and many of the habitats and species extend across border. These rivers and wetlands are

dependent on flows from outside the national boundary of the country where they are situated.Some two million years ago, the Four Corners area was a meeting place of waters and speciesfrom the wetter, more tropical areas of northern Angola and Zambia, with those of the drier

Kalahari. Evolution took place against this backdrop as the mosaic of habitats shifted across thelandscape. Allowing continued movements across it now ensures possibilities of evolutionaryprocesses to continue - something that on such a scale is now very rare in Africa.Lion a major tourism attraction in the Four Corners

Elephants need trans-boundary managementAWF FOURCORNERS BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION PACKAGE No 2:


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An additional set of reasons for harmonised cross-border management, and for collaborationacross borders, relates to the ability to influence decision-makers, whether at central or localgovernment level, and to attract resources to an area. A TFCA gives a stronger voice to the area

and its conservation. If the five countries combine forces the area can be much more strongly

marketed overseas as a tourist destination, and purely nationalistic concerns or constraints areovercome more readily.

In summary, the main advantages of a transfrontier approach to conservation here are:

Management of fragmented or mobile populations, such as elephant and migrant birds

Better conservation of wetlands and pans, and other transfrontier habitats

A more "evolutionary" and landscape-scale approach to conservation

Coordinated approaches to fire management

Coordinated approaches to fisheries management


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The Ecological Balance