Biological warfare effects on Biodiversity Biological weapons are considered as one of the most destructive known weapons. It is used to deliberately cause epidemics among humans and to destroy the environment including water, air and soil. It is also targeting agricultural crops and livestock. Examples of diseases used in biological warfare: anthrax, smallpox, plague, cholera, and avian flu. In addition to the catastrophic effects of biological weapons, the danger lies in their low cost, rapid
value of biological diversity in the last quarter of 20th Century more than ever before for the sustainability of life on earth. Biological diversity is also understood as a source of food, good health and its indispensability for human development. The pace of destruction of biological diversity due to different anthropogenic reasons and rapid advancements in bio-prospecting has triggered countless concerns amongst the global leaders and policy makers. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
In order to explain how evolution generates biodiversity through the process of natural selection and speciation, we must first understand and define those terms. Oxford dictionaries define natural selection as "the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring." Speciation is "the process in which new genetically distinct species evolve usually as a result of genetic isolation from the main population." (Speciation, 2008) Biodiversity is
the world. Out of these, about 1.4 million species have been identified so far. Each species is adapted to live in specific environment, from mountain peaks to the depth of seas, from polar ice caps to tropical rain forests and deserts. All this diversity of life is confined to only about one kilometre thick layer of lithosphere hydrosphere and atmosphere which form biosphere. Though the study of environment and ecology is quite old, the term biodiversity has been introduced by Walter Rosen in 1986
(NLC) has established Permanent Reserved Forests (PRF) (Tempatan, 2010) . The objectives of NFP is conserve and manage the nation’s forest based on the principles of sustainable management and to protect the environment as well as to conserve biological diversity, genetic resources, and to enhance research and education in Malaysia. According to this policy mangrove forests, both peat swamps and saltwater swamps are identified as permanent reserved forest (Tempatan, 2010). In the National Forest policy
According to the first United Nations conference on human environment in Stockholm in 1972, environmental conservation is a global concern (UNEP, 1972). The Conference highlighted the importance of relating environment to development. Later, the legitimacy of this issues were formalized at a United Nations conference on environment and development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (UNCED, 1992). The conference was convened in order to discuss on the way forward in tackling this crisis. This
knowledge of their use, traditional forest-related knowledge and conservation of natural forests among the Orang Asli. These attributes were broadly based on the ecosystem services identified in line with the CBD and Malaysia’s National Policy on Biological Diversity 1998. Indigenous knowledge and practices pertaining to medicinal plants are of particular relevance to Malaysia because it has been estimated to have more than 2,000 species of medicinal plants in Malaysia and there are about 200 species being
Introduction "Save water save life" The Indian subcontinent has a great diversity of geological, topographical and climatic conditions. The general climate is tropical and subtropical barring some of the northern most areas. The Western Ghats and north eastern part of the country receive the maximum rainfall in a year. The diurnal and seasonal temperature is also variable. [Extremes of hot and cold seasons are experienced in northern
The ever increasing demand for food and other basic needs has put a lot of pressure on the plant genetic resources (PGR) and diversity particularly in agricultural sector in terms of addressing the accompanied challenges associated with increasing crop productivity. The utilization of PGR in agriculture has not only brought about profound changes in the crop productivity and quality, but has also opened up newer and unforeseen potential vistas including improvement of novel traits by domestication
Introduction: Any chemical having high density and proves to be toxic or poisonous at low concentration is termed as heavy metal. For example lead (Pb) mercury (Hg) thallium (TI) chromium (Cr) Cadmium (Cd) and Arsenic (Ar). The main cause of heavy metal contamination are industries, agriculture and mining activities. Unlike many other pollutant in the environment, heavy metals are persistent, ubiquitous and non-biodegradable. Heavy metals enter into the food chain through uptake by plants and ingestion