Key ecological roles of Wildlife species Role of plants in ecosystem Role of animals in ecosystem

2.  Importance of Wildlife for sustainable
ecosystem

3.  What is wildlife?
 What is ecosystem?
 What is sustainable ecosystem?
 Key ecological roles of Wildlife species
 Ecological functions are central to trophic level
 Ecosystem services for sustainable development and
wildlife importance
 Wildlife role in sustainable ecosystem
 Role of plants in ecosystem
 Role of animals in ecosystem
 Balancing act

4. The term wildlife has come to envelope all
kinds of undomesticated life from
microorganisms to vegetation and fungi as
well.

6.  Sustainable use of resources is made possible
by ensuring that rates of production are not
exceeded by rates of loss plus extraction.
 Natural ecosystems are sustainable only when
their native biodiversity and the functional basis
of productivity are maintained.

7.  It is the set of ecological roles played by its
component organisms, including humans
that influence ecosystem biodiversity,
productivity, and sustainability.
 To conserve and manage ecosystems
means understanding their dynamics and
processes, including the ecological functions
of species.

8.  An ecosystem service is any positive
benefit that wildlife or ecosystems
provides to people.

9.  The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
(MA), identified four major categories of ecosystem
services:
 Provisioning services e.g. (drinking water, timber natural
gas etc.)
 Regulating services e.g. (Water purification, Erosion and
flood control etc.)
 Cultural services e.g. ((music, art, architecture,
Recreation etc.)
 Supporting services.

10.  Provide habitat for biodiversity.
 Modify the local climate.
 They absorb carbon dioxide and release
oxygen.
 They provide the soil with the necessary humus
content.
 They prevent soil erosion by binding the soil
with tree roots.
 They also check floods by holding rain water in
subsoil.

11.  Erosion control & soil formation
Plants and detritus intercept the force of rain
and the greater surface area absorbs
more water; plants, animals and microbes
are involved in creating soils.

12.  Pure from the ground up;
 A subterranean ecosystem helps keep
groundwater pure by grazing on naturally
accumulating carbon.
 Excessive carbon – for example from irrigation
with effluent – can upset the ecosystem
balance.

13. The ocean, forests and their soils contain huge
stores of carbon relative to the
atmosphere.
This is maintained through various micro-
organisms

15. Ecosystems have natural predators and
diseases for organisms we call pests.
When predators are maintained, ecosystems
control pests.

16.  Maintaining Biodiversity
 Prohibiting deforestation
 Allowing Legal hunting
 Have native plants that are food sources for
wildlife
 Greener" ways of dealing with pests

17.  Jones, C. G., Lawton J. H. and M. Shachak. 1996. Organisms as ecosystem
engineers. Pages in F. B. Samson and F. L. Knopf, editors. Ecosystem
management: selected readings. Springer, New York, NY. 130-147
 Wilson, E. O. 1987. The little things that run the world (the importance and
conservation of invertebrates). Conservation Biology 1: 344-346.
 Minteer, B. & Collins, Ecological ethics: Building a new tool kit for ecologists
and biodiversity managers. Conservation Biology 19(20):1803-1812.
 Bradshaw, C.J.A., Sodhi, N.S., Peh, K.S.-H. & Brook, B.W. 2007. Global
evidence that deforestation amplifies flood risk and severity in the developing
world. Global Change Biology, 13(11):2379–2395.
Calder, I.R. 2000. Forests and hydrological services: reconciling public and
science perceptions. Land Use and Water Resources Research, 2: 1–12.