Read this article to learn about the application of biotechnology to biodiversity and its impacts.
Application of Biotechnology to Biodiversity:
Application of biotechnology (particularly genetic engineering) to improve the crop plants, medicinal plants, livestock, and microbes and to get new products from various biological systems is a fast growing sector.
This sector is expected to contribute up to 50% of the world economy in near future. The chief and critical raw material for biotechnology is the diversified living world which constitutes the biodiversity.
The Relationship between Biotechnology and Biodiversity is Multidirectional (UNEP 1995):
(i) Biotechnology or Molecular Biology provides very powerful tools for critical assessment of biodiversity, especially genetic diversity, and consequently the identification of potential bio-resources.
(ii) It gives newer methods and guidelines for conservation of biodiversity.
(iii) It enhances the wise and efficient utilization of bio-resources, both as a genetic resource for production and in the remediation of altered/degraded ecosystems.
The increasing application of biotechnology to biodiversity (including genetic engineering) has greatly enhanced the value and availability of bio resources and products for mankind. This is particularly true with reference to: (i) increased availability food, feed and other renewable raw materials; (ii) improved human health and hygiene; (iii) greater protection of the environment, and (iv) enhancement of bio safety and environment-friendly technologies.
In an age when population is exponentially increasing and biodiversity is being depleted due to man-made environmental degradation, biotechnology should come to the rescue of mankind by providing greater and efficient means of utilizing the available biodiversity. Once a country attains the capacity to manage its genetic resources, it will automatically enable it to produce novel products from its own biodiversity.
Adverse Impacts of Biotechnology on Biodiversity:
Introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMO) into natural ecosystems is likely to cause the loss of species and habitat diversity; at least there is a strong theoretical possibility for this. Adverse biological effects on non-target populations and ecological and evolutionary disruption may be either the direct result of the introduced transgene(s) or alternatively the indirect result of socioeconomic conditions related to the application of recombinant DNA technologies.
(i) Direct Impacts:
Several direct non-target effects on beneficial and native organisms by GMOS have been reported. An example is the transgenic Bt cotton plant, which affects a wide array of non-target insects such as butterflies, moths and beetles. Some GM crops have been shown to affect soil ecosystems by decreasing the rate of decomposition of organic wastes, affecting carbon and nitrogen levels and decreasing the diversity of soil microbial populations. Another possible direct impact of GMOS raised for conferring viral resistance is the likely emergence of new viruses with new biological characteristics through recombination.
Adverse impacts on biodiversity through the introduction of GMOS may also result from disturbance of the dynamic population equilibrium of ecosystems. Population size of native taxa may be reduced by the enhanced ability of GMOS to invade natural habitats of native species.
Another direct impact of biotechnology could be episodic genetic erosion, which could threaten the genetic diversity on which this technology depends. For example, micro propagation and the consequent production of identical clones discourage perpetuation of genetic diversity through evolutionary adaptations.
(ii) Indirect Impacts:
The indirect impacts of biotechnology on biodiversity are predominantly socioeconomic ones, operated through human economic and social systems. Indirect impacts of biotechnology are immense and of very great relevance to people in developing countries who rely directly on biodiversity for their sustenance.
The impacts themselves are the results of human responses to the changes in relative cost and prices of biotechnologically derived items. This is best illustrated by an example. Biotechnological methods lead to the identification of a plant material for an important pharmaceutical use. This would raise the value of the material, resulting in increased collection pressure on that plant, which in turn would lead to overexploitation and species loss.