Wildlife are the crucial part of the nature. They have their own vital role in maintaining balance in the ecosystem. Generally, wildlife refers to the flora and fauna residing in the wild unlike the domesticated ones. Wild animals are found to live in a variety of habitats like bushes, grasslands, wetlands, around human settlements, agricultural lands and caves. The food chain and food web maintained by the wildlife maintain equilibrium in the environment, when one disturbed, it affects the whole. We know that grass is eaten by deer and deer is eaten by tiger, but when the tiger or the number of the carnivores decrease in the forest ecosystem, then, the increasing number of deer or herbivores start emptying the forest resources and enter the agricultural field finally leading to human-wildlife conflict.
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Wildlife have various importance in terms of their basic role in ecology, economy and scientific studies.
Wildlife are ecologically important due to their contribution in biogeochemical cycles and exchange of inorganic nutrients between biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem. The mutual relation between the producers, consumers and decomposers maintains the ecological balance and also regulation of population of different species of wildlife. Wildlife like birds, bats and insects pollinate the flowering plants including many agricultural species, which is an essential process for sustaining of life on the globe. Additionally, it helps in the plant propagation which is also quite important. Wildlife also play their role in pollution control, maintenance of climate, pest control and fighting soil erosion. Scavengers are the very important wild animals like vultures, eagles, jackals, microorganisms, etc. which clean our environment by feeding upon dead animals converting them into nutrient matter in the soil. The balance maintained by the wildlife in the different types of ecosystem (like forest, grassland, freshwater, marine, etc.) also results in maintenance of favorable climatic conditions. Natural calamities like soil erosion is prevented by the wild plants, leaf litter cover and wild animals movement causing mixing of litter which later, converts to spongy humus by the action of microorganisms. Wildlife also act as a gene bank while producing improved breeds and varieties in agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries. This helps in creating high quality and disease resistant varieties which highly contributes in the modern technique of agriculture and fosters the economy. Different wildlife products such as silk, honey, hair, feathers, guano and dungs obtained from wild animals, and timber, firewood, drugs, essential oils, gums, resins, tannins, etc. obtained from wild plants are of high economic value. Trade of wild animals and plants products, and wildlife tourism can aid in the economic development of a country. However, strictly adopting the conservation measures according to the threatened status of wildlife and CITES status, import and export of different wild animals and plants’ products have been prohibited. Visiting the wildlife sanctuaries and observing the plants, animals and surroundings in the wild is a great source of recreation. Wildlife tourism also serves as great financial support to the economy of a country and its people.
Wildlife are a great source of scientific knowledge, research and experiments. Genome of each wildlife species is a storehouse of information. By the method of gene splicing, desirable characteristics encoded in isolatable genes are transferrable to enhance or create edible or medical resources. It is because of the research that the medicinal value of few species of wild plants have been identified and is currently used in treatment of many diseases. Various wild animals like monkeys, rats, etc. have been used for various experiments on medical science. Various species of wildlife have been used for the research and study on their anatomy, physiology, ecology and evolution. Because of the researches on wildlife, several inventions and discoveries have been made, which promotes the development of human beings and wildlife itself.
Since we have known the importance of wildlife, the need of wildlife conservation is seen to be a must. Each and every wildlife is very important for the ecosystem, when one disappears the whole ecosystem becomes hampered. Habitat destruction of wildlife caused by the human activities is the main threat to the wildlife species. Other threats include habitat fragmentation, overexploitation of natural resources, illegal poaching and trade of wildlife, increased environmental pollution, drastic climate changes, frequent natural calamities like forest fires, floods, etc.
An environment is said to be healthy and peaceful only when the wildlife are not disturbed as human-wildlife conflict occur not only by wildlife attacks but also by the human interference in the wildlife habitats. To conserve wildlife means to preserve, protect and restore the endangered as well as threatened species in the environment. By conserving wildlife, we are ensuring that our future generations will be able to enjoy the nature as we have, and see all the magnificent wildlife species which the nature holds in it. Various species of wildlife have high religious and cultural value. Wildlife and human beings are not naturally but also spiritually connected. Wildlife always increase the natural beauty because of their uniqueness. Watching the beautiful plants, animals, birds, butterflies, etc. replenish the soul of the humans with immense pleasure. Therefore, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and protected areas are very essential for the wildlife conservation. Wildlife sanctuaries are those areas which protect the endangered species in their natural environment, where the animals can stay safely away from poaching and trafficking. In addition, wildlife sanctuaries also help in ecotourism as well as study sites for the biologists.
Wildlife sanctuaries must be properly managed in order to ensure the conservation of wildlife in a proper manner. The boundaries of the wildlife sanctuaries should be protected and surrounded by the buffer zones. Strict rules and regulations should be followed within the premises of sanctuary. The environment of the wildlife sanctuary should be kept clean and free from invasive species. Wildlife population monitoring should be done time and again by using various direct methods like direct observation, mark-recapture and transect surveys, and indirect methods like sign survey and fecal counts. It is an important part of conservation to collect information about the threatened species and to know about the fruitfulness of the conservation strategies. From individual side, we can conserve wildlife by planting lots of trees, doing development in a sustainable manner and not disturbing the natural habitat of the wildlife.