Biodiversity conservation

• The mode of conservation which includes protective maintenance of threatened species outside the areas where they naturally occur is called Ex-Situ Conservation.
• Examples of Ex-Situ Conservation: Zoological parks, Botanical gardens, in-vitro fertilization, Tissue culture propagation, and cryopreservation of gametes.
• In-Situ Conservation: The conservation method to protect the entire ecosystem in which the species are protected in their natural habitat.
• Examples of In-Situ Conservation: National parks, Sanctuaries Biosphere reserves, Reserved forests, Protected forests

In-situ conservation

• In-situ conservation refers to the conservation of plant and animal species in their natural habitats.
• This achieved by designating the natural habitats as protected areas and providing full protection to the species.
• National Parks, Biosphere Reserves, Sacred Groves, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Community Reserves and Biodiversity hotspots are examples of in-situ conservation.
• Peripheral populations of species, those populations that occur at the edge of a species’ range, can be particularly well-suited to face the challenges of harsher environments.

Hemis National Park

• Hemis National Park is a high altitude national park in the eastern Ladakh Union Territory of the Republic of India.
• The north of this protected area is enclosed by the banks of the Indus River.
• It is named after the famous monastery, Hemis gompa that is situated 40 km southeast of Leh.
• It is home to an immense population of snow leopards.
• Apart from snow leopards, the flora includes bharal, argali, Asiatic ibex, Eurasian brown bear, Tibetan wolf, red fox, etc.
• The Hemis National Park is the second-largest contiguous protected region of the country after the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve.

India’s Seed Bank

• India has established its own seed storage facility at Chang La in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir.
• It has been built jointly by the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) and the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) in 2010 under the aegis of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• It stores over 5,000 seed accessions (one accession consists of a set of seeds of a particular species collected from different geographical and demographic locations).
• Note: Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the world’s largest seed storage facility situated at Norway.

Nandankanan Zoological Park

• Nandankanan, literally meaning The Garden of Heaven, is located near Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• Nandankanan is among the six participating zoos for the conservation breeding of White-backed vulture.
• First zoo in the World to breed White tiger and Melanistic tiger.
• White Tiger is a rare form of Bengal Tiger with a unique (recessive) gene which gives it a white color.
• White tigers are born only when two bengal tigers that possess a recessive gene (gene that affect the coat color) are bred together.
• Melanistic Tigers are black striped tigers which are born purely due to genetic reasons. Increased development of melanin pigment in the body causes black stripes. Melanistic tigers are rarely found in the world.
• It is only conservation breeding centre of Indian Pangolin in the world.