CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The conservation of biodiversity is one aspect of environment, which has recently received
global attention. Biodiversity refers to the variety and variability among living organisms and
the ecological complexes in which they occur (Board on Science and Technology for
International Development (BOSTID), 2002. It is a term used to describe the degree of
nature’s variety including both the number and frequency of ecosystems, species or genes in
a given assemblage. It is essentially synonymous with life on the earth. It is usually
Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences Volume 2, December 2010
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103 considered at three different levels: genetic diversity, specie diversity and ecosystem
diversity. Genetic diversity is the sum total of genetic characteristics of individual plants,
animals and other living organisms inhabiting the earth. Such characteristics may include
rapid growth, high yields, diseases and pests resistance, and environmental adaptation.
Specie diversity refers to the variety of living organisms on earth, while ecosystem diversity
refers to the variety of habitats, biotic communities and ecological processes in the biosphere
as well as the tremendous diversity within ecosystems in terms of habitat differences and the
variety of ecological processes.
The concept of agricultural biodiversity or agrobiodiversity as it is sometimes referred could
be identified within a macro concept of biodiversity. Agricultural biodiversity is restricted to
plants and animals used in commerce or having potential use (Srivastava, Smith and Ferno,
2001). It is the diversity of genetic resources (varieties, breeds, species, cultivated, reared or
wild) used directly for food and agriculture; the diversity of species that support production
(soil biota, pollinators, predators, etc.) and those in the wider environment that support
agroecosystems (agricultural, pastoral. forest and aquatic), as well as the diversity of
agroecosystems themselves (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2008) .Agroecosystems are
those ecosystems that are used for agriculture, and comprise polycultures, monocultures and
mixed systems including crop-livestock systems (rice-fish), agroforestry agrosilvo pastoral
systems, aquaculture as well as rangelands, pastures and fallow lands (Pimbert, 2009).
Agricultural biodiversity is of immense benefit to humanity. Man depends on various livestock
and crop species for food, fuel, fibre, medicine, drugs and raw materials for a host of
manufacturing technologies and purposes. The productivity of agricultural system is as a
result of a continuous alteration of once wild plant and animal germplasms. Also genetic
engineering especially in. the pharmaceutical and food processing industries uses agrogenetic
resources from sources worldwide. Besides these direct values, agricultural
biodiversities arc important parts of the processes that regulate the earth’s atmospheric,
climatic, hydrologic and biochemical cycles. It provides local ecological services including the
protection of watersheds, cycling of nutrients, combating erosion, enriching soil, regulating
water flow, trapping sediments, mitigating erosion and controlling pest population (Ehrenfeld,
2000)
Furthermore, agrobiodiversity holds ethical and aesthetical values and also forms the basis
for sustainable rural development and resource management. In most rural areas of Akwa
Ibom State, the diversity of local plants and animals is being harnessed for sustainable
economic development