Q.1. India is one of the twelve mega biodiversity countries of the world. What are the various levels of biodiversity observed in India?
Ans1. Species diversity, gene diversity, ecosystem diversity.
Q.2. India has only 2.4% of the land area of the world but it has 8.1% of the species diversity. What are the favourable environmental condition that has favoured speciation in India ?
Ans2. Much of its land area in the latitude.
Q.3. The tropics (between 23.5 0 N to 23.50 S) harbours more species than temperate and polar regions. Explain the probable reasons for difference in biodiversity between tropical and temperate regions.
Ans3. Tropical have remained undisturbed for millions of years, temperate are subjected to frequent graciations , tropical environment in less seasonal , more constant & Predictable.
Q.4. Biodiversity decreases as one move from equator towards pole. Justify this statement with a suitable example.
Ans4. Equator has tropical environment and hence harbour more species e.g. Columbia near the equator has 1400 species of birds , while New York at 410 N has 105 Species.
Q.5. Amazonian rain forests in South America have the greatest biodiversity on earth, what can be the reason for it?
Ans5. Tropical environment with all benefits of tropics as mentioned in Q.3.
Q.6. On a log scale, species area relationship becomes linear and can be represented by equation logS = logC + z logA. What is represented by S, z,a & c in this equation. What is the average value of Z-line irrespective of the taxonomic group or the region? The z value for frugivorous birds and mammals in the tropical forests of different continents is found to be 1.15. Why is it so?
Ans6. S – species, A – area, Z – slope of the line (regression coefficient), C – Y intercept.
Z value is 0.1 to 0.2 .
Value 1.15 indicates larger suitable areas for species diversity.
Q.7. Ecologists believe that communities with more species tend to be more stable than those with less species. What attributes are taken into account while defining a stable community. Mention the observation of David Tilman ecological experiments using outdoor plots.
Ans7. Less variation in productivity from years to years, resilient to occasional disturbances, resistant to invasions by alien species. Tilman found that plots with more species showed less year to year variations in total biomass & increased diversity contributed to higher productivity.
Q.8. Name a scientist who proposed that species richness increases with increased explored area but only up to a limit. What is the shape of a graph if species richness is plotted against area for a wide variety of taxa.
Ans8. Alexander von Humbolt / Rectangular hyperbola which on log scale appears as linear straight line.
Q.9. What is the scientific term for measurement of species diversity if (i) number of species per unit area are measured (ii) relative abundance with which each species is represented in an area is measured.
Ans9. Species richness, Species evenness.
Q.10. 20 parrots, 50 sparrows and 150 crows are found in one part of seven senses garden which has large number of trees. Which parameter- species richness or species evenness can be easily assessed from this information?
Ans10. Species richness, Definition.
Q.11. Ecological diversity Species diversity Genetic diversity What conclusion can be drawn from the above mentioned depiction?
Ans11. Ecological diversity determines species diversity & hence genetic diversity.
Q.12. What is depicted by the following representation of species diversity? Why these estimates do not give any figure-for-
Ans12. These represent global biodiversity of (a) invertebrates (b) vertebrates (c) plants.
Conventional taxonomic methods are not suitable for identifying microbial species; many species are simply not cultural lab conditions.
Q.13. Since the origin of life on earth and evolution there have been 5 episodes of mass extinction, but the current rate of extinction is 100-1000 times. What are the main causes of high extinction rate and how is it going to harm human beings?
Ans13. Human activities are the basic cause for it.
Causes – 4 major causes (The evil Quartet along with suitable examples of each:-
(i) Habitat loss and fragmentation-decline in covered forest area from 14% to 6%.
(ii) Overexploitation- extinction of steller’s sea cow
(iii) Alien species invasion-Nile perch introduction into Lake Victoria resulted in extinction of 200 species cichlid fish.
(iv) Co-extinction-coevolved plant pollinator mutualism.
Harms: (a) Decline in plant production.
(b) Lowered resistance to Env. Perturbations like drought.
(c) Increased variability in certain ecosystem processes such as plant productivity, water use etc.
Q.14. The invasion of alien species is responsible for extinction of the indigenous species. Give 2 examples to support this statement.
Ans14. (i) Nile perch introduced into Lake Victoria resulted in extinction of 200 species of cichlid fish
(ii) Parthenium and Eicchornia posed threat to our native species.
Q.15. If a spices of fish becomes extinct, all those parasites, specific to that fish also face extinction. Which of the major cause describe as “the evil Quintet’s is being accounted?
Ans15. Co-extinction as extinction of one invariably leads to extinction of the other.
16. Categorize the followings statement into narrowly utilitarian, broadly utilitarian and ethical reason:-
i) Every species in biodiversity has an intrinsic value even if it not of value to us.
ii) Human beings device a number of economic benefits like food, fiber etc from biodiversity.
iii) Biodiversity provides ecosystem services which can not be given price tag. Justify your categorization also.
Ans16. (i) Ethical
(ii) Narrowly utilitarian
(iii) Broadly utilitarian
Q.17. Which strategy of Bioconversation is being taken care of if the endangered species are removed from the unsafe or threatened habitat and placed under the care of humans? How is this strategy different from the other strategy of bio-conservation.?
17. Ex-situ. Any two differences between ex-situ and in-situ conservation of biodiversity
Q.18. Categorize the following into in-situ and ex-situ approaches of biodiversity conservation.
i) Botanical gardens
ii) Wild life sanctuaries
iii) Gene bank
iv) Biosphere reserves
v) Sacred forests/lakes
vi) Pollen banks
vii) Tissue culture
viii) Cryo-preservation
Ans18. (i) Exsitu
(ii) Insitu
(iii) Exsitu
(iv) Insitu
(v) Insitu
(vi) Exsitu
(vii) Exsitu
(viii) Exsitu
Q.19. Western Ghats & Srilanka, Indo-Burma and Himalaya are three hot spots of India. Why are these places named so? What are the criteria of determining hot spots?
Ans.19. Regions with high level of species richness, high degree of endemism
Q.20. Conservation of bio-diversity is a collective responsibility of all nations. Mention the steps taken by various countries in this direction.
20. Earth Summit held at Rio de Janerio and World Summit on sustainable development held in 2002 in Johannesburg South Africa where 190 countries pledged their commitment to achieve by 2010, a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional and local levels.
Q.21. Loss of key species that drive major ecosystem functions is the most serious threat to species diversity found in any ecosystem. How is it explained by Paul Ehalich through the "rivet popper hypothesis" analogy.
21. Details of rivet popper hypothesis emphasizing the loss of rivets on the wings of an aeroplane, less of key species that drive major ecosystem function is a serious threat.
