வேதநதி

BIODIVERSITY & ITS CONSERVATION

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Section-A

1.In India, hot spot area is found in

Eastern Himalaya
Tropical Andes
Madagascar
Madagascar
Out of the 25 hotspots of the world, two are found in India. These are Western ghats and Eastern Himalayas and these extend to the neighbouring countries also. These areas show high degree of endemism and area inhibited by a wide variety of flowering plants, swallow-tailed butterflies, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

2.Biodiversity increases from

Poles to equator
Equator to poles
Both Poles to equator and Equator to poles
None of these
Biodiversity increases from poles to equator, i.e., from high to low altitude

3.Modern ex situ conservation includes

In vitro fertilization
Cryopreservation techniques
Plants can be propagated using tissue culture methods
All of the above
In recent years, ex situ conservation has advanced beyond keeping threatened species in enclosures. Now, gametes of the threatened species can be preserved in viable and fertile condition for long periods using cryopreservation techniques. Eggs can be fertilized in vitro and plants can be propagated using tissue culture methods

4.The impacts of loss of biodiversity may lead to
I. lowered resistance to environmental perturbation
II. decrease in plant production
III. increased variability in ecosystem processes like water use, pest/disease cycle, plants productivity
IV. Increase in plant production
Choose the correct option

I and II
I and IV
I and III
I, II and III
All are true except IV

5.In your opinion, which is the most effective way to conserve the plant diversity of an area?

By tissue culture method
By creating biosphere reserve
By creating botanical garden
By developing seed bank
Biosphere reserve is an in situ conservation method. Hence, it is the most effective way among the four for preserving genetic diversity by protecting wild population, traditional life style and domesticated plant genetic resource.

6.What is/are the correct explanations about higher diversity in tropical areas in comparison to the temperate areas?
I. There are no favourable seasons in tropics
II. Less solar energy is available in tropics
III. Rate of extinction is low in tropics
IV. Resource availability is higher in tropics
Choose the correct option

I, III and IV
I, II, III and IV
I, II, III
III and IV
There are various hypothesis for higher diversity in tropical areas
(i) Speciation is a function of time. Temperate areas have undergone frequent glaciation in the past. It killed most of the species. No such disturbance occurred in tropics where species continued to flourish and evolved undisturbed for millions of years
(ii) There are no unfavourable seasons in tropics. Continued favourable environment has helped tropical organisms to gain more niche spec ialisation and increased diversity
(iii) More solar energy is available in tropics. This promotes higher productivity and increased biodiversity
(iv) Resource availability is higher in tropics
(v) There is reduced competition in tropics due to favourable environment
(vi) Rate of extinction is low in tropics

7.A species becomes prone to extinction due to

Drastic environmental changes and population characteristics
Large body size and large population size
Drastic environmental changes and mass extinction
Population characteristics and pollution
A species becomes prone to extinction due to the two categories of attributes, drastic environmental changes and population characteristics
Population traits are-small population size, large body size, higher status of trophic level, etc.

8.The total number of biodiversity hot spots in the world are

24
12
34
52
A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservior of biodiversity that is threatened with destruction. Initially, 25 biodiversity hotspots were identified but subsequently nine more have been added to the list bringing the total number of biodiversity hotspots in the world to 34.

9.On behalf of endangered species and habitats, why conservationists are calling for an immediate and often expensive action?

Man has brought on climate change
Extinction is an unnatural process
It would be more costly financially if, we did not act
Biodiversity is beneficial to humans
Biodiversity is important at every hierarchical level-genetic diversity (gene pool), species diversity, community and ecosystem diversity. It is being threatened by the reduction in space, smaller and fragmented habitats, over-exploitation by humans, human sponsored ecosystems, climatic changes, pollution and invasive exotic species.
However, it is important that the present human population derives economic, ecological and aesthetic benefits from biodiversity. It is equally important that the biodiversity is preserved in all its forms and in good health for the future generations. Further degradation and destruction of habitats should be prevented

10.What is the exact latitudinal range for tropical regions, which harbour more species than temperate or polar areas?

71°N to 71°S
23.5°S to 71°N
23.5°N to 23.5°S
71°N to 23.5°S
In general species diversity decreases as we move away from the equator towards the poles. With very few exceptions, tropics harbour more species than temperate or polar areas. Latitudinal range for tropics is 23.5°N to 23.5°S

11.Which of the following statement are true?
I. Species diversity provides stability to the ecosystem
II. Communities with more species tends to be more stable than those with less species
III. Ecosystem with higher biodiversity are more productive than the ecosystem with lower biodiversity
IV. Biodiversity is not essential for the maintenance and health of ecosystem
Choose the correct option

I, II and III
I, II and IV
II, III and IV
I, II, III and IV
All are true except the (iv)
It is species diversity and not biodiversity, which is important for maintaining higher levels of productivity and ecosystem health

12.The narrowly utilitarian arguments for conserving biodiversity includes the following from the given list
I. Ecosystem services like photosynthesis
II. Industrial products like dyes and lubricants
III. Watching spring flowers in full bloom
IV. The aesthetic pleasure of walking through thick
V. Fibre, firewood and construction material
VI. Products of medicinal importance
Choose the correct option

I, II, III
II, III, VI
IV, V, VI
I, III, VI
The narrowly utilitarian arguments for conserving biodiversity are
Human derives countless direct economic benefits from nature-food (pulses, cereals, fruits), firewood, fibre, construction, dyes, resins, perfumes) and the products of medicinal importance

13.More than 70% of world’s freshwater is contained in

Antarctica
Glaciers and mountains
Greenland
Polar ice
Three- fourth surface of earth (about 71% of total) is occupied by ocean, which contains 97.5% of total water. This is marine water with about 3.5% salt contents. Rest water, i.e., 2.5% is fresh water, which occurs on land. Most amount of this water (about 1.97%, i.e., more than 70% of world’s total freshwater) occurs as frozen polar ice caps and glaciers and 0.5% freshwater occurs as source water.

14.The measure of the variety of species and their relative abundance present within a region is referred to as

Biodiversity
Genetic diversity
Species diversity
Ecological diversity
Species diversity.
The diversity at the species level is measured as species diversity. It is the variety in the number and richness of the species of a region. For example, the Western Ghats have a greater amphibian species diversity than the Eastern Ghats

15.Amongst animals, insects comprise

Less than 70%
Equal to 70%
More than 70%
None of these
On earth, 70% of all the species recorded are animals, while plants comprises no more than 22% of the total
Among animals, insects are the most species rich taxonomic group, making up more than 70% of the total. That means, out of every 10 animals on this planet, atleast 7 are insects

16.Siberian cranes are regular visitors of

Bharatpur sanctuary, Rajasthan
Lalbagh, Bangaluru
Vedanthgol sanctuary, Tamil Nadu
Jim Corbett national park, Uttarakhand
Siberian cranes are regular visitors of Bharatpur sanctuary, Rajasthan.

17.The IUCN red list, 2004 documents the extinction of 784 species in the last 500 years including

359 vertebrates, 338 invertebrates and 87 plants
338 vertebrates, 359 invertebrates and 87 plants
338 vertebrates, 359 invertebrates and 78 plants
359 vertebrates, 338 invertebrates and 78 plants
The IUCN red list (2004) documents the extinction of 784 species (including 338 vertebrates 359 invertebrates and 87 plants) in the last 500 years

18.Species which is in danger of extinction is

Endangered
Vulnerable
Rare
Critically endangered
A species, which is facing an extremly high risk of extinction in the wild in immediate future is called critically endangered.

19.-1℃ to 13℃ annual variations in the intensity and duration of temperature and 50 and 250 cm annual variation in precipitation, account for the formation of a major biome as

Temperate forest
Coniferous forest
Tropical forest
Grassland
The coniferous forest or taiga or boreal forest consists of evergreen, cone bearing trees like spruce, pine, etc. Mean annual rainfall is 50-170 cm (50-250 cm annual variation in precipitation). In winter average temperature is 6℃ and night are long and chilly while summers are pleasant with average maximum temperature of 20℃ and with long hours of day light (-1℃ to 13℃ annual variations in the intensity and duration of temperature).

20.Which of the following is responsible for biodiversity loss?

Habitat loss and fragmentation
Alien species invasions
Coextinctions
All of the above
The causes of biodiversity losses are alien species invasions, habitat loss, fragmentation and coextinctions etc.
The world is facing accelerated rate of biodiversity losses due to human interference. The causes are over population, urbanization, industrialization, coextinctions, alien species invasions, habitat loss and fragmentation, etc.

21.The first biosphere reserve established in India for conserving the gene pool of flora and fauna and the life style of tribals is

Nilgiri biosphere reserve
Nanda Devi biosphere reserve
Uttarakhand biosphere reserve
Great Nicobar biosphere reserve
In India, the first biosphere reserve is Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR). It includes two well known national parks, viz, Bandipur National Park and Nagarhole Park.

22.As estimated by Robert May, what is total number of species present on earth?

3 million
5 million
7 million
9 million
A more conservative and scientifically sound estimate made by Robert May, places the global species diversity at about 7 million

23.Identify the names of two hot spots of biodiversity in India

Himalayan and Deccan Plateau
Western ghats and North Eastern Himalayas
Deccan and Western ghats
Western ghats and Gangetic plains
Hot spots are the areas of high endemism and high level of species richness. Three of them occurs in India-Western Ghats and Sri Lanka/Indo-Burma (North-East India) and Himalaya

24.Core zone, buffer zone and manipulation zone are found in

National park
Sanctuary
Tiger reserve
Biosphere reserve
Biosphere reserves are a special category of protected areas of land and/or coastal environments wherein people are an integral component of the ecosystem. It represents a specified area zonated for particular activity and consists of core zone without any human activity, buffer zone with limited human activities and manipulation zone with several manipulating human activities.

25.Soil erosion is prevented by

Deforestation
Afforestation
Reduction of CFCs production
Use of CNG in all transports
Afforestation or reforestation, i.e., growing of forest trees is most effective in controlling soil erosion. The Government of India has introduced the festival of ‘Van Mahotsav’. In this festival, planting of tress is done on open waste land

26.Which of the following is an inexhaustible resource?

Fossil fuel
Solar energy
Coal
Petroleum
Inexhaustible resources are available in unlimited quantities on earth, thus, can not be exhausted by man’s consumption, e.g., solar energy, air, water, soil, etc.
Fossil fuels, coal, petroleum, etc, are limited and exhaustible or non-renewable resources which when once depleted can not be gained or reused again.

27.Wildlife conservation aims at
I. Maintaining the ecological process.
II. To enrich the wild life diversity with exotic species.
III. Preventing migration of species.
IV. Maintaining the diversity of life.
The correct statement are

I, II
II, III
III, IV
I, IV
Ecologically managed wild life provide food, shelter and some commercially useful products. One step towards the wild life conservation is to preserve the earth’s genetic diversity by protecting all threatened species of plants and animals.

28.Many species like steller’s sea cow passenger pigeon have been driven to the brink of extinction. Which of the following describes this situation?

Over-exploitation by humans
Pollution
Habitat loss
Competition from introduced species
Excessive exploitation of a species, whether a plant or animal reduces the size of its population, so that it becomes vulnerable to extinction. Many marine fishes like whales population is declining around the world because of over harvesting. Some commercially important species are likely to become endangered

29.Which of the following species is restricted to a specific area?

Sibling species
Allopatric species
Sympatric species
Endemic species
Endemic species restricted to a specific area. Sibling species are species which do not interbreed but are otherwise difficult to separate on the basis of morphological characters alone.
Sympatric species are having overlapping are of geographical distribution.

30.India has more than ___. genetically different strains of rice.
Complete the given statement with reference to NCERT textbook

1000
50000
20000
25000
India has more than 50,000 genetically different strains of rice.
The diversity of rice in India is heighest in the world. More than 50,000 genetically different strains of rice has been estimated in India, alone. Basmati rice has 27 documented varieties grown in India

31.Conservation of hot spots are best described as

Islands that are experiencing high rates of extinction
Areas where native species are being replaced with introduced species
Areas where the people are active supporters of the biological diversity
Areas with the large members of endemic species that are disappearing rapidly
Eminent conservationists identified areas (regions) with very high level of species richness and high degree of endemism (i.e., species confined to that region and not found anywhere else) for maximum protection. Initially the number of biodiversity hot spots were 25 but now it increased up to 34

32.Estuaries are considered as nutrient rich and trap

River
Pond
Lake
Ocean
An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water, which has a free connection with the open sea, thus strongly affected by tidal action and within which sea water is mixed with freshwater from land drainage, e.g., river mouths, coastal bays, tidal marshes and water bodies behind barrier beaches.

33.Wildlife conservation aims at
I. maintaining the ecological process
II. to enrich the wildlife diversity with exotic species
III. preventing migration of the species
IV. maintaining the diversity of life
Select the correct answer using the codes given below

I and II
II and III
III and IV
I and IV
Ecologically managed wildlife provides food, shelter and some commercially useful products. One step towards the wildlife conservation is to preserve the earth’s genetic diversity by protecting all threatened species of the plants and animals

34.The Indian wild ass is in the category of __ by Wildlife Protection Act of government of India

Rare species
Endangered species
Endemic species
Vulnerable species
Ecologically managed wildlife provides food, shelter and some commercially useful products. One step towards the wildlife conservation is to preserve the earth’s genetic diversity by protecting all threatened species of the plants and animals

35.How many countries pledged their commitment to achieve reduced rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 in the world summit on sustainable development held in 2002 in Johannesberg, South Africa?

180
200
190
210
A second World Summit was held in 2002 in Johannesberg, South Africa. 190 countries attending the summit pledged to significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional and local levels by 2010

Section-B

36.The wildlife Protection Act was introduced in

1972
1981
1986
1991
Wildlife Protection Act was introduced in 1972 and it was amended in 1991

37.What is the sustainable use of resources?

Protected strips of the land that allows organisms to migrate from one wilderness area to another
A law that makes it illegal to do harm to the species that are listed as endangered or threatened
The ability to use natural resources in a way that helps people to protect the ecosystem
The study of the methods to help protect biodiversity
Conservation of biodiversity is the protection, uplift and scientific management of biodiversity so as to maintain it at its optimum level and derive sustainable benefits for the present as well as future generations. Sustainable use is the ability to use natural resources in a way that helps people and protects the ecosystem

38.For frugivorous birds and mammals in the tropical forests of different continents, the slope is found to have the value of

1.15
1.5
1.05
1.005
For frugivorous birds and mammals in the tropical forests of different continents, the slope is found to have a value of 1.15

39.Rivet popper hypothesis assumes the _A_ to be an aeroplane and the _B_ to be the rivets, joining all parts together. Here A and B refers to

A-species; B-ecosystem
A-ecosystem; B-species
A-species; B-community
A-species; B-community
Rivet popper hypothesis assumes the ecosystem to be an aeroplane and the species to be the rivets, joining as parts together

40.Which of the following is not an objective of convention on biodiversity?

Sustainable use of biodiversity
Conservation of biodiversity
Selective hunting of dangerous and threatening species
Fair and equitable sharing of profits arising out of the genetic resources
Earth Summit promoted Convention on Biological Diversity. The main objectives of convention of biodiversity were
(i) Adaption of ways and means to conserve biodiversity
(ii) Managing biodiversity for sustainable use
(iii) Ensuring equitable sharing of the benefits form biological diversity including utilisation of genetic resources. Agenda 21, a product of Earth Summit, is a blue print for encouraging sustainable development of diversity through social, economic and environmental measures in the 21st century

41.One of the ex situ conservation method for endangered species is

Wildlife sanctuaries
Biosphere reserves
Cryopreservation
National parks
Ex situ conservation is the preservation of components of biological diversity outside their natural habitat. It includes cryopreservation, off site collections, gene banks and tissue culture.
In situ conservation is the preservation of biological diversity in their natural wild conditions, usually in the form of biosphere reserves, national parks and wild life sanctuaries

42.An endemic species is the one

That has been introduced to a new geographic area
That is found in many different geographic area
That is found only on islands
That is found naturally in just one geographic area
An endemic species is the one found naturally in just one geographic area

43.Which of the following statement belongs to a stable community?

Productivity of community should not vary too much from year to year
Community should be resistant to occasional natural and man-made disturbances
Community should be resistant to invasions by alien species
All of the above
Characteristics of a stable community
(i) Productivity should not vary too much from year to year
(ii) It should be resistant to occasional, natural and man-made disturbances
(iii) It should be resistant to invasions by alien species

44.Genetic diversity is the measure of

Varieties of the species and their relative abundance present within a region
Variety in the genetic information contained in the organisms
Diversity of the genes at community and ecosystem levels
All of the above
Genetic diversity is the diversity in number and types of genes as well as the chromosomes present in different species, their variation in the genes and their alleles in the same species. It is mainly the variation in genetic information present in the organisms. It helps in speciation or evolution of the new species

45.The number of species of birds in Columbia, located near the equator is

2,400
1,400
2,000
2,500
The number of species of birds in Columbia, located near the equator is 1400

46.Which of the following rain forest is home to more than 40,000 species of plants, 3,000 of fishes, 1,300 of birds, 427 of mammals, 427 of amphibians, 378 of reptiles and more than 125,000 invertebrates?

Amazonian
Tropical
Arctic tundra
Temperate
The Amazon rain forest is a moist brodleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rain forest, followed by Peru with 13% and with minor amounts in Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Surinam and French Guyana. States or departments in four nations bear the name Amazonas after it. The Amazon represents over half of the planet’s remaining rain forests and comprises the largest and most species rich tract of tropical rain forest in the world.

47.Biosphere reserves are different from national park as

Plants and animals are protected in biosphere reserves
Human are integral part of biosphere reserves
Humans are not involved in biosphere reserves
None of above
Biosphere reserves are multipurpose protected areas, which are meant for preserving genetic diversity in representative ecosystems of various natural biomes and unique biological communities by protecting wild populations, traditional life style of tribals and domesticated plant and animal genetic resources. Humans are integral part of biosphere reserves but not of the National Parks.

48.In which part of the biosphere reserves, human settlement is permissible?

Transition zone
Buffer zone
Core zone
Settlement not allowed
Each biosphere reserve has
(i) Core or Natural Zone No human activity is allowed. The area is undisturbed and legally protected ecosystem
(ii) Buffer Zone It surrounds the core area. Limited human activity is allowed like resource use strategies, research and education
(iii) Transition Zone (Manipulation Zone) It is the outermost or peripheral part of biosphere reserve where an active cooperation is present between reserve management and local people for activities like settlements, cropping, recreation, forestry and other economic uses without disturbing ecology.
Transition zone has different parts like forestry, agriculture, tourism and restoration regions. Restoration region is the degraded area which is selected for restoration to near natural form

49.Which one of the following has maximum genetic diversity in India?

Teak
Mango
Wheat
Tea
Mango has maximum genetic diversity in India.

50.Spot out the zone of our country considered as the hot spot of biodiversity and regarded as the ‘Cradle of Speciation’.

Western ghats
North East
Himalayan base
Deccan plateau
The Eastern Himalaya’s hotspot of our country extends to the North Eastern India and Bhutan. The Indo-Burma region covering the Eastern Himalayas is also known as cradle of speciation.