Botany MCQs for NEET — Practice Questions with Answers

The text explains, 'The Monarch butterfly is highly distasteful to its predator (bird) because of a special chemical present in its body. Interestingly, the butterfly acquires this chemical during its caterpillar stage by feeding on a poisonous weed.'

The context states, 'Many plants produce and store chemicals that make the herbivore sick when they are eaten... The plant produces highly poisonous cardiac glycosides and that is why you never see any cattle or goats browsing on this plant.' This clearly indicates a defense against herbivory.

The text mentions, 'Although animals eating plants are categorised separately as herbivores, they are, in a broad ecological context, not very different from predators.' And later, 'For plants, herbivores are the predators.'

The text states, 'Biological control methods adopted in agricultural pest control are based on the ability of the predator to regulate prey population.' This is exemplified by the control of the prickly pear cactus by a moth.

The table and text clearly define predation as an interaction where '+' (benefit) and '-' (harm) occur. 'In both parasitism and predation only one species benefits (parasite and predator, respectively) and the interaction is detrimental to the other species (host and prey, respectively).'

The statement highlights the foundational role of plants (producers) in fueling ecosystems. Animals (consumers) derive their energy either directly from plants (herbivores) or indirectly by consuming other animals that ate plants (carnivores). This places plants as the base of the food chain.

The pyramid of energy is always upright because according to the 10% law, only 10% of the energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next. This means there is always less energy at higher trophic levels than at lower ones, making an inverted energy pyramid impossible. Pyramids of number and biomass can be inverted in certain ecosystems.

As stated in the text, 'The base of each pyramid represents the producers or the first trophic level while the apex represents tertiary or top-level consumer.'

The exercise question asks: 'In an ecosystem dominated by trees, the pyramid (of numbers) is_________type.' This implies an inverted pyramid of numbers. A single large tree can support many herbivores (e.g., insects), which in turn support fewer carnivores, leading to an inverted shape.

The text clearly states, 'However, there are certain limitations of ecological pyramids such as it does not take into account the same species belonging to two or more trophic levels. It assumes a simple food chain, something that almost never exists in nature; it does not accommodate a food web.'