NEET Practice Questions (MCQs) with Answers & Solutions

(b) Botanical gardens (i.e., institutions that maintain living plant collections representing a large number of species, genera and families) are the means of ex situ conservation (i.e., conservation outside the habitats).

Insitu conservation involves the conservation of genetic resources through their maintenance within natural or even human-made ecosystems in which they occur. It includes National parks, Sanctuaries, Biosphere reserves, Nature Reserves, Natural Monuments, Cultural Landscapes etc.

(c)In India, rice has the largest species diversity or variety.

(c) Four main types of commercial tea are generally recognized in the trade. These are black tea (China, India, Sri Lanka), green tea (China, Japan and Taiwan), oolong tea (Taiwan) and brick tea (China). Dust or fannings are left over small part of tea leaves, which are also widely used

(d) : The total number of species estimated is about 1.74 million. Out of these, the number of known species in India is 1,42,000 or roughly 8.1% of the total though India has only 2.4% land area. India with about 45000 species of plants and twice as many species of animals is one of the 12 megadiversity countries of the world

(b): Non-native or alien species are often introduced inadvertently for their economic and other uses. They often become invasive and drive away the local species. These species are considered to be second major cause of extinction of species (the first being habitat destruction). Lantana camara has replaced many species in forests of Central India. Parthenium hystero-phorus has pushed out several herbs and shrubs from open places in the plains. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) was introduced in Indian waters to reduce pollution. clogged water bodies including wetlands at many places resulting in death of several aquatic plants and animals. Nelumbo (lotus) is not an invasive species.

(b) : Biodiversity hotspots are the areas of high endemism and high levels of species richness. Initially 25 biodiversity hotspots were identified, but subsequently nine more have been added to list bringing the total number of biodiversity hotspots in the world to 34.

(c): Ex-situ conservation is not responsible for biodiversity loss, rather it is a method of conservation of biodiversity. It conserves selected rare plants/ animals in places outside their natural homes.

Alien species invasion, co-extinction and deforestation result in extinction of many species and loss of biodiversity.

(a) Biodiversity hotspots are areas of high endemism and high level of species richness.
They are determined mainly by three factors:
(i) Number of species/species diversity
(ii) Degree of endemism
(iii) Degree of threat

(c) Western Ghats occur along the Westerns coast of India in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. There is high degree of species richness and endemism of flowering plants, amphibians,
reptiles, some mammals and butterflies.

(d) The factors that reduce diversity are drop in temperature and greater seasonal variability. The temperature drops about 6.5 C with increase in altitude by 1000 m.