31 Years NEET Previous Year Questions: Biodiversity & Conservation - 1 - NEET MCQ

Robert May was a theoretical ecologist the established, who field of theoretical ecology and population biology. According to him the global species diversity is about 7 million.

Botanical garden comes under ex-situ method of conservation of biodiversity.

Sacred groves come under in-situ conservation and represent the pristine forest patches around places of worship which are held in high esteem by tribal communities. Cutting of trees and branches is prohibited due to religious reasons. Wildlife safari parks, botanical gardens and seed blinks come under ex-situ conservation.

Alexander von Humboldt described species-area relationship for the first time. He observed that within a region, species richness increases with increasing explored area, but only upto a limit.

Biodiversity hotspots are a method to identify- those regions of the world where attention is needed to address biodiversity loss and to guide investments in conservation. The idea was first developed by Norman Myers in 1988 to identify tropical forests hotspots characterised both by exceptional levels of plant endemism and serious habitat loss which he then expanded to a more global scope. Currently, 34 biodiversity hotspots have been identified most of which occur in tropical forests.

It is estimated that we have 5.1 million species of Fungi on Earth. Fungi are important for the survival of so many other group of organisms on which they form associations.

Hots are the geographical area where biodiversity is maximum. Two hotspots in India are Western Ghats and North eastern himlayan region.

Biodiversity is the number of variety of organism found within a specified geographic region.

In India maximum genetic diversity is seen in rice. Total of 23 variety of irrigated ecology and 8 varieties of rainfed ecology has been invented in India. 

A germplasm is a collection of genetic resources for organisms. For plants, the germplasm may be stored as a seed collection.It includes diverse alleles of all the genes of an organism.

Eutrophication is often seen in fresh water lakes. The main causes of eutrophication in these water systems are sediments and thermal stratification, with agricultural run-off from fertilizers and manure, containing nitrates and phosphates and discharge of partially treated or untreated sewages or phosphate containing detergents. 

Ex-situ conservation is the conservation of selected organism in places outside their natural homes. They include off site collection and gene banks.
In situ conservation, on the other hand, is the conservation of endangered species in their natural habitat. Biosphere reserves, National parks, wildlife sanctuaries and sacred groves all are examples of In situ conservation.

Tiger is not resident in Gir national park. Gir has a large population of marsh crocodile or mugger, which is among the 40 species of reptiles and amphibians recorded in the sanctuary. According to official census figures, Gir has about 300 lions and 300 leopards, making it one of the major big-cat concentrations in India. Sambar and spotted deer (chital), blue bull (nilgai), chousingha (the world’s only four-horned antelope), chinkara (Indian gazelle) and wild boar thrive in Gir. Jackal, striped hyena, jungle cat, rusty-spotted cat, langur, porcupine, black-naped Indian hare are among the other mammals of Gir.

India is one of the twelve megadiversity regions of the world with 7.7 percent of genetic resources of the world. 
Western Ghats have wild relatives of a number of cultivated plants like banana, citrus, mango, pepper etc. 
Common mango (Mangifera indica) originated as alloploid and its native home was suggested as Eastern India, Assam to Burma or possibly further in the Malay region (Popenoe, 1920). 
Vavilov (1926) also suggested Indo-Burma region as the centre of origin of mango. Hence, mango shows maximum genetic diversity in India.

Quercus species is a dominant component in temperate deciduous forests. The common name of Quercus is cork oak belongs to family Fabaceae. Cork used as a bottle stoppers, soles for shoes, insulating material and for manufacture of linoleum.

Lesser inter-specific competition is not observe in biodiversity hotspots, levels of species richness and high degree of endemism. Initially 25 biodiversity hotspots were identified but subsequently nine more have of biodiversity hotspots in the world to 34. These hotspots are also regions of accelerated habitat loss. 

Podophyllum is one of the endangered species of Indian medicinal plants. It is used to remove benign (not cancer) growths, such as certain kinds of warts. It works by destroying the tissue of the growth.

Endangered plant is Bentinckia nicobarica & endangered animal is Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens).

Hot spot are those areas which were rich in biodiversity but now under threat due to direct or indirect interference of human activites. These regions are on the edge to get some of their species extinct due to humans. Western Ghats in India are under threat due to continuous developmental activities and Doon valley is under threat due to continuous mining activities.

In situ means keeping endangered species of animals or plants into natural environment and not in the environment that looks like natural but man made, like zoological & botanical gardens. In situ includes, national parks, sanctuaries and biosphere reserve.

Biodiversity Act of India was passed by the parliament in the year 2002.

Ex-situ conser vation means off site conservation. It is the process of protecting an endangered species of plant or animal by removing it from an unsafe or threatened habitat and placing it or part of it under the care of man. Botanical garden is one of the method of exsitu conservation.

IUCN is International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural resources which is now called world conservation union (WCU). It maintains a red databook or red list which is a catalogue of taxa facing risk of extinction.
Endangered Species are those facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future due to decrease in its habitat, excessive predation or poaching. The percentage number of endangered species in the list of threatened ones is 19% mammals, 17% birds, 21% reptiles, 22% amphibians and 19% angiosperms. In India their no. is 54 animals and 113 plants e.g Red Panda, Bentinckia nicobarica.
Critically Endangered : The taxon is facing very high risk of extinction in the wild and can become extinct any moment in the immediate future, e.g. Sus salvinus (Pigmy Hog), Berberis nilghiriensis.
Vulnerable : Presently the population is sufficient but is undergoing depletion due to some factors so that it is facing risk of extinction in medium term future e.g. Antelope cervi carpa.
Extinct : The taxon has been completely eliminated or died out from earth e.g. Dodo.

According to Darwin gradual accumulation  of small variations gives rise to new species. Abrupt mutations do not give rise to new species . Plants arose by gradual adaptation to diverse habitats and not suddenly on  earth. Seeded plants  are just one group in the plant kingdom.

The correct answer is option (d) 

Terra rosaa -  most suitable for roses. 

Explanation :- 

Chernozem is the black colored soil which is known for being rich in humus. This is the richest soil in the world and used for the Cultivation of the cereals. Black soil is rich in calcium carbonate and iron . This soil also contains the lime, potash, aluminum, etc. Laterite soil contains the bauxite which is the ore of the aluminum. Terra rossa  is the red clayey soil. The soil formed from the limestone and is used for the production of the vine plants.

Tissue culture is the in vitro culture of cells, tissues or organs of plants.
Botanical garden is a collection of living plants maintained for both pure and applied studies.
Biosphere reserve is a large area having natural habitat of species for their conservation.
Seed banks are a type of gene banks which are meant for the preservation of seeds.
Hence, most effective way to conserve plant diversity of an area is biosphere reserves because the plants are conserved in their natural habitat.
So, the correct answer is 'By creating Biosphere reserves'.

An endangered species is a species that is at high risk of becoming extinct. Plants have the highest number of endangered species. Mammals have 177 endangered species which represents 3.8% of all the species. Similarly, birds have 188 endangered species which represents 1.9% of all the species. Reptiles, amphibians and fishes have 47, 32 and 158 endangered species representing 0.7%, 0.7% and 0.6% respectively of all the species in each group.
Thus, the correct answer is option B.

Diversity is due to the longterm evolutionary changes. Adaptability to continuous changes in environmental conditions is important for natural selection of variants and variations generation after generation leading to emergence of diverse descendants.

The Lemurs are the in habitants of Madagascar and the Comoro Islands.

An institution where valuable plant material likely to become irretrievably lost in the wild or in cultivation is preserved in a viable condition is known as Gene Bank.