Test: Biodiversity And Environment - UPSC MCQ

• Tropical Deciduous Forests thrive where the rainfall is between 70cm And 200 cm.

• The trees in these forests shed their leaves for about six to eight weeks in summer.

• They are also called the monsoon forests.

• The Pampas are fertile South American lowlands, covering more than 750,000 km2, that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba; most of Uruguay.

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  The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia.

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  Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and Lands typically referred to as “prairies” tend to be in North America.

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  Veld is the name given to various types of open country in Southern Africa that is used for pasturage and farmland. To most South African farmers today, the “veld” refers to the land they work, much of which has long since ceased to be “natural.”

(A) Elephant: iii) Tropical Deciduous Forest

(B) Silver Fox: ii) Mediterranean

(C) Wild buffalo or Bison: iv) Temperate Grasslands

(D) Horse: i) Coniferous Forest or Taiga

• Podzol or Podsol type of soil is found in the coniferous forests. In soil science, podzols are the typical soils of coniferous, or boreal forests.

• They are also typical soils of eucalypt forests and heathlands in southern Australia, while in Western Europe podzols develop on heathland, which is often a construct of human interference through grazing and burning.

• Ebony and Mahogany trees are associated with Tropical evergreen forests. Tropical evergreen forests are usually found in areas receiving more than 200 cm of rainfall and having a temperature of 15 °C to 30 °C.

• They occupy about seven per cent of the Earth’s land surface and harbour more than half of the planet’s terrestrial plants and animals.

• Tropical evergreen forests are dense, multi-layered, harbour many types of plants & animals.

• The wide treeless grassy plains in South America are called Pampas.

• The Pampas are fertile South American lowlands, covering more than 750,000 km2, that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and the southernmost Brazilian State, the Rio Grande do Sul.

• A Savanna is a rolling grassland scattered with shrubs and isolated trees, which can be found between a tropical rainforest and desert biome.

• Savannas are also known as tropical grasslands. These types of grassland are found in a wide band on either side of the equator on the edges of tropical rainforests.

Biotic Resources: These are obtained from the biosphere and have life such as human beings, flora, and fauna, fisheries,  livestock, etc.

Abiotic Resources: All those things which are composed of non-living things are called abiotic resources. For example, rocks and metals.

• The Yellowstone National Park is located in the USA. Yellowstone National Park is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho.

• It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.

• Cultivation of rubber in Brazil, its native habitat, was severely hindered by blight in the early 20th century.

• At present, most of the world’s natural rubber is produced by Rubber trees descended from rubber seedlings transplanted from South America to the south and south-east Asia.

• The most severe disease is the South American Leaf Blight (SALB).

• This Disease is endemic throughout the rubber growing areas in the Americas. It also poses a major global threat.

• Several fungicides can control the fungus. Some Species are not susceptible to the disease, and some strains of susceptible species are resistant.

• Crown budding or grafting of resistant plants onto productive trees can be used to control spread.