Test: Biodiversity - Grade 12 MCQ

Colombia that is located near the equator harbors 1,400 species of birds. Columbia is a country located in South Carolina, USA. It is the second most mega-diverse country in the world, ranking first in bird species.

• The tropical Amazonian rain forest situated in South America has maximum biodiversity on Earth.
• Situated in the tropical region, it is home for 378 of reptiles, 427 of amphibians and mammals, 1,300 birds, 3,000 of fishes, 40,000 plants and 1,25,000 invertebrates species.

Biodiversity is measured at different levels of biological set up together with genes, species and ecosystems along with their interactions. There are a total of 34 biodiversity hotspots in the world, among which the Eastern Himalayan (EH) range is one of the richest with nearly 750,000 sq. km area covering Nepal, Bhutan, and the Indian states of West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, southeast Tibet (China) and northern Myanmar.

• Alexander von Humboldt a German naturalist and geographer explored the South American jungles.
• Through his observations, he concluded that with the increasing explored area, the species diversification increased.
• But this increase in diversity of species was seen only up to a limit.

Biodiversity is being threatened by reduction in space, smaller and fragmented habitat, over exploitation by human, cliamtic change, etc. Sacred grooves are especially useful in conserving rare and threatened species.