BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION

WORK SHEET -4

1) Explain the levels of biodiversity at genetic, specific and ecological levels with the help of one example.

2) Mention the kind of biodiversity represented by more than a 1000 varieties of mangoes in India . How is it
possible?

3)Explain giving three reasons why tropics show, greatest level of species diversity

or

What is so special about tropics that might account for their greater biological diversity ?

Or

Species diversity decreases as we move away from the equator towads poles . What could be the possible reason?

4)What is the significance of the slope of regression in a species - area relationship?

5) “ India has greater ecosystem diversity than Norway” Do you agree with the statement ? Give reasons to
support your answer.

6) The relation between species richness and area for a wide variety of taxa turns out to be a rectangular

hyperbola. Give a brief explanation.

7) Write the four importance of species diversity to the ecosystem . Support your answer with the finding of
Tilman.

8) Does the number of species in a community really matter to the functioning of the ecosystem?

9)What exactly is stability for a biological community?

or

What characteristics make a community stable?

or

List the features that make a stable biological community.

10) Explain “rivet poppet hypothesis” Name the Ecologist who proposed it.

11)since the origin of life on earth, there were five episodes of mass extinction of species.

(i) How is the ‘Sixth Extinction’, presently in progress, different from the previous episodes?

(ii) Who is mainly responsible for the ‘sixth extinction’?

(iii) List any four points that can help to overcome this disaster.
12)What are the major causes of species losses in a geographical region?

Or

List four causes of biodiversity loss.

13 )”Alien species are highly invasive and are a threat to indigenous species “.

What is meant by alien species invasion ? Name one plant and one animal species that are of great threat to our
Indian native species.

Or

”Alien species are highly invasive and are a threat to indigenous species “. Substantiate this statement with any
three examples.

14)Which region /Biome in the world is considered as the ‘ Lung of the planet’. Give two reasons for its
degradation.

15) Lantana and Eichornia are examples of two weed . How do they affect the ecosystem.

16)Explain the status of Indian biodiversity. Give a brief account of causes of biodiversity loss.

17)Why should biodiversity be conserved? Explain giving three reasons.

18) Describe the consumptive use value of biodiversity as food, drugs and medicines, fuel and fibre with

suitable examples.

19)Explain how biodiversity is important for human.

Or

Humans benefit from diversity of life. Give two examples.

20) Extinction of a species is classified into three types,i.e. natural extinction, mass extinction and

anthropogenic extinction. Classify the following

examples on this basis.

(i) Animals lost due to inbreeding depression

(ii) Disappearance of dinosaurs

(iii) Extinction of passenger pigeon

(iv) Extinction of marine invertebrates

(v) Extinction of tiger

Ans. (i) Natural extinction

(iii) Anthropogenic extinction

(iv) Natural extinction

(v) Anthropogenic extinction

21)What is an endangered species? Give an example of an endangered plant and animal species each?

22) Suggest two practices giving one example of each, that help to protect rare or threatened species.

23) ‘In situ conservation can help endangered /threatened species’. Justify the statement.

24) (i) Explain the concept of endemism.

(ii) Name four regions in and around our country that are considered hotspots.

25)Mention the three zones of a biosphere reserve.

26 ) What are sacred groves? Where are they found in India? Explain their importance in conservation.

27) Write in brief about Ramsar convention.

28) List six advantages of ‘ex situ’ approach to conservation of biodiversity.

29) Explain any three ways of ex situ other than zoological parks, botanical gardens and wildlife

safaries, by which threatened species of plants and animals are being conserved.

30)Differentiate between in situ and ex situ approachesof biodiversity conservation.

31)Many plant and animal species are on the verge of their extinction because of loss of forest land by

indiscriminate use by the humans. As a biology student what method would you suggest along with

its advantages that can protect such threatened species from getting extinct?

32)How can you as an individual, prevent the loss of biodiversity?

33)(i) ‘India has greater ecosystem diversity than Norway.’ Do you agree with the statement? Give

reasons in support of your answer.

(ii) Write the difference between genetic biodiversity and species biodiversity that exists at all the levels

of biological organisation. (All India 2018)

34) Is it possible that productivity and diversity of a natural community remain constant over a time

period of, say one hundred years?

35) Give three reasons as to why prokaryotes are not given any figures for their diversity.
36) What is an endangered species? Give an example of

an endangered plant and animal species each?

37)Write in brief about Ramsar convention.

38). List six advantages of ‘ex situ’ approach to conservation of biodiversity.

39) Case Based Questions

1. Observe the diagrams given below and answer the

questions that follows.

(i) What is being shown in the above representation?

Ans. The diagram shown in question depicts the global biodiversity of major taxa of invertebrates, vertebrates and

plants.

(ii) What does the label A represents in the pie diagram of invertebrates?

Ans. Label A depicts insects which are the most species rich taxonomic group in the animal kingdom, constituting
more than 70% of the total animals.

(iii) Which group of plants are the most endangered and why are they so few?

Ans. Ferns and allies are most endangered and they are few in number because they grow in humid and shady
places and thus, need water for fertilisation. Due to high temperature and dry condition, few of them survived.

(iv) How do fungi that are saprotrophs sustain themselves as a large population?

Ans. Fungi has saprotrophic mode of nutrition they depend only on organic matter for their survival and hence,

survive in any environment.

(v) Which group of plants is most advanced and which one is most primitive?

Ans. Group of plants labelled as C representing angiosperms, the most advanced taxonomic group and label
Brepresenting algae, most primitive taxonomic group of plant kingdom.

2. Observe the global biodiversity distribution of the major plant taxa in the given diagram
and answer the question.

(i) Which group of plants are the most endangered?

Ans. Lichens

(ii) Why are mosses/ferns so few? Give reason.

Ans. Mosses and ferns are very few as they need humid conditions in forests and forests are disappearing.

(iii) How do fungi that are heterotrophs sustain themselves as a large population?

Ans. Fungi are able to sustain themselves as a large population because of their wider adaptability to the

changing environment conditions.

3. The following graph shows the species-area relationship. Answer the following questions as directed.

(i) Who studied the kind of relationship shown in the graph?

Ans. Alexander von Humboldt studied the relationship shown in the graph. He observed that species richness

increased within an explored area, but only upto a limit.

(ii) In the species-area relationship, ‘Z’ represents.

Ans. In the species-area relationship, Z represents regression coefficient.

(iii) What is value of ‘Z’ regardless of the taxonomic group or the region?

Ans. Ecologists have discovered that the value of Z lies in the range of 0.1 to 0.2, regardless of the taxonomic group
or the region whether it is the plants in Britain, birds in California or molluscs in New York state, the slopes of the
regression line are amazingly similar.

(iv) What is the value of Z in species-area relationships among very large areas?

Ans. The species-area relationships among very large areas (continents), will give a much steeper slope and Z
values in the range of 0.6 to 1.2
(v) If log A = 4, Z = 0.3 and log C = 0.8, find the value of log ‘S’?

Ans. Given, log A = 4, Z = 0.3 and log C = 0.8

Putting these values in equation, log S = log C + Z log A, i.e.species-area relationship equation, we will get the value
of log S.

Thus, log S = 0.8 + 0.3 ́ 4 = 0.8 + 1.2 = 2.0

4. Direction Read the following passage and answer the

questions that follows.

The loss of biological diversity is a global crisis with hardly any region on the earth not facing ecological
catastrophes. Out of the 1.7 million species which are known to inhabit the earth, one-third to one-fourth is likely
to get extinct with the coming decades. Man’s intervention has speeded up the extinction rate from one species
every 1000 years to one species every 10 years. For most of the time man lived in a hunter-gatherer society, he
depended entirely on biodiversity for sustenance. With the increased dependence on agriculture and
industrialisation, the emphasis on biodiversity has decreased. Possible reasons behind the extinction of biodiversity
are destruction of habitat,overexploitation, introduction of exotic species, deforestation, etc. The phenomenon of
biodiversity is very vast and complex with no single arching effect ofdiversity on either productivity or stability.
However, biodiversity can be conserved by protecting its whole ecosystem with the twobasic approaches in situ
and ex situ conservationstrategies.

1. Define Biodiversity.

Ans. Biodiversity may be defined as the variety and variability of living organisms on the earth. In other

words, it is defined as the variety of life forms, gene pools and habitats found in an area.

(ii) State some of the possible reasons of depletion of biodiversity.

Ans. Some of the possible reasons why there is depletion of biodiversity are destruction of habitat,

overexploitation of resources, introduction of alien or exotic species and coextinctions.

(iii) How has an increase in population led to an increased dependence on agriculture?

Ans. With an increase in population, there is an increased demand for food, energy and income. Increased

population along with land degradation put forward the scenario of land degradation.

(iv) ‘Extinction of one species leads to an extinction of the other’. Comment.

Ans. This statement means that when a species becomesextinct, the plant and animal species associated with

it, in an obligatory way also becomes extinct, e.g. if a species of fish becomes extinct, all the parasites that

are specific to it, also face extinction.

(v) Define sacred groves.

any kind of human interference and includes a number of rare, endangered and endemic species. So,

it is known as sacred groves.