Match the Column I with Column II:
| Column I | Column II |
| A. The term ‘biodiversity’ | 1. More stable |
| B. Communities with less species | 2. Less stable |
| C. Communities with more species | 3. Edward Wilson |
| D. Rivet popper hypothesis | 4. Paul Ehrlich |
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4
(A) The term ‘biodiversity’ — this matches (3) Edward Wilson. The sociobiologist Edward Wilson popularised the term to describe the combined diversity at all levels of biological organisation.
(B) Communities with less species — this matches (2) Less stable. Ecologists long believed that a community with fewer species varies more from year to year and is less stable.
(C) Communities with more species — this matches (1) More stable. Tilman’s plots with more species showed less year-to-year variation in total biomass.
(D) Rivet popper hypothesis — this matches (4) Paul Ehrlich. The Stanford ecologist used an airplane and its rivets as an analogy for an ecosystem and its species.
NCERT Extract:
Biodiversity – “… Biodiversity is the term popularised by the sociobiologist Edward Wilson to describe the combined diversity at all the levels of biological organisation.”
The Importance of Species Diversity to the Ecosystem – “… For many decades, ecologists believed that communities with more species, generally, tend to be more stable than those with less species. … There are no direct answers to such näive questions but we can develop a proper perspective through an analogy (the ‘rivet popper hypothesis’) used by Stanford ecologist Paul Ehrlich.”