The 'Rivet Popper Hypothesis' was given by :

The correct answer is Option (2) → Paul Ehrlich

In the analogy, the ecosystem is an airplane and the species are its rivets. Losing a few rivets may not harm the flight at first, but as more are lost the plane becomes dangerously weak; losing key rivets on the wings is a serious threat at once.

Option (2) Paul Ehrlich — Correct. The rivet popper hypothesis was given by the ecologist Paul Ehrlich. It compares species in an ecosystem to the rivets of an aeroplane: losing a few may not matter, but losing more weakens the whole.

Note: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2026 on 26-05-2026 (Slot 2), in CUET (UG) 2025 on 20-05-2025 (Slot 1), and in CUET (UG) 2022 on 20-08-2022 (Slot 1).

NCERT Extract:
The Importance of Species Diversity to the Ecosystem – “… 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. In an airplane (ecosystem) all parts are joined together using thousands of rivets (species). If every passenger travelling in it starts popping a rivet to take home (causing a species to become extinct), it may not affect flight safety (proper functioning of the ecosystem) initially, but as more and more rivets are removed, the plane becomes dangerously weak over a period of time.”