Read the given passage and answer the following questions :
The narrowly utilitarian arguments for conserving biodiversity are obvious; humans derive countless direct economic benefits from nature- food (cereals, pulses, fruits), firewood, fibre, construction material, industrial products (tannins, lubricants, dyes, resins, perfumes) and products of medicinal importance. More than 25 percent of the drugs currently sold in the market worldwide are derived from plants and 25,000 species of plants contribute to the traditional medicines used by native peoples around the world. Nobody knows how many more medicinally useful plants there are in tropical rainforests waiting to be explored. With increasing resources put into ‘bioprospecting’ (exploring molecular, genetic and species-level diversity for products of economic importance), nations endowed with rich biodiversity can expect to reap enormous benefits. The broadly utilitarian argument says that biodiversity plays a major role in many ecosystem services that nature provides. The fast-dwindling Amazon forest is estimated to produce, through photosynthesis, 20 per cent of the total oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere. Pollination (without which plants cannot give us fruits or seeds) is another service, ecosystems provide through pollinators layer – bees, bumblebees, birds and bats. There are other intangible benefits – that we derive from nature–the aesthetic pleasures of walking through thick woods, watching spring flowers in full bloom or waking up to a bulbul’s song in the morning. The ethical argument for conserving biodiversity relates to what we owe to millions of plant, animal and microbe species with whom we share this planet. Philosophically or spiritually, we need to realise that every species has an intrinsic value, even if it may not be of current or any economic value to us.
Given below are two statements:
Statement I: Biodiversity hotspots are regions with very high levels of species richness and a low degree of endemism.
Statement II: Although all the biodiversity hotspots put together cover a very small part of the earth’s land area, the number of species they collectively harbour is extremely high.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct.
Biodiversity hotspots are regions picked out for maximum protection because they have very many species and many endemic species, that is, species found in that region and nowhere else.
Statement I: Biodiversity hotspots are regions with very high levels of species richness and a low degree of endemism. — False. Hotspots have very high species richness and a high degree of endemism. A region with low endemism would not be chosen as a hotspot.
Statement II: Although all the biodiversity hotspots put together cover a very small part of the earth’s land area, the number of species they collectively harbour is extremely high. — True. All the hotspots together cover less than 2 per cent of the earth’s land area (the “very small part” of the statement), yet they hold an extremely high number of species.
NCERT Extract:
How do we Conserve Biodiversity? – “… On a global basis, this problem has been addressed by eminent conservationists. They identified for maximum protection certain ‘biodiversity hotspots’ regions with very high levels of species richness and high degree of endemism (that is, species confined to that region and not found anywhere else). … Although all the biodiversity hotspots put together cover less than 2 per cent of the earth’s land area, the number of species they collectively harbour is extremely high and strict protection of these hotspots could reduce the ongoing mass extinctions by almost 30 per cent.”