Read the passage carefully and answer the questions based on the passage:
Species diversity on earth is not uniformly distributed. It is generally highest in the tropics and decreases towards the poles. Earth’s fossil history reveals the incidences of mass extinctions in the past. Earth’s rich biodiversity is vital for the very survival of mankind. It is believed that communities with high diversity tend to be less variable and more productive. The reasons of conserving biodiversity are narrowly utilitarian, broadly utilitarian and ethical. Biodiversity conservation may be in situ as well as ex-situ.
Which of the following hot spots does not cover India’s biodiversity regions?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Amazon forests
Biodiversity hotspots are regions with very high species richness and a high degree of endemism (species found nowhere else). There are 34 hotspots in the world, and three of them cover India’s richest regions.
Option (1) Western Ghats-Sri Lanka — Covers India’s biodiversity regions.
Option (2) Amazon forests — Does not cover India’s biodiversity regions. The Amazonian rain forest is in South America. It has the greatest biodiversity on earth, but it is not one of India’s hotspots.
Option (3) Indo-Burma — Covers India’s biodiversity regions.
Option (4) Himalaya — Covers India’s biodiversity regions.
Note: The passage is taken from NCERT. NTA has put lines of the NCERT text together to make it. Most CUET (UG) questions come straight from NCERT, so study the book line by line, including figures and their titles.
NCERT Extract:
How Do We Conserve Biodiversity? – “… In situ conservation– Faced with the conflict between development and conservation, many nations find it unrealistic and economically not feasible to conserve all their biological wealth. Invariably, the number of species waiting to be saved from extinction far exceeds the conservation resources available. 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). Initially 25 biodiversity hotspots were identified but subsequently nine more have been added to the list, bringing the total number of biodiversity hotspots in the world to 34. These hotspots are also regions of accelerated habitat loss. Three of these hotspots – Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, Indo-Burma and Himalaya – cover our country’s exceptionally high biodiversity regions.”
Patterns of Biodiversity – “… The largely tropical Amazonian rain forest in South America has the greatest biodiversity on earth- it is home to more than 40,000 species of plants, 3,000 of fishes, 1,300 of birds, 427 of mammals, 427 of amphibians, 378 of reptiles and of more than 1,25,000 invertebrates.”