Which one of the given species has more numbers than the combined total number of rest of the other given species?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Fungi
Among the plant groups, fungi form the largest slice after the angiosperms. The fungi slice alone is bigger than algae, lichens, mosses and ferns put together.
Option (1) Fungi — Correct. Of the groups given, fungi have the most species: more than the other given groups put together. Fungi species alone outnumber the combined total of fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
Option (2) Algae — Incorrect. Algae have a small slice, far smaller than fungi.
Option (3) Lichens — Incorrect. Lichens have the smallest slice of the plant groups.
Option (4) Ferns and allies — Incorrect. Ferns and allies form a thin slice as well.
NCERT Extract:
Biodiversity – “… Let us look at some interesting aspects about earth’s biodiversity based on the currently available species inventories. More than 70 per cent of all the species recorded are animals, while plants (including algae, fungi, bryophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms) comprise no more than 22 per cent of the total. … The number of fungi species in the world is more than the combined total of the species of fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. In Figure 13.1, biodiversity is depicted showing species number of major taxa.”
