Biodiversity and Its Conservation

1. About 200 species of Cichlid fish became extinct when a particular fish was introduced in the
lake Victoria of Africa. Name the invasive fish.
2. Identify ‘a’ and ‘b’ in the figure given below representing proportionate number of major
vertebrate taxa.

3. Name the unlabeled areas ‘a’ and ‘b’ of the pie chart (given) representing the global
biodiversity of invertebrates showing their proportionate number of species of major taxa.

4. What per cent of the earth’s surface was covered by tropical rain forests at
(a) the beginning of 20th century and
(b) now, respectively?
5. What is common about Eichhornia, Lantana and Parthenium with reference to threat to our
biodiversity?
6. Name any two conventional methods of ex situ conservation.
7. Hot-spots occupy less than 2% of earth’s land surface. Yet, they are given priority for
conservation of biodiversity. Give two reasons for this.
8. The sacred groves of Aravalli Hills and Ooty botanical garden, both aim at biodiversity
conservation. How do they differ in their approaches? Explain.

9. In the biosphere, there is immense diversity not only at the species level, but at all levels of
biological organisation, ranging from molecules within the cells to biomes. Biodiversity refers to
the combined diversity at all levels of biological organisation.
(a) Name the sociobiologist, who popularisd the term ‘biodiversity’.
(b) Name the type/level of biodiversity represented by the deserts, mangroves, wetlands,
coral reafs etc. in India.
(c) (i) Write the scientific name of the plant produces the chemical, ‘reserpine’.
(ii) Where does this plant species grow?
(iii) How does it exhibit genetic diversity?
(d) What is the total number of plant and animal species on the earth, according to
(i) the IUCN (2004) list
(ii) Robert May?
10. The accelerated rates of species extinctions that the world is facing now, are largely due to
human activities. The last twenty years alone have witnessed the disappearance of 27 species
of organisms. Humans have always depended on nature for food and shelter; but, when ‘need’
turns to ‘greed’, it leads to over-exploitation of the natural resources.
a) There are four major causes, for loss of biodiversity, collectively known by the sobriquet, ‘The
Evil Quartet’. List them.
b) Name two animals that have become extint in the last 500 years, due to over-exploitation.