Biodiversity and Conservation Test - 3

Genetic diversity is helpful in both adaptation and speciation.
Variation in the population's gene pool allows natural selection. Selection for or against a trait can occur with changing environment – resulting in an increase in genetic diversity (if a new mutation is selected for and maintained) or a decrease in genetic diversity.
Speciation occurs from genetic variation when reproductive isolation between two or more populations evolves from alleles already present within the common ancestral population, rather than from new mutations.

The great Indian bustard is a bird found on the Indian subcontinent. It is a large bird with a horizontal body and long bare legs. The bustard is listed as critically endangered in Red Data Book of IUCN.
The Himalayan quail or mountain quail is a medium-sized quail belonging to the pheasant family. This species is known from only 2 locations in the western Himalayas in Uttarakhand, north-west India. It is also categorised as critically endangered species.

Kaziranga National Park of Assam is a World Heritage Site and hosts two thirds of the world's great one-horned rhinoceroses. The park also combines high species diversity and is recognised as an important bird area.

Alpine plants occur in tundra which is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees. Alpine tundra occurs in mountains worldwide. With increasing elevation it ends at the snow line where snow and ice persist through summer.

It causes an increase in planktons, which thrive in the cold Peruvian current.This is an incorrect statement.El Niño is a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean with a global impact on weather patterns. The cycle begins when warm water in the western tropical Pacific Ocean shifts eastward along the equator toward the coast of South America. Normally, this warm water pools near Indonesia and the Philippines.

Allopatric speciation, also known as geographic speciation, is speciation that occurs when biological populations of the same species become isolated due to geographical changes such as mountain building or social changes such as emigration. It is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations of the same species become isolated from each other to an extent that prevents or interferes with gene flow. The vicariant populations therefore undergo genetic changes as they are subjected to different selective pressures, experience genetic drift, and accumulate different mutations in the separated populations gene pools. The barriers prevent the exchange of genetic information between the two populations leading to reproductive isolation.

In other words, allopatric speciation occurs when genetically related populations inhabit a widely separated geographical area.

Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. The term conservation biology was introduced as the title of a conference held at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California in 1978 organised by biologists Bruce Wilcox and Michael E. Soule.

In-situ conservation, the conservation of species in their natural habitats, is considered the most appropriate way of conserving biodiversity. Conserving the areas where populations of species exist naturally is an underlying condition for the conservation of biodiversity. That is why protected areas such as National Parks form a central element of any national strategy to conserve biodiversity.

Biodiversity is the collection of flora and fauna of a place. Biodiversity Hotspot is a region which is a prime location for the existence of rich biodiversity but also faces the threat of destruction. It is a place which needs our immediate and constant attention to survive and thrive in the future as well.
To be called a hotspot, a region has to be able to fulfil at least two criteria including-
1. It should comprise of at least 1500 species of vascular plants i.e. more than 0.5% of the world's total plants.
2. It should have lost greater than or equal to 70% of its original habitat. This idea of identifying hotspots was put forth by Norman Myers in 1988.
Eastern Himalayas is a biodiversity hotspot in India.

Invasive alien species (IAS) are species whose introduction and/or spread outside their natural past or present distribution threatens biological diversity.IAS occur in all taxonomic groups, including animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms, and can affect all types of ecosystems. While a small percentage of organisms transported to new environments become invasive, the negative impacts can be extensive and over time, these additions become substantial.
Rouwolfia is not an invasive species in India.
Parthenium,Eichhornia, Mikania and Lantana are invasive species in India.