(a) Indiscriminate human activities such as alien species invasion, fragmentation and habitat loss have accelerated the loss of biodiversity. Justify by taking one example for each.
(b) State the importance of (i) IUCN Red data list and (ii) Hot spots in conservation of biodiversity.
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(a) Alien species invasion
When alien species are introduced unintentionally / deliberately for whatever purpose , some of them turn invasive and cause decline / extinction of indigenous species eg.
- the introduction of African catfish / Clarias gariepinus (for aquaculture purpose) poses a threat to indigenous catfishes in our rivers
- The Nile perch introduced into lake Victoria in East Africa led to the extinction of more than 200 species of Cichlid fish in the lake
- Carrot grass / Parthenium , Lantana , Water hyacinth / Eichhornia poses a threat to
indigenous species
Fragmentation
When large habitats are broken up into small fragments due to various human activities
- mammals / birds requiring large territories and certain animals with migratory habits are badly affected
Habitat Loss
The Amazon rain forest is being cut and cleared for cultivating soyabeans / conversion to grasslands for raising cattle
(b) (i) Provides information of extinction of species
(ii) Regions with very high levels of species richness , high degree of endemism / species confined to that region and not found anywhere else are identified which need to be conserve all priority basis.