Education:Pop Quiz 1

The Biodiversity Hotspot Quiz

<quiz display=simple> {Say True or False: Biodiversity hotspots cover less than 15% of the earth's landmass but house 50% of earth's species. | type="()"} + True || The above statement is True. Not just that, 77% of the terrestrial vertebrate species on this planet also live in biodiversity hotspots. - False }

{Which of the following criteria are used to define a biodiversity hotspot? | type="()"} - Lots of species - Lots of endemic species + Lots of endemic species with most of the habitat lost || According to Myers (2000), a region with 1500 or 0.5% of its species as endemic and 70% of its primary vegetation lost is classified as a biodiversity hotspot. This is the most widely accepted definition of a biodiversity hotspot. In fact, although the biodiversity hotspots once covered almost 16% of the world's landmass, 86% of the habitat has already been destroyed, bringing the percentage down to a meager 2.3%. Read more here. - None of the above

{How many biodiversity hotspots are there in the world? | type="()"} - 9 - 13 + 34

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For legend and the complete list, click on the map

- 103

{Which of the following regions in India is/are biodiversity hotspot(s)? | type="[]"} + Eastern Himalayas - Indo-Gangetic Plain + Western Ghats - Eastern Ghats - Rann of Kutchch + Indo-Burma region

{What is the full form of IUCN? | type="()"} + International Union for Conservation of Nature || This is the correct answer. Visit their website IUCN.org - Indians United for Conservation of Nature - International Conservation Fund for Nature - International Union for Coconut Nectarines

{Which of these regions is sometimes called the "eighth continent" for its uniqueness and diversity? | type="()"} - Greenland - India - Indonesia + Madagascar || This is the correct answer. Here's a book on Madagascar at Amazon.com. This tiny island is home to 5% of earth's species. Of the 10,000 plants native to Madagascar, 90% are found nowhere else in the world.
- Russia

{
Somalia, in the Horn of Africa, is one of the 34 world biodiversity hotspots. The endangered species in this region include different species of antelopes called the beira, the dibatag, and Speke’s gazelle. Other species such as the Somali Wild Ass and the Sacred Baboon are endemics and found nowhere else in the world. Intriguingly, the Horn of Africa is one of the only two biodiversity hotspots which are entirely arid. Which of the following is the other arid biodiversity hotspot? | type="()"} + The Succulent Karoo ||This funny sounding region is spread in southwestern South Africa into southern Namibia, comprising of 102,691 square kilometers of desert. It boasts the richest succulent plant variety in the world. - The Sahara Desert - Antarctica - Southwestern Australia - Mountains of Central Asia

{Which of these products is one of the significant contributors to destruction of Indonesian rainforests? | type="()"} - Oil and Natural Gas + Palm Oil

||This is correct. Palm Oil is an ingredient in Chocolates and many processed foods. It has also been touted as a biofuel component. Indonesia is one of the largest producers in the world of palm oil, for whose plantations, forests have been razed to the ground. However, due to outcry by several environmental groups over use of Indonesian palm oil, industries have begun to take another look at the situation. See this widely circulated video by GreenPeace, which prompted Nestle to come up with a response and make some changes to their palm oil procurement practices:
- Clothes - Automobiles {Which of the following hotspot is the MOST DIVERSE REGION in the world? | type="()"} + Tropical Andes || The Tropical Andes region contains about a sixth of all plant life in less than 1 percent of the world’s land area. This hotspot also maintains the largest variety of amphibians in the world, with 664 distinct species. Unfortunately, almost 450 amphibian species are listed as threatened on the 2004 IUCN Red List.

Torres del Paine from Lake Pehoé, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.

- Succulent Karoo - Madagascar - Polynesia-Micronesia

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Adansonia grandidieri

This tree is called the Baobab and is found only in Africa. There was a recent report of a Baobab species found in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but it is very rare. This particular picture belongs to a species that is found only in one region of Africa and is an endangered species. Where is this tree found?

| type="()"} - South Africa - Congo + Madagascar

||This is the correct answer. In fact, this is probably the tree shown in the movie Madagascar

Avenue of the Baobabs in Madagascar

- Horn of Africa - Mali

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