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RBSE SS Env Sci study materials
RBSE SS Env Sci study resources

RBSE SS Env Sci: Biodiversity and Conservation

RBSE SS Env Sci · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Biodiversity and Conservation

What this domain tests

Biodiversity and Conservation checks the three levels of biodiversity, measurement, threats, IUCN categories, in-situ and ex-situ conservation, and Indian/Rajasthan protected areas. Expect matching questions on species and habitats and reasoning about why richness alone is not enough.

Core rules and concepts

  • Levels: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. Genetic diversity is the raw material for adaptation and breeding.
  • India is mega-diverse; global hotspots include the Himalaya, Western Ghats, Indo-Burma and Sundaland - the Thar Desert is not a global hotspot, though it has endemic desert species.
  • Threats: habitat loss and fragmentation, overexploitation, invasive alien species, pollution, climate change, disease.
  • IUCN categories: Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Least Concern.
  • In-situ: national parks, sanctuaries, biosphere reserves, sacred groves; ex-situ: zoos, botanical gardens, seed banks, cryopreservation.
  • Rajasthan: Ranthambore and Sariska (tiger), Keoladeo Ghana (wetland birds), Desert National Park (Great Indian Bustard), Kumbhalgarh, Mukundara Hills, Tal Chhapar (blackbuck).
  • A community with high richness but one dominant species has low evenness and lower effective diversity.

Worked example

A student finds 18 species in a protected grove and 18 in a nearby plantation. In the grove, the most abundant species forms 15% of individuals; in the plantation, one species forms 90%. Richness is equal, but the grove has higher evenness and more functional groups (pollinators, decomposers, large trees), so its conservation value is higher. Reasoning: richness counts species; evenness describes abundance distribution; both shape diversity indices and ecosystem resilience.

Traps

Treating a zoo as in-situ conservation; confusing Endangered with Critically Endangered; assuming all deserts have low biodiversity and therefore low conservation priority; naming Keoladeo as a tiger reserve. Read the habitat before the species.