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๐ก A land of many worlds
Snow-clad Himalayas, the Thar desert, North-East rainforests, southern plateaus, long coastlines — India packs a startling range of habitats, and each shelters life found nowhere else.
What is biodiversity?
- Biodiversity is the enormous variety of living organisms on the Earth.
- It ranges from microscopic organisms to giant trees, across every kind of habitat.
- It is essential for life — every organism plays a role in keeping nature stable, from algae releasing oxygen to fungi and bacteria recycling nutrients.
NCERT Question 6 — How does the diversity of
How does the diversity of organisms contribute to the balance and stability of an ecosystem?
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What are endemic species and biodiversity hotspots?
- Endemic species are restricted to a particular region and are not found naturally anywhere else — e.g. Nilgiri tahr, Lion-tailed macaque, Nepenthes khasiana and Neelakurinji (Fig. 12.1).
- Biodiversity hotspots are regions with many endemic species that have undergone significant habitat loss.
- Global hotspots include the Western Ghats, Indo-Burma (North-East India), the Himalayas and Sundaland (Nicobar Islands); protecting them keeps food webs and ecosystems healthy.
