question_answer 8)

 Answer the following questions in about 30 words.    (i) What is biodiversity? Why is biodiversity important for human lives?   (ii) How have human activities affected the depletion of flora and fauna? Explain.  

Answer:

(i) Biodiversity is immensely rich in wildlife and cultivated species, diverse in form and function, but closely integrated in a system through multiple networks of interdependencies. Biodiversity is important for human lives because the human being, along with the biodiversity, form a complete ecological system in which we are apart and are dependent on this system for out own existence.   (ii) The following human activities have been major causes for the depletion of flora and fauna   (a) Agricultural expansion.   (b) Shifting cultivation (Jhum), a type of 'slash and burn' agriculture.   (c) Large scale development projects.   (d) Mining activities.