Biodiversity

A pond is a self-contained unit consisting of biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components interacting with each other, which defines an ecosystem.

The Silent Valley movement was a social movement aimed at protecting the Silent Valley tropical evergreen forest in the Palakkad district of Kerala, India.

MAB stands for the Man and the Biosphere Programme, which is an intergovernmental scientific programme launched by UNESCO to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments.

The K-T boundary (Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary) is a geological signature, usually a thin band of rock, that marks the end of the Cretaceous Period and the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) adopted the name 'World Conservation Union' in 1990, though it later reverted to its original name in 2008.

Extinction vertex is a combination of genetic and demographic factors.

The extinction abetted by human activities is called anthropogenic extinction.

Biocenosis describes the interacting organisms living together in a habitat (biotope). 

In situ conservation refers to the conservation of species in their natural habitats, such as in national parks or wildlife sanctuaries. Ex situ refers to conservation outside their natural habitat (e.g., zoos).

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

The famous ornithologist of India is Salim Ali. He was among the first Indians to conduct systematic bird surveys across India and his bird books helped develop ornithology.

Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary, spreading over an area of 2600 hect, is situated 1 km to the North-East of Sukhna Lake. It forms the part of Sukhna Lake catchment area falling in the Shivalik Hills.

WWF stands for World Wide Fund for Nature, which is an international non-governmental organization working in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment.

UNESCO launched the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme in 1971 to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments.

World Environment Day is celebrated annually on June 5th to encourage awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

 Recalcitrant seeds are those which get killed on reduction of moisture.
Plants that produce recalcitrant seeds include avocado, mango, mangosteen, lychee, cocoa, rubber tree, some horticultural trees.

World Habitat Day is observed on the first Monday of October every year. In many contexts, this is associated with the early days of October.

Bald Eagles are top predators (high trophic level), making them susceptible to bioaccumulation of toxins like DDT, which caused eggshell thinning and population decline.

A biosphere reserve consists of three zones: the core zone (protected), the buffer zone (limited activity), and the transition zone (manipulation/human activity allowed).

The bear is widely recognized as the national personification and cultural symbol of Russia.

Project Tiger was launched in 1973 to promote the conservation of the tiger in India.

Both the North-eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats are recognized as major biodiversity hotspots in India.

India became a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in May 1994.

Species with large body sizes, small populations, and high trophic levels are all more vulnerable to extinction due to various ecological and biological constraints.