Question

______________ conducted long-term ecosystem experiments using outdoor plots.

• A. Alexander von Humboldt
• B. David Tilman
• C. Robert May
• D. Edward Wilson

Answer 1

The correct option is B David Tilman

David Tilman was an American ecologist who showed that stability of a community depends on its species richness. He performed long-term ecosystem experiments using outdoor plots in grassland ecosystems. He found that the plots with more species showed less year to year variation in total biomass and increased diversity contributed to higher productivity.

Robert May was a mathematical ecologist who estimated the global species diversity to be 7 million.

Edward Wilson is a sociobiologist who introduced the term biodiversity. It is defined as the variations in genes and species present in different ecosystems on Earth.

Alexander von Humboldt, a German naturalist and geographer, proposed the species - area relationships during his extensive explorations in the South American jungles. He observed that, within a region, species richness increased with increasing explored area, but upto a certain limit.