Question

______ proposed species-area relationships, during his extensive explorations in the wilderness of South American jungles.

• A. Edward Wilson
• B. Paul Ehrlich
• C. David Tilman
• D. Alexander von Humboldt

Answer 1

The correct option is D Alexander von Humboldt

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

David Tilman performed long-term experiments using outdoor plots on grassland ecosystems to show that the stability of a community depends on its species richness and increased diversity contributes to higher productivity.

Paul Ehrlich proposed the rivet popper hypothesis. The hypothesis explains the effect of decline in biodiversity on the ecosystem. It is an analogy where the ecosystem is compared to an airplane and species are compared to the rivets.

Sociobiologist Edward Wilson was the first person to popularise the term ‘biodiversity’ to describe the combined diversity at all the levels of biological organisation.