Question

Read the following statements (I - III) related to botanical gardens and select the correct option stating true (T) or false (F).

I. The main purpose of botanical gardens is to allow conservation of endangered plant species.
II. Botanical gardens are a type of in situ conservation strategy.
III. Botanical gardens have different kinds of habitat for different plant species to thrive.

Answer 1

The variety and variability of different life forms in a particular area represents its biodiversity. Habitat destruction, over exploitation of biological resources, etc., caused due to human activities have resulted in biodiversity loss in various parts of the world.

The stability of the ecosystem is affected by biodiversity loss because all living organisms in an ecosystem are dependent on each other. Thus, conservation of biodiversity is necessary.

Conservation of biodiversity is done using two different strategies :

• In situ (on site) conservation - Conserving life forms in their natural habitat. Examples include sacred groves (tracts of forest which are regenerated around places of worship)
• Ex situ (off site) conservation - Conserving life forms in controlled environments. Examples include botanical gardens.

Botanical gardens are sites of ex situ (off site) conservation of threatened or endangered plants that are facing the risk of extinction in the near future. As these plants need urgent measures for conservation, they are collected from their natural habitat and conserved in the controlled environment of a botanical garden. Thus, statement I is true and statement II is false.

These gardens are equipped with seed banks, tissue culture labs, etc., for storing and growing the germplasm of an endangered plant. Germplasm refers to a collection of all the plants and seeds having all possible alleles of all the genes of a particular plant.

Botanical gardens also have different kinds of habitats such as nurseries (plants are nurtured by providing them with optimum growing conditions to ensure germination), greenhouses (a glass-house where plants such as flowers and vegetables are grown), cactus houses, ponds, etc., for different plant species to thrive. Thus, statement III is true.

Figure : Botanical garden