Question

When compared to Amazon rainforest, which has over 16000 plant species, the Western Ghat hotspot in Indian peninsula has around 9200 plant species. Which one among the two would be considered to be the more diverse ecosystem when it comes to plant life?

• A. Amazon
• B. Western Ghats
• C. The number of plants need to taken into account before comparing the two ecosystems
• D. Both are equally diverse taking into account that Amazon covers larger land mass

Answer 1

The correct option is A Amazon

The diversity of an ecosystem is decided on two factors. Species richness and species evenness. When comparing two ecosystem, both factors are taken into account. However, the species evenness is a deciding factor only when the two ecosystems are equally rich in the number of species. In the case of Amazon forest vs. Western Ghat, the difference in the species richness is far too great to take species evenness into account. Therefore the Amazon forest would be considered to be a much more diverse ecosystem as compared to Western Ghats.