Previous Year Question

Eduard Suess was a prominent Austrian Geologist who introduced the term Biosphere in 1875. He described the Biosphere as the region of the Earth where life exists. The Biosphere includes those portions of the Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, and Atmosphere where living organisms can survive. Later, the Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky provided a broader scientific foundation for the concept of the Biosphere during the 1920s. Option (a) uses the term Biosphere Reserve instead of Biosphere, although historically Suess introduced the term Biosphere, not Biosphere Reserve.

The term Ecosystem was introduced by the British ecologist Arthur George Tansley in 1935. He explained an ecosystem as an interacting system consisting of Biotic Components and Abiotic Environmental Components. It includes plants, animals, microorganisms, soil, water, air, and energy flow. In contrast, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle primarily contributed to Plant Taxonomy and Botanical Nomenclature. In 1813, he presented principles relating to plant classification and nomenclature in his book Théorie élémentaire de la botanique.

The scientific introduction of the term Ecology is generally credited to the German biologist Ernst Haeckel, who used it in 1866. Ecology is the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environment. The word Ecology is derived from the Greek terms Oikos (house or habitat) and Logos (study). Ecology examines the distribution and abundance of organisms, their utilization of natural resources, and interactions between biotic and abiotic components.

Biodiversity refers to the diversity of living organisms at the Genetic, Species, and Ecosystem levels within a particular region. The term Biodiversity was popularized by the American scientist Walter G. Rosen in 1985. It gained wider recognition through the National Forum on BioDiversity, held in 1986, and the book BioDiversity, edited by E. O. Wilson in 1988. Therefore, associating Biodiversity with Reiter is incorrect. Similarly, the modern conservation framework of Biosphere Reserves is associated with UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, launched in 1971.