Overview
The Indo-Burma region and north-east India
The Indo-Burma hotspot is one of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots, covering about 23.7 lakh square km of tropical Asia east of the Ganga-Brahmaputra lowlands. It runs from north-east India and eastern Bangladesh across Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to southern China. In India it covers the north-east south of the Brahmaputra, together with the Andaman Islands. The region holds about 7,000 plant species found nowhere else, yet only about 5 per cent of its original vegetation survives, which is why it counts among the most threatened hotspots on Earth.
Biodiversity Hotspot Criteria and the Indo-Burma Hotspot
Biodiversity Hotspot Criteria: Myers, Endemism and Habitat Loss
A biodiversity hotspot is a region with very high levels of species found nowhere else that is also losing its natural habitat fast. The idea came from the ecologist Norman Myers, who wrote about it in 1988 and 1990; a fuller analysis by Myers and others in 2000 fixed two strict tests that every hotspot must pass:
- Endemism: The region must hold at least 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics, that is, plants found nowhere else on Earth.
- Threat: The region must have lost at least 70 per cent of its primary vegetation.
Globally, 36 regions meet both tests today. Together they once covered more than 15.7 per cent of the land surface but have lost around 85 per cent of their area, so they now occupy only about 2.4 per cent of the land surface. Yet they support nearly 60 per cent of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian species. That concentration is the whole logic of the idea. Conservation money is limited, and spending it where so much life is packed into so little remaining land saves the most species for each unit of money spent.
Older lists counted 34 hotspots, three of which (Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, Indo-Burma and Himalaya) cover India's richest regions; the current list has 36, and India is usually counted with four, because the Sundaland hotspot reaches the Nicobar Islands. Strict protection of the hotspots could reduce the ongoing mass extinctions by almost 30 per cent.
The hotspot list is one of several ways of choosing places for conservation. BirdLife International, a global partnership of conservation organisations, identifies Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, and the WWF's Global 200 Ecoregions rank places by richness, endemism and rarity. The hotspot concept itself belongs to Myers and the work that followed his papers, not to BirdLife.
Why Indo-Burma Qualifies as a Biodiversity Hotspot
The Indo-Burma hotspot passes both of Myers' tests by a wide margin. Its endemic plants, about 7,000 species, are more than four times the threshold of 1,500. On the threat side the picture is starker. Of an original 23,73,057 square km of vegetation, only 1,18,653 square km remains, about 5 per cent, far below the 30 per cent that a region may keep and still qualify.
The losses reach the animals too. The hotspot holds 18 endemic threatened bird species, 25 endemic threatened mammals and 35 endemic threatened amphibians, and one species has been recorded as extinct since 1500. About 134 people live on each square km, so the pressure on the land is constant.
Indo-Burma Region: Extent, Countries and Boundaries
Countries and Islands of the Indo-Burma Region
The Indo-Burma region covers 23,73,000 square km of tropical Asia east of the Ganga-Brahmaputra lowlands and contains the catchment of the Lower Mekong. It was once drawn to include the whole Himalayan chain and its foothills in Nepal, Bhutan and India, but has since been narrowed to the Indo-Chinese subregion. The countries fall into three groups:
- Wholly or almost wholly inside: Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, nearly all of Myanmar except its northern tip, and most of Thailand except its southern tip.
- Partly inside: North-east India south of the Brahmaputra, the Chittagong Hill Tracts of eastern Bangladesh, southern and western Yunnan and the coastal lowlands of southern China (southern Guangxi and Guangdong), and a small part of Peninsular Malaysia.
- Islands: Hainan in the South China Sea and India's Andaman Islands in the Andaman Sea.
The southern edge is the Kangar-Pattani Line, which cuts across the Thailand-Malaysia border and separates Indo-Burma from the Sundaland hotspot. Some studies place the real change in plants and animals a little further north, near the Isthmus of Kra, where wet seasonal evergreen dipterocarp rainforest gives way to mixed moist deciduous forest. Within these limits the hotspot holds 33 terrestrial ecoregions, from tropical and subtropical moist and dry broadleaf forests to coniferous forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, and mangroves.
Indo-Burma Hotspot in India: North-East India and the Andaman Islands
Within India the hotspot's limit is the Brahmaputra. The Himalayan foothills north of the river were once counted in Indo-Burma but now fall in the Himalaya hotspot, and the Nicobar Islands, though they share a Union Territory with the Andamans, belong to Sundaland.
North-east India's share is small on the map but very rich. The region is often called the cradle of flowering plants, a name given by the botanist Takhtajan in 1969 because so many primitive flowering plants survive there.
- Flowering plants: The forests of the north-east, across both the Indo-Burma and Himalaya hotspots, hold about 8,000 of India's 15,000 species of flowering plants; Arunachal Pradesh alone has about 5,000 and Sikkim about 4,500.
- Endemic plants: The Eastern Himalaya and the north-eastern region together hold about 2,500 plant species endemic to India.
- Endangered plants: Of India's 1,500 endangered plant species, 800 are reported from the north-east.
- Forest types: 51 forest types in six broad groups, namely tropical moist deciduous, tropical semi-evergreen, tropical wet evergreen, subtropical, temperate and alpine. Six of India's nine main vegetation types occur here.
- Forest cover: Most north-eastern states keep more than 60 per cent of their area under forest, the minimum suggested for hill states to protect them from erosion.
India's Four Biodiversity Hotspots Compared: Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Western Ghats and Sundaland
Size, Endemism and Habitat Left in India's Four Hotspots
India's four biodiversity hotspots are the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, and Sundaland. All four pass the same two tests, but they differ greatly in size, in how much of each lies in India and in how much habitat is left. Indo-Burma is the largest of the four and the one that has kept the smallest share of its original vegetation.
| Attribute | Himalaya | Indo-Burma | Western Ghats and Sri Lanka | Sundaland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part in India | Himalayan states and the north-east north of the Brahmaputra | North-east south of the Brahmaputra; Andaman Islands | Western Ghats | Nicobar Islands |
| Original extent (square km) | 7,41,706 | 23,73,057 | 1,89,611 | about 15,00,000 |
| Vegetation remaining (square km) | 1,85,427 | 1,18,653 | 43,611 | about 1,00,571 |
| Share of vegetation remaining | about 25 per cent | about 5 per cent | about 23 per cent | about 7 per cent |
| Endemic plant species | 3,160 | 7,000 | 3,049 | 15,000 |
| Endemic threatened birds | 8 | 18 | 10 | 43 |
| Endemic threatened mammals | 4 | 25 | 14 | 60 |
| Endemic threatened amphibians | 4 | 35 | 87 | 59 |
| Recorded extinctions since 1500 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 4 |
| Area protected (square km) | 1,12,578 | 2,35,758 | 26,130 | 1,79,723 |
The four differ in telling ways. The Western Ghats and Sri Lanka is the smallest hotspot but has the most endemic threatened amphibians and the most recorded extinctions, while Indo-Burma has the largest area under protection in absolute terms and still the smallest share of habitat left. Sundaland has by far the most endemic plants, but only its Nicobar fringe lies in India.
Biodiversity of the Indo-Burma Hotspot: Forests, Plants and Animals
Forests and Ecosystems of the Indo-Burma Hotspot
The monsoon sets the rhythm of life across the Indo-Burma hotspot. In the northern winter, dry, cool winds blow out of the Asian high-pressure system and bring a dry season under clear skies; in spring the winds reverse, and the south-west monsoon picks up moisture from the sea and drops heavy rain as it rises over the hills. That seasonal swing, spread over plains, hills and coasts, produces an unusual range of ecosystems.
- Forests: Mixed wet evergreen, dry evergreen, deciduous and montane forests.
- Special habitats: Shrublands and woodlands on karst limestone, heath forests on some coasts, lowland floodplain swamps, mangroves and seasonally flooded grasslands.
- Rainforest at its northern limit: Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh holds the northernmost lowland evergreen rainforests in the world, at 27° N, and extensive dipterocarp forests.
- Floodplain vegetation: Kaziranga, on the Brahmaputra floodplain, has four main types of vegetation, namely alluvial inundated grasslands, alluvial savanna woodlands, tropical moist mixed deciduous forests and tropical semi-evergreen forests.
Namdapha shows how height adds to this variety. The park rises from 200 to 4,571 m, and its cover changes with height from tropical evergreen forest to temperate broadleaf and mixed forest, with seasonal snow above 2,700 m. A single park can therefore pass from tropical to alpine conditions, which is why it shelters so many species.
Indo-Burma Hotspot Plants: Rice, Citrus, Orchids and Bamboo
About 7,000 plant species grow nowhere but in the Indo-Burma hotspot, and north-east India is also a store of crop genes. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research counts the region as a centre of rice germplasm, and the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources has highlighted it as rich in wild relatives of crop plants.
- Citrus: The genus Citrus most likely arose in the south-east foothills of the Himalayas, in a region stretching from eastern Assam through northern Myanmar to western Yunnan.
- Nokrek and wild citrus: The mother germplasm of Citrus indica, known locally as Memang Narang, was found in the Nokrek range of Meghalaya's Garo Hills, which led to a National Citrus Gene Sanctuary.
- Orchids: The foxtail orchid, Rhynchostylis retusa, is an epiphyte that grows on tree trunks; it is the state flower of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, though it also grows across South and South-East Asia.
- Bamboo and mautam: Every 48 to 50 years the bamboo Melocanna baccifera flowers at once over a wide area of Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and parts of Assam. Rats multiply on the seed, then eat stored grain, and a famine follows; the event is called mautam.
- Jhum crops: Jhum, the traditional shifting cultivation of local tribes, supported the cultivation of 35 varieties of crops.
Indo-Burma Hotspot Animals: Primates, Cats and Birds
The animal life of the Indo-Burma hotspot is as rich as its plants. North-east India alone has 15 species of non-human primates, and the hotspot as a whole holds almost 1,300 bird species, among them the threatened white-eared night-heron, grey-crowned crocias and orange-necked partridge.
The hoolock gibbon is India's only ape and the hotspot's best-known primate. Hoolocks are the second-largest gibbons, after the siamang, but they are light animals, 60 to 90 cm long and weighing 6 to 9 kg; males are black with white brows and females grey-brown. Like all gibbons they live in the trees, moving by brachiation, swinging from branch to branch on their long arms. The western hoolock gibbon is rated Endangered by the IUCN; its numbers fell from more than 1,00,000 to less than 5,000 as tea gardens, jhum, hunting and forest degradation broke up its forests. In Assam it is protected at the Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, which supported 125 gibbons in 2023.
- Other primates: The stump-tailed, pig-tailed and rhesus macaques, and the capped and spectacled langurs.
- Four big cats: Namdapha holds the tiger, leopard, snow leopard and clouded leopard.
- Pangolins: The Chinese pangolin lives in north-east India, and the Indian pangolin across much of the subcontinent; both are toothless, scale-covered mammals.
- Mammals new to science: Six large mammals have been discovered in the hotspot since the 1990s, among them the saola, the large-antlered muntjac, the Annamite muntjac and the leaf deer.
- Threatened species: Eld's deer, the fishing cat, the white-rumped vulture, the sarus crane and the Irrawaddy dolphin are among the hotspot's threatened animals.
- Freshwater turtles: Many are found only here, and most are threatened by over-harvesting and habitat loss.
The Brahmaputra Divide: Hoolock Gibbon and Golden Langur
The Brahmaputra splits the ranges of several forest animals, because tree-living primates cannot cross a river of its width. That is why the river makes a natural boundary between the Indo-Burma and Himalaya hotspots in India.
| Primate | Where it lives in the north-east | Hotspot side |
|---|---|---|
| Hoolock gibbon | South of the Brahmaputra, in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura (every north-eastern state except Sikkim); also north and east of the Dibang | Indo-Burma |
| Stump-tailed macaque | South of the Brahmaputra, from Assam and Meghalaya eastward | Indo-Burma |
| Golden langur | North of the Brahmaputra, in western Assam and the foothills of Bhutan's Black Mountains | Outside Indo-Burma |
The golden langur is found in an area of about 30,000 square km bounded by the Brahmaputra to the south, the Manas to the east, the Sankosh to the west and the Black Mountains of Bhutan to the north. Its numbers in India rose from about 6,000 in 2008‑09 to 7,396 in 2020‑21.
Wetland Species of the Indo-Burma Hotspot: Rhino, Wild Buffalo and Sangai
Floodplain swamps and flooded grasslands are among the hotspot's most distinctive habitats, and north-east India has two famous examples. Kaziranga National Park, a World Heritage Site on the edge of the Brahmaputra in Assam, is the stronghold of the Indian rhinoceros. Its "Big Five" are the rhinoceros, the Bengal tiger, the Asian elephant, the wild water buffalo and the swamp deer, and it holds the world's largest populations of the rhinoceros, the wild water buffalo and the eastern swamp deer. In 2022 there were 4,014 Indian rhinoceroses, 3,262 of them in India and the other 752 in Nepal and Bhutan; the species is rated Vulnerable.
Manipur holds the second example, a lake and the park that floats on it:
- Loktak Lake: The largest freshwater lake in north-east India, in Manipur, known for its phumdis, floating masses of vegetation, soil and organic matter; it became a Ramsar site on 23 March 1990 and was placed on the Montreux Record on 16 June 1993.
- Keibul Lamjao: The only floating national park in the world, 40 square km on Loktak's largest phumdi in Bishnupur district, protecting the sangai, the brow-antlered Eld's deer that is Manipur's state animal; it became a national park in 1977.
Protected Areas of the Indo-Burma Region in India
Protected Areas of North-East India: States, Hills and Species
North-east India's parks and sanctuaries protect the Indian share of the hotspot, and the examination asks about them by state, by hill range and by flagship species. Most lie in a particular hill range, so learning the range is as important as learning the state.
| Protected area | State and setting | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Namdapha National Park | Arunachal Pradesh; between the Dapha Bum range of the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai range | 1,985 square km; four big cats; northernmost lowland rainforest; eco-sensitive zone since 2024 |
| Nokrek National Park and Biosphere Reserve | Meghalaya; Garo Hills | Wild citrus; UNESCO biosphere reserve since May 2009 |
| Loktak Lake and Keibul Lamjao | Manipur; Bishnupur district | Phumdis; the sangai |
| Dampa Tiger Reserve | Mizoram; Lushai Hills | Largest wildlife sanctuary in Mizoram; tiger reserve since 1994 |
| Gumti Wildlife Sanctuary | Southern Tripura | Hoolock gibbon, capped and spectacled langurs, clouded leopard |
| Kaziranga National Park | Assam; Brahmaputra floodplain | Rhino and the Big Five |
- Mount Saramati: A peak of 3,826 m on the border between Nagaland and Myanmar, at whose foot lies Thanamir village in Kiphire district; it forms a natural boundary between India and Myanmar.
- Hill ranges to keep apart: The Barail Range lies between the Brahmaputra and Barak basins, from Nagaland and Manipur to Assam and Meghalaya; the Dafla Hills lie on the border of western Arunachal and Assam, north of Tezpur; the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai lie in eastern Arunachal, where Namdapha sits.
- Tiger presence: A tiger reserve does not guarantee tigers; the 2018 tiger monitoring survey found no tiger in Dampa.
Threats to the Indo-Burma Hotspot and Its Conservation
Threats to the Indo-Burma Hotspot: Farming, Plantations, Dams and Hunting
Indo-Burma is among the most threatened hotspots on Earth, with only about 5 per cent of its original vegetation remaining, the smallest share of India's four hotspots. The pressures are old as well as new, because this was one of the first places where people took up farming.
- Fire and farming: The region has a long history of clearing land by fire, and growing populations and markets have widened the clearing.
- Plantations: Teak, rubber and oil palm have replaced large areas of lowland forest, while coffee, tea, vegetables and sugarcane threaten the hill forests.
- Logging and mining: Timber, gems, ore, firewood and charcoal all take forest away.
- Dams: A dam turns a stretch of river into a large pond, lowering its temperature and oxygen and increasing erosion and murkiness downstream; changes in reservoir water levels drown the sandbars where birds and turtles nest.
- Wetlands and coasts: Floodplain swamps are drained for wet rice, mangroves are turned into shrimp ponds, and overfishing thins the fish of coastal waters.
- Over-harvesting: Freshwater turtles, many of them endemic, are collected faster than they can breed.
In India the same forces take local forms. In Meghalaya's Garo Hills, jhum and other development have broken up elephant habitat, raising conflict between people and elephants; at Loktak, a high water level held for the Loktak Multipurpose project has disturbed the natural rise and sinking of the phumdis on which the sangai lives.
Conservation of the Indo-Burma Hotspot: Protected Areas and Funding
Because a hotspot is far too large to protect everywhere, conservation is aimed at its richest and most threatened parts, through protected areas, national programmes and international funding.
- Protected land: 2,35,758 square km of the hotspot is protected, 1,32,283 square km of it in IUCN categories I to IV, which give a higher level of protection.
- International funding: The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund has invested in Indo-Burma three times: USD 9.7 million for 2008 to 2013, USD 15.8 million for 2013 to 2020 and USD 10 million for 2020 to 2025.
- Forest restoration: The National Afforestation Programme supports jhum site rehabilitation and horti-silviculture in the north-eastern states, and a separate scheme on the gregarious flowering of bamboo in the north-east regenerates the flowered bamboo and works to avert famine.
- Wetland protection: Manipur has a Loktak Development Authority, and Keibul Lamjao is on UNESCO's tentative list.
- Biosphere reserves and eco-sensitive zones: Nokrek has been a UNESCO biosphere reserve since May 2009, and Namdapha was declared an eco-sensitive zone in 2024.
- Community land: In the Garo Hills, a Sixth Schedule area, communities have donated land to rejoin broken elephant corridors.
Previous Year UPSC‑CSE Questions
Each question is explained option by option.
- UPSC Prelims 2026With respect to the Western Hoolock Gibbons, which of the following statements is/are correct?
- A Sanctuary in North-east India is home to this ape species listed as Endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
- They have specialized brachiation and can easily swing between trees.
- They possess a strong and heavy build like gorillas, yet are remarkably agile tree climbers.
Select the answer using the code given below:
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test each statement against what is known of the ape.
- Statement 1: The western hoolock gibbon is rated Endangered by the IUCN, and Assam protects it at the Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, so it is correct.
- Statement 2: Gibbons move through the trees by brachiation, swinging on their long arms, so it is correct.
- Statement 3: Hoolocks weigh only 6 to 9 kg, a light build quite unlike a gorilla's, so it is wrong.
So statements 1 and 2 are correct.
Trap to watch: Gibbons are agile apes, so a heavy build sounds plausible; it is not.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. Statement 2 is also correct; gibbons brachiate through the canopy.
- (b) 1 and 2: Correct. The ape is Endangered and protected at Hollongapar, and it brachiates.
- (c) 2 and 3: Wrong. Statement 3 is false; a hoolock weighs 6 to 9 kg.
- (d) 3 only: Wrong. Statement 3 is the false one.
Answer: (b) 1 and 2. A hoolock is a light ape of 6 to 9 kg, not heavily built like a gorilla.
- UPSC Prelims 2026Consider the following statements about Rhynchostylis retusa (Foxtail orchid):
- It is an epiphytic orchid.
- The species is endemic to North-east India.
- It is the State flower of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test each statement against the orchid's habit and range.
- Statement 1: The foxtail orchid is an epiphyte growing on tree trunks, so it is correct.
- Statement 2: It grows in Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, so it is not endemic to north-east India and the statement is wrong.
- Statement 3: It is the state flower of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, so it is correct.
So statements 1 and 3 are correct.
Trap to watch: Being a state flower does not make a plant endemic.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. Statement 3 is also correct.
- (b) 1 and 3: Correct. It is an epiphyte and the state flower of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
- (c) 2 and 3: Wrong. The orchid is found across South and South-East Asia, so it is not endemic to the north-east.
- (d) 3 only: Wrong. Statement 1 is also correct.
Answer: (b) 1 and 3. The orchid's wide range across Asia rules out endemism.
- UPSC Prelims 2019Consider the following statements:
- Asiatic lion is naturally found in India only.
- Double-humped camel is naturally found in India only.
- One-horned rhinoceros is naturally found in India only.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: The surviving wild Asiatic lions are restricted to Gujarat, so statement 1 is correct. The double-humped (Bactrian) camel is native to the steppes of Central Asia, so statement 2 is wrong. Of the 4,014 one-horned rhinoceroses counted in 2022, 752 live in Nepal and Bhutan, so statement 3 is wrong. So only statement 1 is correct.
Trap to watch: The rhino is India's best-known large mammal, yet it also lives in Nepal and Bhutan.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Correct. The Asiatic lion survives in the wild only in Gujarat.
- (b) 2 only: Wrong. The double-humped camel is native to Central Asia.
- (c) 1 and 3 only: Wrong. The one-horned rhinoceros also lives in Nepal and Bhutan.
- (d) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Statements 2 and 3 are false.
Answer: (a) 1 only. Rhinos also live in Nepal and Bhutan; Bactrian camels belong to Central Asia.
- UPSC Prelims 2015With reference to an organization known as 'BirdLife International', which of the following statements is/are correct?
- It is a Global Partnership of Conservation Organizations.
- The concept of 'biodiversity hotspots' originated from this organization.
- It identifies the sites known/referred to as 'Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas'.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: BirdLife International is a global partnership of conservation organisations, so statement 1 is correct. It identifies Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, so statement 3 is correct. The hotspot concept came from the ecologist Norman Myers, who wrote about it in 1988 and 1990, so statement 2 is wrong. So only statements 1 and 3 are correct.
Trap to watch: BirdLife works on priority sites, which makes the hotspot idea look like its own.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. Statement 3 is also correct; BirdLife identifies Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas.
- (b) 2 and 3 only: Wrong. The hotspot concept is Norman Myers' idea, not BirdLife's.
- (c) 1 and 3 only: Correct. BirdLife is a global partnership and identifies Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas.
- (d) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Statement 2 fails because the hotspot concept came from Myers.
Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only. The hotspot idea originated with Norman Myers.
- UPSC Prelims 2015Which of the following National Parks is unique in being a swamp with floating vegetation that supports a rich biodiversity?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: A swamp with floating vegetation is a park built on phumdis. Keibul Lamjao, on Loktak Lake in Manipur, is the only floating national park in the world. The other three are wetlands of other kinds.
Trap to watch: Keoladeo is the best-known wetland park, but it does not float.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) Bhitarkanika National Park: Wrong. It is a mangrove park in Odisha's Kendrapara district.
- (b) Keibul Lamjao National Park: Correct. It lies on Loktak's largest phumdi and is the only floating national park in the world.
- (c) Keoladeo Ghana National Park: Wrong. It is a bird park in Rajasthan, developed from a duck-shooting reserve of Bharatpur State.
- (d) Sultanpur National Park: Wrong. It is a small bird park in Haryana's Gurgaon district.
Answer: (b) Keibul Lamjao National Park. Floating phumdis make Keibul Lamjao unique.
- UPSC Prelims 2015Which one of the following National Parks has a climate that varies from tropical to subtropical, temperate and arctic?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: A park whose climate runs from tropical to arctic must span a very great range of height starting near the plains. Namdapha rises from 200 to 4,571 m, from lowland tropical evergreen rainforest to snow-covered heights. Khangchendzonga starts at 1,829 m and Nanda Devi lies wholly above 3,500 m, so neither has a tropical zone; Neora Valley rises only to 3,200 m, too low for arctic conditions.
Trap to watch: Khangchendzonga is famous for its height range, but it has no tropical zone.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) Khangchendzonga National Park: Wrong. It lies between 1,829 m and over 8,550 m, with no tropical lowland.
- (b) Nanda Devi National Park: Wrong. The whole park lies above 3,500 m.
- (c) Neora Valley National Park: Wrong. It rises only to 3,200 m, with tropical to temperate vegetation.
- (d) Namdapha National Park: Correct. Its range of 200 to 4,571 m runs from tropical rainforest to snow.
Answer: (d) Namdapha National Park. Only Namdapha starts in tropical lowland and climbs above the snowline.
- UPSC Prelims 2014Consider the following pairs:
- Dampa Tiger Reserve : Mizoram
- Gumti Wildlife Sanctuary : Sikkim
- Saramati Peak : Nagaland
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Dampa is in western Mizoram, so pair 1 is correct. Gumti is in southern Tripura, not Sikkim, so pair 2 is wrong. Saramati stands on the border of Nagaland and Myanmar, so pair 3 is correct. So only pairs 1 and 3 are correctly matched.
Trap to watch: Gumti sounds like a Himalayan name, but the sanctuary is in Tripura.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. Pair 3 is also correct; Saramati is on the Nagaland-Myanmar border.
- (b) 2 and 3 only: Wrong. Gumti Wildlife Sanctuary is in Tripura, not Sikkim.
- (c) 1 and 3 only: Correct. Dampa is in Mizoram and Saramati on the Nagaland border.
- (d) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Pair 2 fails because Gumti is in Tripura.
Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only. Gumti lies in Tripura, which removes pair 2.
- UPSC Prelims 2013Consider the following pairs:
- Nokrek Biosphere Reserve : Garo Hills
- Loktak Lake : Barail Range
- Namdapha National Park : Dafla Hills
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Nokrek is in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, so pair 1 is correct. Loktak lies at the southern end of the Imphal valley in Manipur, a lake of the valley floor rather than of the Barail Range, which runs between the Brahmaputra and Barak basins; pair 2 is wrong. Namdapha lies in eastern Arunachal between the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai range, while the Dafla Hills lie on the western Arunachal-Assam border; pair 3 is wrong. So only pair 1 is correctly matched.
Trap to watch: Loktak and Namdapha are in the north-east, but not in the hill ranges named.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Correct. Nokrek Biosphere Reserve is in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya.
- (b) 2 and 3 only: Wrong. Loktak is not in the Barail Range and Namdapha is not in the Dafla Hills.
- (c) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Pairs 2 and 3 are both mismatched.
- (d) None: Wrong. Pair 1, Nokrek and the Garo Hills, is correct.
Answer: (a) 1 only. Namdapha lies between the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai range, not in the Dafla Hills.
- UPSC Prelims 2011Three of the following criteria have contributed to the recognition of Western Ghats-Sri Lanka and Indo-Burma regions as hotspots of biodiversity:
- Species richness
- Vegetation density
- Endemism
- Ethno-botanical importance
- Threat perception
- Adaptation of flora and fauna to warm and humid conditions
Which three of the above are correct criteria in this context?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Recall the two tests of a hotspot, at least 1,500 endemic vascular plant species and the loss of at least 70 per cent of primary vegetation. Those tests measure richness in species, endemism and threat. So criteria 1 (species richness), 3 (endemism) and 5 (threat perception) are correct. Vegetation density (2), ethno-botanical importance (4) and adaptation to warm, humid conditions (6) are not part of the definition. Only option (c) contains 1, 3 and 5.
Trap to watch: Vegetation density sounds like a measure of richness, but it is not a test.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1, 2 and 6: Wrong. Vegetation density and adaptation to a warm, humid climate are not hotspot criteria.
- (b) 2, 4 and 6: Wrong. None of these three is a hotspot criterion.
- (c) 1, 3 and 5: Correct. Hotspots are chosen for species richness, a high share of endemic species and the threat to their habitat.
- (d) 3, 4 and 6: Wrong. Endemism counts, but ethno-botanical importance and climatic adaptation do not.
Answer: (c) 1, 3 and 5. The deciding fact is that the hotspot tests are endemism plus habitat loss, applied to species-rich regions.
- UPSC Prelims 2010Consider the following statements:
- Biodiversity hotspots are located only in tropical regions.
- India has four biodiversity hotspots i.e., Eastern Himalayas, Western Himalayas, Western Ghats and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test each statement against the global list of hotspots.
- Statement 1: Most hotspots are tropical, but not all; the Mediterranean Basin is a hotspot outside the tropics, so statement 1 is false.
- Statement 2: India's four hotspots are the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, and Sundaland (through the Nicobar Islands). "Western Himalayas" is not a separate hotspot, Indo-Burma is missing, and the Andamans belong to Indo-Burma while the Nicobars belong to Sundaland, so statement 2 is false.
Neither statement is correct.
Trap to watch: Statement 2 names four regions, but not India's four hotspots.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. Hotspots also occur outside the tropics, such as the Mediterranean Basin.
- (b) 2 only: Wrong. The list in statement 2 is not India's four hotspots; it leaves out Indo-Burma and Sundaland.
- (c) Both 1 and 2: Wrong. Both statements are false.
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2: Correct. Hotspots are not only tropical, and India's four are the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, and Sundaland.
Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2. India's four hotspots are the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, and Sundaland, and non-tropical hotspots exist.
- UPSC Prelims 2009Consider the following regions:
- Eastern Himalayas
- Eastern Mediterranean region
- North-western Australia
Which of the above is/are Biodiversity Hotspot(s)?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: The Eastern Himalayas lie in the Himalaya hotspot, so region 1 is a hotspot. The eastern Mediterranean lies in the Mediterranean Basin hotspot, so region 2 is a hotspot. Australia's hotspot is in the south-west (the Southwest Australia hotspot), together with the eastern temperate forests; north-western Australia is not on the list. So only regions 1 and 2 are hotspots.
Trap to watch: Australia does have a hotspot, but in the south-west, not the north-west.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. The eastern Mediterranean is part of the Mediterranean Basin hotspot.
- (b) 1 and 2 only: Correct. Both lie inside listed hotspots; north-western Australia does not.
- (c) 2 and 3 only: Wrong. The Eastern Himalayas are a hotspot, and north-western Australia is not.
- (d) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Australia's hotspot is in the south-west, not the north-west.
Answer: (b) 1 and 2 only. The Australian hotspot is Southwest Australia, so region 3 fails.
- UPSC Prelims 2004Consider the following statements:
- Toothless mammals such as pangolins are not found in India.
- Gibbon is the only ape found in India.
Which of these statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: The Indian pangolin, which has no teeth, is native to the Indian subcontinent, so statement 1 is false. The hoolock gibbon is the only ape found in India, so statement 2 is true. So only statement 2 is correct.
Trap to watch: Pangolins are associated with Africa and South-East Asia, but India has its own.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. Statement 1 is false; the Indian pangolin is native to the subcontinent.
- (b) 2 only: Correct. The hoolock gibbon is India's only ape.
- (c) Both 1 and 2: Wrong. Statement 1 is false.
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2: Wrong. Statement 2 is true.
Answer: (b) 2 only. Pangolins do live in India, and the gibbon is its only ape.
- UPSC Prelims 1998Some people in Manipur live in houses built on floating islands of weeds and decaying vegetation held together by suspended silt. These islands are called
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: The floating islands of Loktak Lake in Manipur are phumdis, masses of vegetation, soil and organic matter; fishermen who live on them are called phumshangs.
Trap to watch: Barkhans sound like a landform of water; they are sand dunes.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) Tipis: Wrong. A tipi is a conical lodge tent, not a floating island.
- (b) Barkhans: Wrong. A barkhan is a crescent-shaped sand dune.
- (c) Phumdis: Correct. Loktak's floating masses of vegetation and soil are phumdis.
- (d) Izba: Wrong. An izba is a traditional Russian countryside log house.
Answer: (c) Phumdis. Phumdi is the Loktak term.
Sources
- NCERT: Biology (Class XII), Biodiversity and Conservation
- Ministry of Environment and Forests: India's Fourth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity (2009)
- District Kiphire (Govt of Nagaland): Mount Saramati
- District Bishnupur (Govt of Manipur): Keibul Lamjao National Park
- Wikipedia: Indo-Burma
- Wikipedia: Biodiversity hotspot
- Wikipedia: Northeast India
- Wikipedia: Hoolock gibbon
- Wikipedia: Western hoolock gibbon
- Wikipedia: Gee's golden langur
- Wikipedia: Stump-tailed macaque
- Wikipedia: Namdapha National Park
- Wikipedia: Kaziranga National Park
- Wikipedia: Indian rhinoceros
- Wikipedia: Loktak Lake
- Wikipedia: Keibul Lamjao National Park
- Wikipedia: Nokrek National Park
- Wikipedia: Citrus
- Wikipedia: Mautam
- Wikipedia: Rhynchostylis retusa
- Wikipedia: Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
- Wikipedia: Dampa Tiger Reserve
- Wikipedia: Gumti Wildlife Sanctuary
- Wikipedia: Mount Saramati
- Wikipedia: Barail Range
- Wikipedia: Indian pangolin
- Wikipedia: Chinese pangolin
- Wikipedia: Asiatic lion
- Wikipedia: Bactrian camel
- Wikipedia: BirdLife International
- Wikipedia: Mediterranean Basin
- Wikipedia: Tipi
- Wikipedia: Barchan
- Wikipedia: Izba
- Wikipedia: Sundaland
- UPSC: Civil Services Examination question papers
Editorial Disclaimer
This article draws on the NCERT Biology textbook, the Ministry of Environment's national report to the CBD, district administrations and the other sources listed above. Shares of vegetation left are worked out from the areas the national report gives.
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