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UPSC Prelims 2010 · Environment · Nature’s Machinery
Consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 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
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Statement 1 fails on the non-tropical hotspots, statement 2 on the names.
Statement by statement
1. ✗ WRONG The Mediterranean Basin, California and South-West Australia are hotspots outside the tropics.
2. ✗ WRONG — wrong names India has four hotspots, but they are the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Western Ghats–Sri Lanka and Sundaland (which covers the Nicobar Islands). There is no separate “Western Himalayas” or “Andaman and Nicobar” hotspot.
The idea
Hotspots are drawn by nature, not by national borders, so India shares all four of its hotspots with neighbours. Learn them by what part of India each one covers.
Himalaya → the whole Indian Himalayan belt → Indo-Burma → North-East India south of the Brahmaputra, and the Andaman Islands → Western Ghats and Sri Lanka → the Ghats → Sundaland → the Nicobar Islands
The trap
The count “four” is correct, so you stop checking. UPSC changed the names, not the number.
Elimination technique
Statement 1 says hotspots are located “only in tropical regions”. Absolute words usually mark the false statement in Environment PYQs. That removes (a) and (c).
Also know
Hotspots outside the tropics include the Mediterranean Basin, the California coast, central Chile, the Cape region of South Africa and South-West Australia. All five have a Mediterranean type of climate and very many endemic plants.
🔒 India’s 4 hotspots: Himalaya · Indo-Burma (NE) · Western Ghats–Sri Lanka · Sundaland (Nicobar).