NEETBotanyBiodiversity and its Conservation
How many prokaryotic species might there be according to biologists?
Options
- AThousands
- BMillions
- CBillions
- DNo one knows
Correct answer
D. No one knows
Step-by-step solution
It should be noted that these estimates do not give any figures for prokaryotes. Biologists are not sure about how many prokaryotic species there might be. The problem is that conventional taxonomic methods are not suitable for identifying microbial species and many species are simply not culturable under laboratory conditions. If we accept biochemical or molecular criteria for delineating species for this group, then their diversity alone might run into millions