- Exam
- NEET
- Subject
- Botany
- Chapter
- Biodiversity and its Conservation
NEET · Botany · Biodiversity and its Conservation
What is one example of an ecosystem service provided by the Amazon...
Options
- APollination
- BAesthetic pleasure
- COxygen production
- DMoral duty
Correct answer
C. Oxygen production
Step-by-step solution
The broadly utilitarian argument says that biodiversity plays a major role in many ecosystem services that nature provides. The fast dwindling Amazon forest is estimated to produce, through photosynthesis, 20 per cent of the total oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere. Can we put an economic value on this service by nature? You can get some idea by finding out how much your neighborhood hospital spends on a cylinder of oxygen. Pollination (without which plants cannot give us fruits or seeds) is another service, ecosystems provide through pollinators layer – bees, bumblebees, birds and bats. What will be the costs of accomplishing pollination without help from natural pollinators? There are other intangible benefits – that we derive from nature–the aesthetic pleasures of walking through thick woods, watching spring flowers in full bloom or waking up to a bulbul’s song in the morning.