Spot the false biodiversity claim

Exercise and reference answers

Questions

1. False statement

   Fungi have fewer species than fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals combined.

   Statements

   1. Insects make up more than 70 per cent of all recorded animal species.
   2. Plants make up no more than 22 per cent of all recorded species.
   3. Fungi have fewer species than fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals combined.

2. False statement

   Alexander von Humboldt made his observations in the jungles of Australia.

   Statements

   1. Alexander von Humboldt made his observations in the jungles of Australia.
   2. Species diversity generally falls as you move from the equator to the poles.
   3. Species richness plotted against area gives a rectangular hyperbola.

3. False statement

   Current extinction rates match the rates seen before humans appeared.

   Statements

   1. The Nile perch wiped out over 200 cichlid fish species in Lake Victoria.
   2. Current extinction rates match the rates seen before humans appeared.
   3. Habitat loss and fragmentation is the most important cause of extinction.

Instructions

Tap the one statement in each trio that is false.

Explanation