Question

An ecosystem is joined by thousands of species, if a problem occurs causing a species to become extinct, it may not affect the proper functioning of the ecosystem initially, but as more and more species are removed, the ecosystem becomes dangerously weak over a period of time. Which hypothesis gave this sentence?

(a) Old planetesimal hypothesis

(b) Oparin-Haldane hypothesis

(c) New planetesimal hypothesis

(d) Rivet popper hypothesis

This question was posed to me at a job interview.

This intriguing question comes from Importance of Species Diversity to the Ecosystem in section Biodiversity and Conservation of Biology – Class 12

Answer 1

The correct answer is (d) Rivet popper hypothesis

To elaborate: Paul Ehrlich, a Stanford ecologist gave the ‘Rivet popper hypothesis’. It states that an ecosystem is joined by thousands of species and if a problem occurs leading to the extinction of few species, it may not affect the ecosystem initially but as more and more species are removed, the ecosystem becomes weak. This will hamper the survival of living species to a greater extent.