The project ensures a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats, protecting them from extinction and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage.

Death of vulture population is attributed to the veterinary medicine Diclofenac, which is responsible for the thinning of the egg shells. This is an example for biodiversity loss by pollution.

(i) The chemical found in the medicinal plant Rauwolfia vomitoria is reserpine.
(ii) It belong to Genetic diversity.

The natural resources of the Earth, including air, water, land, flora and fauna of natural ecosystems must be safeguarded for the benefit of the present and future generations through careful planning and management, as appropriate - Principle of the Stockholm Declaration 1972.

The population of sparrows is dwindling due to the use of packed food, insecticides in farming and changing lifestyles, and match box styled architecture resulting in an inadequate availability of food and shelter for the birds. Unlike pigeons that can make nests on ledges, sparrows need cavities to build their nests.

(i) Hotspots are areas characterized with high concentration of endemic species experiencing unusual rapid rate of habitat modification loss. Norman Myers defined hot spots as "regions that harbour a great diversity of endemic species and at the same tie, have been significantly impacted and altered by human activities."
(ii) A hotspot is a region that supports at least 1500 endemic vascular plant species (0.5% of the global total) has lost more than 70% of its original vegetation.
(iii) There are 35 biodiversity hotspots in the world. India is home to four biodiversity hotspots. They are:
(1) Himalaya: Entire Indian Himalayan region.
(2) Western Ghats
(3) Indo - Burma: Entire North-eastern India, except Assam and Andaman group of Islands (and Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Southern China)
(4) Sundarlands: Includes Nicobar group of Islands (and Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines).

There are three types of Extinctions
i. Natural extinction: It is a slow process of replacement of existing species with better adapted species due to changes in environmental conditions, evolutionary changes, predators and diseases. A small population can get extinct sooner than the large population due to inbreeding depression (less adaptivity and variation)
ii. Mass extinction: The Earth has experienced quite a few mass extinctions due to environmental catastrophes. Amass extinction occurred about 225 million years ago during the Permian, where 90% of shallow water marine invertebrates disappeared .
iii. Anthropogenic extinctions: These are abetted by human activities like hunting, habitat destruction, over exploitation, urbanization and industrialization. Some examples of extinctions are Dodo of Mauritius and Steller's sea cow of Russia. Amphibians seem to be at higher risk of extinction because of habitat destruction. The most serious aspect of the loss of biodiversity is the extinction of species. The unique information contained in its genetic material (DNA) and the niche it possesses are lost forever.

(i) Species have been evolving and becoming extinct since the origin of life. But species are now becoming extinct at a faster rate. This is destabilizing the ecological stability and the distribution of biological diversity on earth.
(ii) The current rate of biodiversity loss is 100-1000 times higher than the naturally occurring extinction rate. This loss of biodiversity will lead to a loss in diversity of species. It has a huge impact on plant, animal and human life. The negative effect includes dramatic influence on food web. Even a reduction in one species can affect the entire Food chain. This will affect the food sources of many species and will affect the stability of a community.
(iii) Many species may die due to lack of food. Thus species diversity will stabilize a community and also help the community to rebuild in case of any changes/ challenges faced by the community.

A. If both A and R are true and R is correct explanation for A.

(b) iv

(b) Botanical garden
Reason: It is a means of Ex-situ conservation of biodiversity whereas the others are In-situ means.