Question

Silent valley having rare plants and animals is located in
A) Kerala
B) Karnataka
C) Jammu and Kashmir
D) Andhra Pradesh

Answer 1

Protection of biodiversity is very important especially the hotspot area. Humans directly or indirectly depend upon biodiversity. The conservation of biodiversity is also important to create a balanced ecosystem.

Complete answer:

To solve this question, we have to know about the conservation of biodiversity. The conservation of biodiversity means preservation and protection of the ecosystem. It involves the maintenance of deforestation and pollution; it also includes the preservation of natural resources and species to keep the ecosystem in balance. This conservation process also involves the conservation of the endangered species from a habitat, for these two criteria are adopted; in situ conservation and ex situ conservation. In situ conservation is the protection of endangered organisms either plants or animals in its natural habitat. This process is applied to the conservation of the agricultural biodiversity like those who use the unconventional farming process while the ex situ conservation involves the relocation of the endangered species from their habitat to some other protected areas for their preservation. The in situ conservation includes the national parks, biosphere reserve, and wildlife sanctuaries. In India there are more than 600 protected areas that include 90 national parks, 15 biosphere reserves, and 500 wildlife sanctuaries.
Now, the biosphere reserves is the area where the human population also included in the part of the system, they are divided into core zone, which are legally protected and undisturbed, buffer zone; where educational and research activities are allowed, and the transition zone; where cropping, fishery, forestry, and recreation activities are allowed. India has two hotspots North-East Himalayas and Western Ghats which are rich in amphibians, reptiles, some mammals, butterflies, and flowering plants.
The major biodiversity centres of Western Ghats are the Amarambalam reserve and silent valley of Kerala and the Agasthyamalai hills of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The silent valley of Kerala is located in the Nilgiri hills covering the area of 89.52 $km^2$ and it is surrounded by 148 $km^2$ of buffer zone. This national park consists of many rare species of plants, animals, and birds. It is the last undisturbed tracts of tropical moist evergreen forest and South Western Ghat mountain rain forests of India. There is a wide variety of flowering plants species, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals are found. The silent valley gets appropriate amounts of rainfall during the monsoon season between June and September and receives significant rainfall between October and November during north-east monsoon.

Thus, the correct option is ‘A’. Kerala.

Note: The national park is the areas where grazing and forestry is not allowed. This is strictly reserved for the betterment of the species, the boundaries are marked. The wildlife sanctuary is the area where the animals are conserved and harvesting processes are also carried out like plantation of commercially useful trees such as timber and sal.