Q.Define ex-situ conservation, giving two examples of institutions or facilities that practise it.

Cryopreservation of gametes/tissue is ex-situ conservation; the other options are in-situ.

Ex-situ conservation means protecting a species outside its natural habitat; the traditional/conventional methods of doing this are botanical gardens and zoological parks (zoos), which maintain and display living plants and animals respectively.

Ex-situ conservation strategies range from conventional approaches - botanical gardens, zoological parks, and wildlife safari parks, where living specimens are kept and bred outside their natural habitat - to more modern biotechnological approaches such as cryopreservation of gametes/tissues, seed banks, and in vitro tissue/DNA banks. Botanical gardens conserve plant diversity (documented collections of living plants), while zoological parks conserve animal diversity, so the conventional method covers both.

Zoological parks conserve animals in an artificial, off-site setting, making them a textbook example of ex-situ conservation.

Ex-situ ('off-site') conservation protects species outside of their natural habitats, in artificially managed or controlled environments. Zoological parks (zoos) house and breed animals away from their original habitats, often including endangered species, for conservation, research, and education purposes, making them a clear example of ex-situ conservation. National parks (a), wildlife sanctuaries (c), and sacred groves (d) all protect species within their natural habitat and are therefore forms of in-situ conservation instead.

Both statements are correct, but the Reason does not explain the Assertion.

Assertion (A) is correct — biodiversity is conserved via in-situ methods (protecting species in their natural habitat, e.g. national parks, biosphere reserves) and ex-situ methods (conserving outside the natural habitat, e.g. zoos, seed banks). Reason (R) is also factually correct — the 1992 Rio-de-Janeiro Convention on Biological Diversity (the 'Earth Summit') was historic. However, R merely states a historical fact about a convention and does not explain WHY conservation is carried out through in-situ and ex-situ methods, so R is not the correct explanation of A.

Ex-situ conservation protects species outside their natural habitat, as in zoos, botanical gardens, and gene banks.

Ex-situ conservation means conserving threatened animals and plants by removing them from their natural habitat and placing them under partial or total human care, e.g., in zoological parks, botanical gardens, wildlife safari parks, cryopreservation of gametes, and seed/gene banks. This contrasts with in-situ conservation, which protects species within their natural habitat (e.g., national parks, biosphere reserves).

Ex-situ conservation protects organisms outside their natural habitat; of the four listed, Zoological Park and Botanical Garden fit this definition.

Ex-situ conservation means protecting threatened plants and animals by removing a part of the population from their natural habitat and placing them under human care, e.g. in zoos, botanical gardens, wildlife safari parks, seed banks and cryopreservation facilities.

From the given list:

• Zoological Park — animals kept and bred outside their natural habitat → ex-situ.

• Botanical Garden — plants conserved and cultivated outside their natural habitat → ex-situ.

• Biosphere Reserve and National Park, by contrast, protect organisms within their natural habitat and are examples of in-situ conservation.

Cryopreservation is an ex-situ conservation method, not an in-situ one.

In-situ conservation protects species within their own natural habitat — this includes National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries and Biosphere Reserves (protected areas). Ex-situ conservation, by contrast, protects components of biodiversity outside their natural habitat — in zoos, botanical gardens, gene banks, seed banks, and by cryopreservation of gametes/tissue/DNA in liquid nitrogen. Cryopreservation therefore does NOT qualify as an in-situ method.

The Kukrail Crocodile (Gharial) Rehabilitation Centre is located in Lucknow.

Concept — ex-situ conservation. Conserving threatened species outside their natural habitat — in rehabilitation centres, zoos, breeding centres, etc. — is ex-situ conservation. The Kukrail centre, set up to breed and rehabilitate the endangered gharial and mugger crocodile before releasing them into rivers, is one such facility.

• It lies at Kukrail on the outskirts of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh — not in Prayagraj, Varanasi or Lakhimpur Kheri.

Part (a): The ex situ conservation method among the options is CRYOPRESERVATION - option (C). Part (b): Stratospheric ozone is continuously formed by the action of UV rays on molecular oxygen - option (C).

Ex-situ conservation protects species OUTSIDE their natural habitat; only a zoological park among the options does this.

Ex-situ conservation includes zoological parks, botanical gardens, wildlife safari parks, seed banks/gene banks and cryopreservation of gametes — species are removed from their natural home and maintained/bred in a controlled artificial setting. In-situ conservation, by contrast, protects species within their natural habitat: hot-spots, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere reserves are all in-situ measures.

Ex-situ conservation protects species outside their natural habitat; among the options, only Zoological parks are ex-situ — the rest (wildlife sanctuaries, biosphere reserves, national parks, sacred groves) are in-situ methods that protect species within their own natural habitat.

Conservation of biodiversity is carried out by two broad strategies:

• In-situ conservation — protecting species within their own natural habitat/ecosystem. This includes Wildlife sanctuaries, National parks, Biosphere reserves, and traditionally protected Sacred groves.
• Ex-situ conservation — protecting threatened/endangered species by removing them from their natural habitat and placing them under human care, e.g. in Zoological parks (zoos), botanical gardens, wildlife safari parks, seed banks, cryopreservation of gametes, and tissue culture.

Of the five options given, Wildlife sanctuaries, Biosphere reserves, National parks and Sacred groves are all in-situ (protection happens where the species naturally occurs). Only the Zoological park removes and maintains animals away from their natural habitat, making it the ex-situ option.

A germplasm collection is the total reservoir of all the different alleles for all the genes present in a crop species, including its wild relatives — the raw genetic material used for future plant breeding.

In plant breeding, before starting any breeding programme, all the different wild varieties, relatives, and cultivated strains of a crop are collected and preserved — this complete collection, representing all the alleles available for all genes of that crop, is called the germplasm collection. It is typically preserved as seeds in germplasm/gene banks at low temperature and humidity.

• Herbarium (a): a collection of dried, pressed plant specimens for identification — not what's described.
• Somaclones (b): plants derived from tissue culture that show genetic variation — not a genetic reservoir.
• Cultivars (d): specific cultivated varieties selected/bred for particular traits — a subset, not the total diversity.

(Note: this topic sits outside this platform's current Biology chapter set, which no longer includes a dedicated plant-breeding chapter — the answer above is placed under Biodiversity and Conservation, the nearest chapter, since germplasm/gene banks are also discussed there as an ex-situ conservation strategy.)