UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 60 of 99

UPSC Prelims 2018 question on Sixth Mass Extinction

The term 'sixth mass extinction/sixth extinction' is often mentioned in the news in the context of the discussion of

  1. Widespread monoculture practices in agriculture and large-scale commercial farming with indiscriminate use of chemicals that may result in the loss of good native ecosystems.
  2. Fears of a possible collision of a meteorite with the Earth in the near future in the manner it happened 65 million years ago that caused the mass extinction of many species including those of dinosaurs.
  3. Large scale cultivation of genetically modified crops in many parts of the world and promoting their cultivation in other parts of the world which may cause the disappearance of good native crop plants and the loss of food biodiversity.
  4. Mankind's over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss of natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution and global climate change.
Show answer

Answer: D. Mankind's over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss of natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution and global climate change.

Analysis

Scientists have warned that the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth is unfolding more quickly than feared, with wildlife dying out due to habitat destruction, overhunting, toxic pollution, invasion by alien species and climate change, the ultimate causes being human population growth and overconsumption. Option (d) lists precisely this set of anthropogenic drivers.

Statement by statement

Option (d) captures the context correctly, so the answer is (d).

Option (b) is the closest distractor because it correctly recalls the asteroid impact that ended the dinosaurs, but that describes a past extinction and a hypothetical future one, not the current process. Options (a) and (c) name genuine agricultural threats to biodiversity, but each is a single narrow driver rather than the broad human impact the term denotes.

Source

The Hindu report on Earth facing a sixth mass extinction.

How to crack it

The distinguishing feature of the sixth extinction is that it is happening now and is caused by us, which is what separates it from the five earlier ones. When options offer one comprehensive answer and several narrow ones, and the stem uses a broad term, the comprehensive option is usually correct. Ask whether a narrow option could alone justify calling the event a mass extinction.

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