Q.62 The relation between species richness and area for a wide variety of taxa turns out to be a rectangular hyperbola. Give a brief explanation.


Ans. According to AV Humboldt, a German scientist within, a region, species richness increased with increasing explored area (only upto a limit). Accordingly, the relationship between species richness and area for a wide variety of taxa (birds, bat, angiosperms, aquatic fishes) turns out to be a rectangular hyperbola.

The relationship depicts a straight line on a logarithmic scale described by the following equation
                               log S log C+ Z log A

Where 'S" stands for species richness, 'A' is area and and 'C' is the slope of the line (regression coefficient) and y-intercept respectively.