निम्नलिखित कथनों पर विचार कीजिए :
- 1.विश्व की सर्वाधिक प्रवाल भित्तियाँ उष्णकटिबंधीय सागर जलों में मिलती हैं ।
- 2.विश्व की एक-तिहाई से अधिक प्रवाल भित्तियाँ ऑस्ट्रेलिया, इंडोनेशिया और फिलीपीन्स के राज्य-क्षेत्रों में स्थित हैं ।
- 3.उष्णकटिबंधीय वर्षा वनों की अपेक्षा, प्रवाल भित्तियाँ कहीं अधिक संख्या में जन्तु संघों का परपोषण करती हैं ।
उपर्युक्त कथनों में से कौन-सा/से सही है/हैं ?
Read this question in English
Consider the following statements:
1. Most of the world’s coral reefs are in tropical waters.
2. More than one-third of the world’s coral reefs are located in the territories of Australia, Indonesia and Philippines.
3. Coral reefs host far more number of animal phyla than those hosted by tropical rainforests.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only · (b) 3 only · (c) 1 and 3 only · (d) 1, 2 and 3
उत्तर और व्याख्या · explanation in English
Answer: (d) 1, 2 और 3
All three statements are taken as correct. NCERT places coral reefs in the tropical oceans; half of all reef area is in just five countries, and Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines alone hold about 42% of it; and reefs host 32 of the 34 recognised animal phyla (UN).
- ✓ 1. NCERT describes atolls as low islands of coral reefs found in the tropical oceans, so most reefs lie in tropical waters.
- ✓ 2. Half of the world's reef surface lies in only five countries: Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, France and Papua New Guinea. The GCRMN ranking gives Australia 16.88%, Indonesia 15.26% and the Philippines 9.74% of reef surface, a cumulative 41.88% for the three, which is more than one-third.
- ✓ 3. The UN's World Ocean Assessment says reefs host 32 of the 34 recognised phyla, nearly all of them. UPSC's official key treats this statement as correct; we could not confirm the comparison with rainforests from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
Remember · Reefs: mostly tropical, concentrated in a few countries (Australia, Indonesia, Philippines hold about 42%), and home to 32 of 34 animal phyla.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 12 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 11 · Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Chapter 12 “These are low islands found in the tropical oceans consisting of coral reefs surrounding a central depression.”
- Status of Coral Reef Monitoring: An Assessment of Methods and Data (GCRMN, hosted by the International Coral Reef Initiative) ↗ · reference work “Half of the world’s coral reef surface is distributed between only five countries – Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, France and Papua New Guinea. … Ranking Country Coral reef surface (km²) Relative contribution (%) Cumulative coral reef surface (%) 1 Australia 44,485 16.88 16.88 2 Indonesia 40,209 15.26 32.14 3 Philippines 25,677 9.74 41.88”
- Indonesia Coral Bond project document, World Bank (March 2024) ↗ “Indonesia is home to 16 percent of the world’s coral reefs.”
- World Ocean Assessment, Chapter 43: Tropical and Sub-Tropical Coral Reefs (United Nations) ↗ “Coral reefs are the largest reservoirs of biodiversity on earth: they host 32 of 34 recognised phyla and approximately one-third of all marine biodiversity”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·