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UPSC Prelims 2023CSATEnvironment & EcologyReading Comprehension - Logical Inference

Q13. Which one of the following statements best reflects the most logical and rational inference that can be drawn from the passage?

A. The home range of elephants needs to be a vast area of rich biodiversity.
B. Elephants are the keystone species and they benefit the biodiversity.✓ Correct
C. Rich biodiversity cannot be maintained in the forests without the presence of elephants.
D. Elephants are capable of regenerating forests with species as per their requirement.

Detailed Solution

✓ Correct Answer: Option B

The passage details numerous ways elephants significantly impact and shape their ecosystem: creating clearings, preventing overgrowth, aiding seed dispersal, enriching soil with dung, and providing water sources during droughts. These actions demonstrate that elephants play a critical and disproportionately large role in maintaining the structure and health of their environment, which is the definition of a keystone species.

Their activities directly benefit the overall biodiversity of the ecosystem. Option A is not directly inferred. Option C is an extreme statement ('cannot be maintained') not fully supported.

Option D misrepresents their ecological role as being 'as per their requirement' rather than a natural, often involuntary, process.

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