Biology · Biodiversity and Conservation · NEET
NARROWLY utilitarian = direct economic products humans take from nature for themselves: food, firewood, fibre, industrial products (tannins, dyes, resins) and medicines, plus bioprospecting. BROADLY utilitarian = large ecosystem services that benefit the whole planet, not one buyer: oxygen from photosynthesis, pollination, and aesthetic value. Simple rule: narrow = money in your hand, broad = service for the whole world.
The Amazon rainforest. NCERT states the fast-dwindling Amazon forest is estimated to produce, through photosynthesis, about 20 per cent of the total oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. This exact number is a very common NEET fill-in-the-blank, so remember: Amazon = 20% of atmospheric oxygen.
Pollination is a BROADLY utilitarian benefit. It is an ecosystem service done by natural pollinators (bees, bumblebees, birds and bats). Without pollination, plants cannot give us fruits or seeds. Students often wrongly place it under narrowly utilitarian because it links to food, but NCERT lists pollination as an ecosystem service under the broadly utilitarian argument.
Yes. NCERT calls aesthetic pleasures 'intangible benefits' we get from nature, such as walking through thick woods, watching spring flowers bloom, or waking to a bulbul's song. These sit under the broadly utilitarian argument. Do not confuse this with the ethical argument, which is about the intrinsic value and moral duty toward every species.
Bioprospecting means exploring molecular, genetic and species-level diversity for products of economic importance. It gives direct commercial products to a nation or company, so NCERT places it under the NARROWLY utilitarian argument, not the broadly utilitarian one. A NEET trap is to list bioprospecting with oxygen and pollination.
Try the real previous-year questions from this chapter — each with the answer and a full solution.
1) Oxygen: the Amazon forest produces about 20% of Earth's atmospheric oxygen by photosynthesis. 2) Pollination: done by bees, bumblebees, birds and bats, needed for fruits and seeds. 3) Aesthetic pleasures: intangible benefits like enjoying woods, flowers and birdsong.
NCERT does not credit a single scientist. It simply groups the reasons to conserve biodiversity into three categories - narrowly utilitarian, broadly utilitarian, and ethical - and describes the broadly utilitarian one through ecosystem services.
Ecosystem services are the free benefits nature provides to all life, such as oxygen production, pollination, and aesthetic value, which cannot easily be given a price tag.
Bees, bumblebees, birds and bats. NEET can ask this list directly, so memorise all four.
Broadly utilitarian still values biodiversity for the services it provides to humans and the planet (oxygen, pollination, beauty). The ethical argument values every species for its intrinsic worth and our moral duty, even if it has no economic use.
