Explanation
- A
Species diversity increases from equator towards poles.
Species diversity does not increase from the equator towards the poles; it decreases (latitudinal diversity gradient). The statement is therefore NOT true. That is why (a) is the official key.
- B
Anthropogenic environment
The stored option text is garbled from the previous question. On the official paper this slot is ‘Tropics harbour more species than temperate areas’, which is true, so it is not the ‘NOT true’ answer.
- C
Greatest biodiversity occurs in Amazonian rainforest
Greatest terrestrial species richness in the Amazonian rainforest is a standard true statement, so it is not the key.
- D
Species diversity decreases from temperate areas towards poles.
Species diversity does decrease from temperate latitudes towards the poles. That statement is true, so it is not the mismatch.
Summary. Official key is (a). Diversity falls from tropics to poles; saying it increases equator-to-pole is false. Tropics (and Amazonia) are richer; temperate-to-pole decline is also true.