State whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

I. The inventory of species diversity for many taxonomic groups is more complete in the tropical regions than in the temperate regions.
II. More than 85% of all the recorded species are animals
III. Amongst plants, angiosperms show maximum species diversity

The correct option is B I - F, II - F, III - T
Statement I is false: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (2004) states that more than 1.5 million different species of plants and animals have been identified and described by biologists so far. It is assumed that the inventory of species diversity is more complete in the temperate regions than in the tropics. This is because the tropics experience a fairly constant climate throughout the year without extreme changes and thus support the existence of a wider variety of species.

Statement II is false: The currently available records on the identified species tell us that more than 70% of all the recorded species are animals and 22% of the recorded species belong to plants and fungi combined.

Statement III is true: Amongst plants, the highest species diversity is shown by angiosperms (flowering plants), followed by algae, mosses (bryophytes) and ferns (pteridophytes).


Figure: Global species distribution of plants, fungi and lichens