UPSC Prelims 2018— Question 60

**Concept and analysis:** The sixth mass extinction refers to the accelerating contemporary loss of biodiversity associated with human activities. Major drivers include habitat destruction and fragmentation, overexploitation, pollution, invasive species and climate change. It is not simply a future asteroid collision or a single consequence of genetically modified crops or monoculture. The broad anthropogenic driver set in option D best describes the concept. The question is testing precise UPSC-level identification rather than a broad association. The key is to distinguish the exact institutional, constitutional, historical, geographical, economic or scientific feature being asked. **Option-wise evaluation** **Option A:** Incorrect. Widespread monoculture practices in agriculture and large-scale commercial farming with indiscriminate use of chemicals in many parts of the world that may result in the loss of good native ecosystems. is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option B:** Incorrect. Fears of a possible collision of a meteorite with the Earth in the near future in the manner it happened 65 million years ago that caused the mass extinction of many species including those of dinosaurs. . is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option C:** Incorrect. Large scale cultivation of genetically modified crops in many parts of the world and promoting their cultivation in other parts of the world which may cause the disappearance of good native crop plants and the loss of food biodiversity. is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option D:** Correct. Mankind’s over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss of natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution and global climate change. directly matches the concept or factual identification established in the analysis. **UPSC takeaway:** The safest way to solve this type of question is to anchor the answer in the defining feature of the concept and then test every option against that feature. Closely related institutions or terms are often used as distractors. In statement-based questions, do not judge the option as a whole before checking each statement independently. In factual questions, compare the wording of each option with the exact definition, location, institutional role, chronology or scientific property. The correct answer follows from that verification rather than from familiarity with a keyword.