Ex situ vs in situ, plus Rio 1992 and Johannesburg 2002: I swap the dates and the pledges every single time
Pooja Iyer12th Sample
21 Sept 2026 · 1 min read
Biodiversity conservation chapter is my drama queen chapter because everything sounds like everything else.
What I have in my notes for ex situ: zoological parks, botanical gardens, wildlife safari parks, and then the "modern" ones, cryopreservation of gametes of threatened species in liquid nitrogen at C, in vitro fertilisation, tissue culture, and seed banks.
For in situ: biosphere reserves, national parks, sanctuaries, sacred groves, and the biodiversity hotspots (34 in the world, 3 in India: Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, Indo-Burma, and Himalaya).
Problems:
- In a mock test I put "national parks" under ex situ for some reason. What is the rule to decide? And is a seed bank really ex situ if it's not a "place" with animals?
- International side: Convention on Biological Diversity at Rio de Janeiro (Earth Summit) in 1992, and the World Summit on Sustainable Development at Johannesburg in 2002 where countries pledged something about 2010. I can never remember what exactly the pledge was and which year goes with which.
Plz give me a trick, preferably one that doesn't involve me crying over a flowchart 🥲
7 answers & replies
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[+][–]Ishita GoyalDropperSample· 28d ago
Rule: in situ = on site (the species stays in its natural habitat and the habitat is protected). Ex situ = off site (the threatened species is taken out of its habitat and given special care elsewhere).
In situ Ex situ National parks, sanctuaries, biosphere reserves Zoos, botanical gardens, safari parks Sacred groves Seed banks, gene banks Hotspots (priority regions) Cryopreserved gametes, IVF, tissue culture National parks protect the animals where they live, so in situ. Seed bank is ex situ because the seeds are stored away from the natural habitat of the plant. It doesn't need to look like a zoo.
[+][–]Pooja Iyer12thSample· 28d agoAuthor
the table!!! on-site and off-site, I'm literally never mixing national parks again. thank you all 💜
[+][–]Nisha Verma12thSample· 28d ago
The two summits as a story:
1992, Rio de Janeiro (the Earth Summit): the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted. That's the one with the "conservation, sustainable use, fair sharing of benefits" idea. 2002, Johannesburg (World Summit on Sustainable Development): 190 countries pledged to reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional and local levels by 2010.
So Rio is the convention, Johannesburg is the pledge with the deadline. Both start with a city name, then a year, easy.
[+][–]Farhan ShaikhDropperSample· 28d ago
For Johannesburg I remember it as "stop the loss of biodiversity by 2010", simple enough to write in a short answer. And hotspots are ex situ conservation because they are special priority areas that we manage specially.
[+][–]Kavya NaikDropperSample· 28d ago
Farhan, two corrections. The pledge was to reduce the current rate of loss, not to stop it altogether, and examiners love that small difference. Hotspots are in situ: they're regions with very high species richness, high endemism and under threat, and we protect them where they are. Nothing is moved anywhere.
[+][–]Farhan ShaikhDropperSample· 28d ago
oh ok, "reduce the rate", noted. thanks Kavya. wrote it on the back of my hand lol
[+][–]Siddharth RaoDropperSample· 28d ago
One small thing I messed up last year: the "34 hotspots / 3 in India" is a fact that gets asked as direct recall. Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, Indo-Burma, Himalaya. Also remember "sacred groves" is a typical in situ option that sneaks into an ex situ question. Pre-existing tribal and community tradition, nothing built by govt, so no relation to zoos.
