Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 14

The correct answer is A, wetlands. The convention was signed in 1971 at Ramsar, a town in Iran, and is the oldest of the modern global conservation treaties. Wetlands listed under it are called Ramsar sites, and countries that are parties undertake to use them wisely and to maintain their ecological character.

Option B, tropical forests, is dealt with by other instruments, chiefly the Convention on Biological Diversity and the forest related work under the climate convention. Option C, the ozone layer, is the subject of the Vienna Convention of 1985 and the Montreal Protocol of 1987. Option D, migratory whales, falls under the International Whaling Commission, while migratory species in general are covered by the Bonn Convention of 1979. The one word to attach to Ramsar is wetlands, and the year to attach to it is 1971.

The correct answer is D, Space Research. Space research is not one of the Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations General Assembly adopted seventeen such goals in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with 169 targets to be met by 2030; they replaced the Millennium Development Goals, which ran from 2000 to 2015. The seventeen cover poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, clean water, energy, decent work, industry, inequality, cities, responsible consumption, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace and justice, and partnerships. Option A is wrong because Gender Equality is Goal 5. Option B is wrong because Zero Hunger is Goal 2. Option C is wrong because Good Health and Well-being is Goal 3. In India NITI Aayog tracks state progress on the goals through its SDG India Index. Exam tip: 17 goals, 169 targets, adopted 2015, target year 2030; Goal 1 is No Poverty and Goal 17 is Partnerships for the Goals.

The correct answer is C, Particulate matter. An electrostatic precipitator gives the dust and ash particles in the flue gas an electric charge as they pass an electrode, and then collects them on plates carrying the opposite charge; the plates are shaken so that the collected ash falls into a hopper. It is the standard device for cleaning the chimney gases of a coal-fired power station and can remove the great majority of the particles. Options A and B are wrong because gases are not charged and collected this way; sulphur dioxide and the oxides of nitrogen are removed instead by a scrubber, in which the gas is washed with water or a lime slurry. Option D is wrong because carbon dioxide is not removed by either device in ordinary practice.

The correct answer is B. Mulching means covering the bare soil between plants with a layer of organic matter such as straw, dry leaves, husk or grass clippings. The cover shades the ground, so less water evaporates and the soil stays moist and cool, and it also softens the blow of falling rain, which would otherwise loosen the topsoil and wash it away. As the mulch rots it adds humus to the field, and by cutting off light it keeps weeds down. Farmers use it widely in orchards and vegetable plots, and in dry regions it is one of the cheapest ways to hold moisture. A is wrong because raising barriers of stone, grass and soil along the contours is contour barrier work. C is wrong because growing different crops in alternate rows is strip cropping. D is wrong because piling up rocks to slow the flow of water describes a rock dam. Exam tip: mulching covers the soil, strip cropping alternates rows, terracing cuts steps into a hillside.

The correct answer is B, cadmium pollution. Itai-Itai disease was first identified in Japan among people who ate rice grown with water polluted by cadmium from mining waste. Cadmium damages the kidneys and softens the bones, causing fractures and such severe pain that the Japanese name itai-itai means ouch-ouch. Option A is wrong because mercury pollution causes Minamata disease, also first reported in Japan, which attacks the nervous system and causes loss of coordination and speech. Option C is wrong because arsenic in groundwater causes arsenicosis, marked by skin lesions and pigmentation, a serious problem in parts of West Bengal and Bihar. Option D is wrong because excess nitrate in drinking water causes methaemoglobinemia, the blue baby syndrome, in infants. Learn these four pairs together, since examiners almost always place them in the same question.

The correct answer is C, Garhwal Himalayas. The Chipko movement began in 1973 in the Garhwal Himalayas, in Chamoli district of what is now Uttarakhand, when villagers hugged trees to stop contractors from felling them. Its name comes from the Hindi word chipko, to cling. Chandi Prasad Bhatt led the first protest at Mandal village, Gaura Devi led the women of Reni village in 1974, and Sunderlal Bahuguna carried the message across the hills with the slogan that the soil, water and pure air are the real produce of a forest. The movement led to a fifteen-year ban on green felling above 1,000 metres in the Himalayan forests of Uttar Pradesh in 1980. Option A is wrong because Patna in Bihar has no link with it. Option B is wrong because Thrissur is in Kerala, far from the movement. Option D is wrong because Jammu was never its centre. Exam tip: Chipko 1973, Garhwal; Appiko 1983, Karnataka.

The correct answer is A, all of the options. Each of the other three statements is correct on its own, which is exactly why the combined option is the answer. Option B is a true statement rather than the answer: ozone has three oxygen atoms, is unstable and is a strong oxidising agent, which is why it is used to disinfect water. Option C is also true: the ozone in the stratosphere absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation from the sun and protects living things from skin cancer and cataract. Option D is true as well, but for ozone at ground level, where it is formed as a secondary pollutant when sunlight acts on nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons from vehicles, and it is the main component of photochemical smog. Since B, C and D are each correct, no single one of them can be the answer and option A must be chosen. This good and bad character of ozone is the point being tested.

The correct answer is B, Turns to steam at high pressure. This describes geothermal energy. Molten rock pushed up from deep inside the Earth collects as hot spots at shallower depths, and groundwater trapped near them is heated until it becomes steam under high pressure. When a pipe is sunk into such a hot spot the trapped steam rushes up, and its pressure is used to turn the turbine of a generator, giving electricity without any fuel. New Zealand, Iceland and the United States use this source on a large scale, and in India the Puga valley in Ladakh and Tattapani in Chhattisgarh are the best known sites. A is wrong because heat cannot turn water to ice. C is wrong because water near hot rocks is heated, not cooled. D is wrong because water merely flowing out would carry no pressure to drive a turbine. Exam tip: geothermal energy is renewable and comes from the Earth's internal heat; Puga valley, Ladakh.

The correct answer is D, 20°C. An ocean thermal energy conversion plant works only where the warm surface water is at least about 20 degrees Celsius hotter than the cold water drawn from the depths.

OTEC uses that difference as its heat source. The warm surface water boils a liquid with a low boiling point, such as ammonia, and the vapour turns a turbine to make electricity; cold water pumped up from roughly a kilometre down condenses the vapour back to liquid so the cycle repeats. The gap of 20 degrees is needed because a smaller one leaves too little energy to run the pumps and still send power out. Such conditions are found in tropical seas, and India has tested OTEC near the Lakshadweep and Andaman islands.

Option A is wrong because a 40 degree gap does not occur between the surface and the deep sea. Option B is wrong because 250 degrees belongs to a furnace, not the ocean. Option C is wrong because 50 degrees is far beyond any natural ocean difference.

Exam tip: OTEC needs a surface to deep water difference of about 20°C and works best in tropical waters.

The correct answer is A, 5 NTU. Under the Bureau of Indian Standards specification for drinking water, IS 10500:2012, turbidity has an acceptable limit of 1 NTU and a maximum permissible limit of 5 NTU in the absence of any alternate source. Turbidity is the cloudiness of water caused by suspended clay, silt and organic matter, and it is measured in nephelometric turbidity units by how much light a sample scatters sideways. It is kept low because suspended particles shelter bacteria and viruses from chlorine and make disinfection less effective. Option B is wrong because 1 NTU is the acceptable limit, not the maximum permissible one. Option C is wrong because 3 NTU appears in neither column of the standard. Option D is wrong because 7 NTU is above what the standard allows in any circumstance. Exam tip: for IS 10500:2012 remember the pair — turbidity acceptable 1 NTU and permissible 5 NTU, with pH held between 6.5 and 8.5.

The correct answer is B, Haryali. Haryali is a centrally sponsored watershed development project launched in 2003 by the Ministry of Rural Development, and its whole point is that the village panchayat plans and carries out the work itself. Under it gram panchayats build check dams, farm ponds, percolation tanks and contour bunds so that rain is held where it falls; wells recharge, and dryland farmers get water for a second crop. The watershed committee is chosen by the gram sabha, and the villagers share part of the cost and the upkeep of the structures. A is wrong because the Arvary Pani Sansad is a people's parliament of villages on the Arvari river in Alwar, Rajasthan, a community effort and not a central scheme. C is wrong because Jal Kranti Abhiyan was a later water awareness campaign of the water resources ministry. D is wrong because Neeru-Meeru was a state water conservation programme of Andhra Pradesh. Exam tip: Haryali 2003, central and panchayat-led; Neeru-Meeru is Andhra Pradesh; Arvari Pani Sansad is Rajasthan.

The correct answer is B, Pinjore. India's first vulture breeding centre, the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, was set up at Pinjore in the Panchkula district of Haryana in 2001. It was started because the population of white-backed, long-billed and slender-billed vultures had crashed by more than ninety per cent in the 1990s. The cause was diclofenac, a painkiller given to cattle, which caused kidney failure in vultures that fed on the carcasses; its veterinary use was banned in India in 2006. The centre breeds these three critically endangered species in captivity and releases them into the wild. Option A is wrong because Pushkar in Rajasthan is known for its lake and the Brahma temple. Option C is wrong because Rampur in Uttar Pradesh has no such centre, though a vulture centre works at Rani in Assam. Option D is wrong because Agra is known for the Taj Mahal and a bear rescue facility. Exam tip: Pinjore in Haryana for vultures, and diclofenac as the reason for their decline.

The correct answer is B, substances that deplete the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol was adopted under the Vienna Convention of 1985 and sets a timetable for phasing out chlorofluorocarbons, halons and similar chemicals. It is often described as the most successful environmental treaty, and 16 September is observed as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.

Option A, greenhouse gases, belongs to the climate regime: the Framework Convention of 1992, the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 and the Paris Agreement of 2015. Option C, hazardous waste moving across borders, is the subject of the Basel Convention of 1989. Option D, trade in endangered species, is covered by CITES, agreed in 1973. Candidates lose this mark by confusing Montreal with Kyoto, so fix the pair firmly: Montreal for ozone, Kyoto for climate.

The correct answer is D, 29th July. International Tiger Day, also called Global Tiger Day, is observed every year on 29 July. It was started in 2010 at the Tiger Summit held in St Petersburg, Russia, where the thirteen tiger-range countries promised to double the number of wild tigers by 2022. The day spreads awareness about the loss of tiger habitat and poaching. India is home to about three-fourths of the world's wild tigers; it launched Project Tiger on 1 April 1973 from Jim Corbett National Park, and the National Tiger Conservation Authority was set up in 2005. The tiger is India's national animal and the results of the tiger census are usually released around this day. A is wrong because 12 May is International Nurses Day, the birthday of Florence Nightingale. B is wrong because 10 January is World Hindi Day. C is wrong because 5 November is World Tsunami Awareness Day. Exam tip: 29 July Tiger Day (St Petersburg 2010); Project Tiger 1973; 12 August is World Elephant Day.

The correct answer is B, inactivates the catalyst in the converter. A catalytic converter holds platinum, palladium and rhodium on a honeycomb support, which oxidise carbon monoxide and unburnt hydrocarbons to carbon dioxide and water and reduce the oxides of nitrogen to nitrogen. Lead compounds from leaded petrol coat the surface of these metals and destroy their catalytic action, a process called catalyst poisoning, after which the converter no longer cleans the exhaust. Option A is wrong because the problem is chemical poisoning, not a rise in temperature. Option C is wrong because lead does not form a solid with carbon monoxide in the exhaust. Option D is wrong because tetraethyl lead was in fact added to petrol to raise its octane number, not to lower it. India therefore phased out leaded petrol before the tighter Bharat Stage norms, since the converter is the main device by which a modern engine meets them.

The correct answer is A, Refuse. The 3 R's of waste management are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; Refuse is not one of them. Reduce means creating less waste in the first place, such as buying fewer packaged goods and switching off lights to save power. Reuse means using a thing again, like refilling a bottle or turning old clothes into bags. Recycle means sending waste such as paper, glass, metal and plastic to be made into new products. NCERT gives the three in this order, and the order matters: reducing is the best option and recycling the last resort because it still uses energy. Some newer lists add Refuse and Repurpose to make 5 R's, but the paper asks about the 3 R's. B is wrong because recycling is one of the three. C is wrong because reducing is the first R. D is wrong because reuse is the second R. Exam tip: 3 R's = Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in that order of preference.

The correct answer is B, mercury. Minamata disease takes its name from Minamata Bay in Japan, where a factory discharged mercury compounds that were converted by bacteria into methylmercury, concentrated in fish through biomagnification and then eaten by people. The poison attacks the central nervous system, producing numbness, loss of coordination, impaired speech and vision, and in severe cases death and birth defects. Option A is wrong because lead poisoning causes plumbism, damaging the nervous system and blood, but it is not called Minamata disease. Option C is wrong because cadmium causes Itai-Itai disease, a bone and kidney disorder. Option D is wrong because chromium, especially in its hexavalent form from tanneries and electroplating, causes skin ulcers and is carcinogenic, but again under a different name. Minamata is also the name of the international convention on mercury.

The correct answer is B, smog. A primary pollutant is released directly from a source, while a secondary pollutant is formed in the atmosphere when primary pollutants react. Photochemical smog is formed when sunlight acts on nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds to produce ozone and other irritants, so it is the classic secondary pollutant, and ground level ozone is counted with it. Option A is wrong because carbon monoxide comes straight out of an engine or a stove when fuel burns without enough oxygen. Option C is wrong because carbon dioxide is released directly by combustion and respiration. Option D is wrong because fly ash is the fine particulate matter that leaves the chimney of a thermal power station and is emitted as it is. The same distinction applies to acid rain, where sulphuric and nitric acids are secondary products formed from the primary gases sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

The correct answer is B, the Forest Survey of India. Set up in 1981 and based at Dehradun, it assesses the country's forest and tree cover from satellite data and brings out the India State of Forest Report once every two years, giving the cover state by state and by density class.

Option A, the Central Pollution Control Board, monitors air and water quality and publishes air quality data, not forest cover. Option C, the Botanical Survey of India, founded in 1890 and headquartered at Kolkata, surveys the plant wealth of the country and publishes floras, which is close in subject but different in task. Option D, the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, also at Dehradun, coordinates research and education in forestry rather than the national assessment of cover. The pairing to remember is Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, and the biennial report.

The correct answer is A, Lichens. A lichen is a partnership of an alga and a fungus and takes its water and nutrients straight from the air, with no protective cuticle and no roots. It therefore absorbs dissolved sulphur dioxide along with moisture and dies even where the concentration is too low to harm most plants, so the disappearance of lichens from tree trunks in a city is read as a sign of sulphur dioxide pollution. Option B is wrong because earthworms indicate the health and moisture of soil. Option C is wrong because honey bees are watched as indicators of pesticide use and of the state of flowering plants. Option D is wrong because water hyacinth, the Bengal terror, indicates nutrient-rich polluted water rather than polluted air. Bio-indicator questions are best answered by asking which organism takes its living directly from the medium named, since that is the one which suffers first when the medium is fouled.