Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 17

The correct answer is D, lower. A geothermal plant takes steam or hot water from a natural underground reservoir, whose temperature is set by the rock and rarely approaches what a furnace can produce, so both the temperature and the pressure at the turbine are well below those of a coal-fired steam plant, and the thermal efficiency is correspondingly lower. Options B and C are wrong for the same reason: no natural reservoir is hotter than a boiler fired deliberately, and quoting higher values confuses the depth of the source with its temperature. Option A is wrong because the two are not comparable either; the gap is large enough that geothermal turbines are designed differently, often working on a separate fluid that boils at a low temperature. What geothermal loses in efficiency it gains in fuel cost, which is nil, and in emissions.

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 A, 1 only. The Harike Wetland in Punjab was created by building a barrage just below the point where the Beas joins the Sutlej, so the first pair is correct and it is the only one. Option B is wrong because it accepts the second pair, and Keoladeo Ghana National Park at Bharatpur is a man-made wetland fed by the Gambhir and Banganga through the Ajan Bandh, not a site at the meeting of the Banas and the Chambal. Option C is wrong because it accepts the third pair, and Kolleru Lake in Andhra Pradesh lies between the deltas of the Krishna and the Godavari, drained by the Upputeru, and not at any confluence of the Musi with the Krishna. Option D is wrong because it accepts both of those mismatched pairs. In matching questions of this kind, one certain pair is often enough to reach the answer by elimination.

The correct answer is D, B, C and D. Mulching means covering the bare ground between plants with straw, dry leaves or crop waste, so that the soil holds moisture and raindrops cannot beat the topsoil loose. Contour barriers are stones, grass or soil bunds laid along the contour of a slope; water collects in trenches in front of them and runs off slowly instead of carrying soil downhill. Shelter belts are rows of trees planted across the direction of the wind, and they cut the wind's speed so that it cannot lift loose soil, a method used with success in the sandy western parts of India. Statement A is not a conservation method at all: heavy use of chemical fertilizers over the years makes the soil acidic or salty, kills the organisms that keep it fertile and damages its structure. A, B and C are wrong because each of them includes statement A. Exam tip: mulching, contour barriers, terrace farming, shelter belts and rock dams conserve soil.

The correct answer is B, Gurugram in Haryana. The alliance has its secretariat on the campus of the National Institute of Solar Energy at Gwal Pahari in Gurugram, and because it rests on a framework agreement among its members it is the first treaty-based international organisation to be headquartered in India. Option A is wrong because although the alliance is closely linked with the Indian government, the secretariat is not in New Delhi itself. Option C is wrong because Bengaluru hosts many renewable energy firms and research bodies but no organ of the alliance. Option D is wrong because Paris is where the alliance was launched, jointly by India and France at the climate conference of 2015, and candidates often confuse the place of launch with the seat of the secretariat.

The correct answer is C, SDG 6. Sustainable Development Goal 6 is clean water and sanitation, and its aim is to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. The seventeen goals were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and they took over from the Millennium Development Goals. Goal 6 covers safe drinking water, toilets and an end to open defecation, better treatment of waste water, efficient use of water in farming and industry, and the protection of rivers, lakes and groundwater. A is wrong because SDG 4 is quality education. B is wrong because SDG 7 is affordable and clean energy. D is wrong because SDG 5 is gender equality. Exam tip: SDG 4 education, SDG 5 gender equality, SDG 6 clean water and sanitation, SDG 7 clean energy; the seventeen goals were adopted in 2015 with 2030 as the target year.

The correct answer is A, Iran. The convention takes its name from Ramsar, a town on the Caspian coast of Iran, where it was signed on 2 February 1971; it came into force in 1975 and is the oldest of the modern global environmental treaties. Option B is wrong because Iraq, though a neighbour of Iran, has no connection with the signing. Option C is wrong for a reason worth noting: Switzerland hosts the secretariat of the convention at Gland, so it is the administrative home of the treaty, but not the place of signature, and this is exactly the confusion the option is placed to create. Option D is wrong because Kenya is the seat of the United Nations Environment Programme at Nairobi, another agency easily mixed up with wetland administration. Remember the pair: signed at Ramsar in Iran, administered from Gland in Switzerland.

The correct answer is A, Sardar Sarovar. The Narmada Bachao Andolan grew up against the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada.

The movement began in 1985 under Medha Patkar, with Baba Amte and others joining later. It argued that raising the dam's height would submerge villages and forests in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat and that the people displaced were not being resettled properly. The protest used fasts, rallies and the courts, and in 1993 it made the World Bank withdraw from the project. The Supreme Court allowed construction to continue in 2000 with conditions on rehabilitation.

Option B, Bhakra Nangal, is on the Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Option C, Rihand, is in Uttar Pradesh on a tributary of the Son. Option D, Tehri, on the Bhagirathi in Uttarakhand, had its own protest led by Sunderlal Bahuguna, not the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Exam tip: Narmada Bachao - Medha Patkar, Sardar Sarovar; Chipko and Tehri - Sunderlal Bahuguna.

The correct answer is C, 2010. The mission was launched in January 2010 as one of the eight national missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, and its aim was to make solar power competitive by building capacity in stages and by supporting domestic manufacturing. Option A is wrong because 2006 is the year the ministry took its present name, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, which is a separate landmark often placed among the options. Option B is wrong because 2008 is the year the National Action Plan on Climate Change itself was released, that is the umbrella under which the mission was later launched. Option D is wrong because 2015 is the year of the Paris climate conference and of the launch of the International Solar Alliance, five years after the national mission began.

The correct answer is B, Endangered species. The Red Data Book is the source book that keeps a record of endangered animals, plants and fungi, so that governments and conservationists know which living species face the greatest risk of dying out. It is linked to the Red List prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which was founded in 1948 and has its headquarters at Gland in Switzerland. Species at risk are placed in categories such as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable, which together are called threatened species. Many countries, including India, also prepare their own Red Data Books for local species, and the Botanical Survey of India compiles one for Indian plants. Option A is wrong because the book is meant to help save living species; extinct species cannot be saved and are not its main record. Option C is wrong because common species are not at risk. Option D is wrong because invasive species, such as water hyacinth, are harmful newcomers and are tracked in separate lists. Exam tip: Red Data Book means endangered species; IUCN is at Gland, Switzerland, founded 1948.

The correct answer is B, 2 February, the anniversary of the signing of the Ramsar Convention in 1971, which is why the day carries that date. Option A is wrong because 22 March is World Water Day, about fresh water in general rather than wetlands, and it is the commonest wrong choice here. Option C is wrong because 5 June is World Environment Day, observed to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference of 1972. Option D is wrong because 26 July is the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, which is about one wetland type only and is itself a favourite examination fact. Keeping these four dates apart is the whole point of the question, so learn them as a set: 2 February wetlands, 22 March water, 5 June environment, 26 July mangroves.

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, natural gas. Natural gas is a fossil fuel formed over millions of years from buried organic matter; the stock is fixed, so every unit burnt is gone, and it releases carbon dioxide when burnt, although less than coal for the same heat. Option A is wrong as an answer because tidal energy comes from the rise and fall of the sea caused by the pull of the moon and the sun, which will not run out. Option C is wrong as an answer because biomass is agricultural residue, dung and other plant matter, which grows again each season and is therefore renewable, though it must be used no faster than it regrows. Option D is wrong as an answer because geothermal energy draws on heat continuously produced within the earth, tapped in India at sites such as Puga valley and Manikaran.

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 C, Loktak Lake, the large freshwater lake of Manipur whose surface carries floating mats of soil and vegetation called phumdis. Keibul Lamjao National Park rests on these mats and is the last natural home of the sangai, the brow-antlered deer of Manipur. Option A is wrong because Wular Lake in the Jhelum valley is the largest freshwater lake in the country but has no floating park. Option B is wrong because Chilika in Odisha is a brackish lagoon famous for Irrawaddy dolphins and the Nalabana bird sanctuary, not for phumdis. Option D is wrong because Kolleru Lake in Andhra Pradesh, between the Krishna and the Godavari deltas, is a shallow freshwater lake known for pelicans. Link the three words together in revision: Loktak, phumdi, sangai, all in Manipur, and remember that Loktak is on the Montreux Record.

The correct answer is C, Rachel Carson. Rachel Carson, an American marine biologist and writer, published Silent Spring in 1962. She showed how synthetic pesticides, above all DDT, were killing birds, fish and insects far beyond the fields where they were sprayed, and how these chemicals build up in food chains, becoming more concentrated at each level, a process now called biomagnification. The title imagines a spring with no birdsong because the birds have been poisoned. The book stirred public opinion and helped lead to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and a ban on most uses of DDT in the USA in 1972. Option A is wrong because Carolyn Merchant is an environmental historian known for The Death of Nature (1980). Option B is wrong because Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital and the Communist Manifesto, works on economics and politics. Option D is wrong because no writer of that name is linked to this book. Exam tip: Silent Spring 1962 (Rachel Carson, DDT), The Limits to Growth 1972 (Club of Rome), Our Common Future 1987 (Brundtland Report).

The correct answer is C, Tamil Nadu. Muppandal lies in the far south of the state near Kanyakumari, where the wind pushed through a break in the Western Ghats blows strongly and steadily for much of the year, and Tamil Nadu has long been among the leading wind states of the country. Option A is wrong because Gujarat, although a major wind state with farms along its coast, is not where Muppandal is. Option B is wrong because Rajasthan has large wind farms around Jaisalmer and huge solar parks such as Bhadla, but Muppandal is not one of them. Option D is wrong because Maharashtra has wind capacity on the Sahyadri ridges and a great deal of sugar mill cogeneration, yet the site named in the question belongs to the deep south of the peninsula.

The correct answer is B, the Sundarbans, which spreads over the delta of the Ganga, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna and is shared between India and Bangladesh. It is named after the sundari tree, holds the only mangrove population of the Royal Bengal tiger, and the Indian portion is a national park, a biosphere reserve and a World Heritage Site. Option A is wrong because Bhitarkanika in Odisha, though the next largest mangrove tract in India and famous for the saltwater crocodile, is much smaller. Option C is wrong because Pichavaram in Tamil Nadu is a compact mangrove of about a thousand hectares, visited for its boat channels. Option D is wrong because Coringa lies in the Godavari delta of Andhra Pradesh and is a sanctuary of modest size. Note also that among Indian states West Bengal has the largest mangrove cover, followed by Gujarat.

The correct answer is A, Ladakh. The Puga valley in eastern Ladakh carries hot springs and sulphur deposits and is the best studied geothermal field in the country, the heat coming from the young mountain building of the Himalaya. Option B is wrong because Uttarakhand has hot springs of its own but none of them forms the standard textbook example; the named Himachal site is Manikaran in the Parvati valley. Option C is wrong because Sikkim is known for its small hydro projects on steep streams rather than for geothermal fields. Option D is wrong because Meghalaya is associated with coal and limestone and with very heavy rainfall, not with geothermal energy. The three sites worth remembering together are Puga in Ladakh, Manikaran in Himachal Pradesh and Tattapani in Chhattisgarh.

The correct answer is A, pneumatophores. Mangrove mud is waterlogged and short of oxygen, so these roots grow vertically out of the soil and take in air through small pores called lenticels; they are the classic adaptation asked about in examinations, along with stilt roots and vivipary. Option B is wrong because haustoria are the absorbing organs of parasitic plants such as Cuscuta, which draw food from a host, a matter of parasitism and not of respiration. Option C is wrong because velamen is the spongy covering on the hanging roots of epiphytic orchids, which absorbs moisture from humid air and belongs to a very different habitat. Option D is wrong because a tap root is the ordinary single main root of a dicotyledonous plant and has no special role in breathing. Remember the trio for mangroves: pneumatophores, stilt roots and viviparous seeds.