Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 21

The correct answer is A, Nicobar pigeon. An endemic species is one that occurs naturally in one particular area and nowhere else, and the Nicobar pigeon is the textbook Indian example, living in the forests of the Nicobar group of islands; the Andaman wild pig and the Narcondam hornbill are usually listed beside it. Island populations turn endemic easily, because the sea keeps them cut off and they evolve on their own, and that isolation also makes them fragile, since clearing the forest or bringing in a new predator can wipe out the whole species at one stroke. B is wrong because the Indian wild ass, though now confined to the Rann of Kutch, is a subspecies of the Asiatic wild ass found across Asia. C is wrong because the desert fox ranges over the deserts of Asia and Africa. D is wrong because the Indian one-horned rhino lives in Nepal as well as in Assam and West Bengal. Exam tip: endemic means found in one area only, and the Nicobar pigeon and the Narcondam hornbill are the stock examples.

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 D, Nitrogen. Nitrogen makes up about 78 per cent of the atmosphere, yet it is not a greenhouse gas. A molecule traps heat only if it can absorb outgoing infrared radiation, and that needs vibrations which change the spread of electric charge in the molecule. Nitrogen is a simple molecule of two identical atoms, so it is transparent to infrared; the same is true of oxygen. The gases that do trap heat are water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and the halocarbons, and together they keep the earth about 33 degrees Celsius warmer than it would otherwise be. Option A is wrong because water vapour is the most abundant greenhouse gas of all. Option B is wrong because chlorofluorocarbons are powerful greenhouse gases that also destroy the ozone layer, which is why the Montreal Protocol phases them out. Option C is wrong because methane traps far more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide. Exam tip: nitrogen and oxygen are not greenhouse gases, though they make up most of the air.

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 D, New Delhi. The National Green Tribunal was set up by the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, and started work on 18 October 2010 with its principal bench at New Delhi. Its four zonal benches sit at Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai, and it also holds circuit sittings at other places. India thus became one of the first countries to create a dedicated court for environmental disputes, and the tribunal is required to decide cases within six months of filing. It hears matters under laws such as the Water Act, the Air Act and the Environment (Protection) Act, is headed by a chairperson who has been a judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court Chief Justice, and its orders can be appealed only in the Supreme Court. Option A is wrong because Kolkata holds the eastern zone bench, not the principal seat. Option B is wrong because Hyderabad has no bench of the tribunal. Option C is wrong because Lucknow is not the principal seat either. Exam tip: NGT Act 2010 — principal bench Delhi; zonal benches Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai.

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 B, 5 June. The United Nations General Assembly designated this date after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm in 1972, and the day has been observed since 1974, each year with a fresh theme and a host country, with the United Nations Environment Programme leading it. Option A is wrong because 22 April is Earth Day, which began as a citizens movement in the United States in 1970 and is not a United Nations observance in origin. Option C is wrong because 16 September is World Ozone Day, the anniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987. Option D is wrong because 22 March is World Water Day, which came out of Agenda 21 of the Rio Earth Summit. Link 5 June to Stockholm and the confusion with Earth Day disappears.

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 A, the north eastern coast of Australia. The Great Barrier Reef stretches for well over two thousand kilometres along the Queensland coast in the Coral Sea, off the north eastern shore of Australia, and is the largest structure on earth built by living organisms. It lies there because the conditions a reef needs are all present together: shallow water on a wide continental shelf, sea temperature that stays warm through the year, clear water that lets sunlight reach the algae living inside the coral polyps, and normal salinity undisturbed by a great river. Option B is wrong because the western coast faces the cool waters of the Indian Ocean and carries only small fringing reefs. Option C is wrong because the northern coast is muddied by river discharge into the Arafura Sea. Option D is wrong because the southern coast lies in cooler temperate latitudes where reef building corals cannot grow. Remember also that reefs are called the rainforests of the sea.

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 D, Overgrazing. Overgrazing is a cause of soil degradation, not a way to conserve soil, so it is the option that does not belong. When too many animals feed on the same patch, the grass cover is eaten down to the roots and hooves loosen the bare topsoil, which wind and running water then carry away; in dry regions this is a main road to desertification. A is wrong as an answer because crop rotation is a genuine conservation method, since changing the crop each season restores nitrogen and other nutrients instead of draining one of them. B is wrong as an answer because terrace farming cuts a slope into steps, slowing runoff so that water soaks in rather than washing the soil down. C is wrong as an answer because tree roots bind the soil and shelter belts of trees break the force of the wind. Exam tip: contour ploughing, terracing, strip cropping and shelter belts conserve soil; overgrazing and deforestation destroy it.

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 D, SDG 15. Goal 15, called Life on Land, is the goal for land ecosystems, and its wording covers forests, desertification, land degradation and the loss of biodiversity. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as the heart of the 2030 Agenda, and they are to be reached by 2030. Goal 15 takes in forest cover, protected areas, the Red List of threatened species and the fight against poaching and the trafficking of wildlife, while Goal 14, Life Below Water, does the same work for the seas. A is wrong because SDG 12 is about responsible consumption and production. B is wrong because SDG 7 is about affordable and clean energy. C is wrong because SDG 17 is about partnerships for the goals. Exam tip: hold the pair together - SDG 14 is Life Below Water for the oceans and SDG 15 is Life on Land for forests and soil.

The correct answer is A, the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. The amending Act of 2006 inserted a new chapter into it, creating the National Tiger Conservation Authority and providing for tiger reserves with a critical tiger habitat and a buffer, as well as for the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.

Option B, the Indian Forest Act, 1927, deals with reserved and protected forests and with forest produce, not with the Authority. Option C, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, is the umbrella law passed after the Bhopal disaster and is the basis of rules on pollution and environmental clearance. Option D, the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, set up the National Biodiversity Authority and deals with access to biological resources and the sharing of benefits, and the similarity of the two names is the trap here.

The correct answer is C, Carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is a dangerous air pollutant, but it is not counted among the major greenhouse gases, because it absorbs very little of the infrared heat leaving the earth. A greenhouse gas is one that traps this outgoing heat and warms the lower atmosphere. The major ones are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapour and the fluorinated gases such as HFCs, PFCs and sulphur hexafluoride. A is wrong because carbon dioxide, released by burning coal, oil and gas, adds the largest share to global warming. B is wrong because methane, which comes from paddy fields, cattle and landfills, traps far more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide does. D is wrong because nitrous oxide, mostly from nitrogen fertilisers, is a strong and long-lived greenhouse gas. Exam tip: carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide are pollutants, not greenhouse gases; the gases listed in the Kyoto Protocol are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and the F-gases.

The correct answer is C, the Eastern Ghats. They are a broken and comparatively dry hill chain and do not meet the twin tests of exceptional endemism and severe threat that define a hotspot.

Option A, the Himalaya, option B, Indo-Burma, which covers the north-east beyond the Himalayan range, and option D, the Western Ghats together with Sri Lanka, are three of the four hotspots that extend into India. The fourth is Sundaland, which covers the Nicobar group of islands. Papers set this question as an odd one out and the usual wrong options are the Eastern Ghats and the Aravallis, both of which sound plausible to a candidate who has learned only that hotspots are hilly. The Western Ghats are the one to remember for endemism, since the lion-tailed macaque and many amphibians live there and nowhere else.

The correct answer is B, the Montreal Protocol, which was signed on 16 September 1987 and commits countries to phasing out chlorofluorocarbons and other substances that destroy stratospheric ozone; the day is formally called the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. Option A is wrong because the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 deals with greenhouse gases and binding emission cuts, not with ozone, and has no observance day named after it. Option C is wrong because the Ramsar Convention on wetlands was signed on 2 February 1971 and is remembered on World Wetlands Day. Option D is wrong because the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 at the twenty-first Conference of the Parties and again concerns climate change rather than the ozone layer. Keep ozone with Montreal and climate with Kyoto and Paris.

The correct answer is D, Kyushu Island of Japan. Kyushu is one of the four main islands of the Japanese archipelago and is of volcanic origin, built by the eruptions of an island arc where one plate dives beneath another; Mount Aso on it has one of the largest volcanic calderas in the world. It is not a coral reef island at all. Option A is wrong as a choice because the Great Barrier Reef off the Queensland coast is the classic coral structure, the largest in the world. Option B is wrong because the Rainbow Reef of Fiji, in the Somosomo Strait, is a well known coral reef in the tropical Pacific. Option C is wrong because Swaraj Island, formerly called Havelock Island, lies in the Andaman group, where the islands are ringed by fringing coral reefs. The lesson to carry away is that tropical islands are built in two very different ways, by volcanic activity and by the slow growth of coral, and the question tests whether you can tell them apart.

The correct answer is A, 1971. The Convention on Wetlands was signed on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shore of the Caspian Sea, and it is the oldest of the modern global conservation treaties; the day has been observed on that anniversary since 1997. Option B is wrong because 1992 is the year of the Rio Earth Summit, which produced the Convention on Biological Diversity and the climate convention, not the wetlands treaty. Option C is wrong because 1987 is the year of the Montreal Protocol on ozone and also of the Brundtland report on sustainable development. Option D is wrong because 1962 is the year Silent Spring was published, an important book for the environmental movement but not a treaty. Remember the pairing as Ramsar, 2 February, 1971, wetlands.

The correct answer is D, the tropical savanna region. The savanna is a tropical grassland with tall coarse grass and scattered flat topped trees, and its wet season produces an enormous crop of grass. That grass supports the largest herds of grazing animals on earth, the zebra, the wildebeest, the giraffe and the antelope, and those herds in turn support the lion, the leopard and the cheetah. Because so many large mammals live there together, the savanna, especially in East Africa, is called the land of big game. Option A is wrong because the temperate grassland has short grass and has been ploughed for wheat so widely that it is called the granary of the world, and its large wild herds are long gone. Option B is wrong because the tropical monsoon region is known for deciduous forest and for rice cultivation under a seasonal rainfall regime. Option C is wrong because the hot desert has too little vegetation to feed large herds, and its animals are small and mostly nocturnal.