Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 25

The correct answer is A, Protection of the Ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987 and came into force in 1989 to phase out the substances that destroy stratospheric ozone, chiefly chlorofluorocarbons, halons and carbon tetrachloride used in refrigeration, foam and fire fighting. It grew out of the Vienna Convention of 1985 and is the only United Nations treaty ratified by every country. Its Kigali Amendment of 2016 added hydrofluorocarbons, which do not harm ozone but warm the planet. 16 September is kept as World Ozone Day, marking the day the protocol was signed. B is wrong because biodiversity is covered by the Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992. C and D are wrong because warming and climate change are dealt with by the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Exam tip: Vienna 1985 and Montreal 1987 for ozone, Rio 1992 and Paris 2015 for climate.

The correct answer is D, Ecotone. An ecotone is the transition zone where two different ecosystems meet and mix, such as the belt between a grassland and a forest, an estuary between a river and the sea, or a mangrove strip between land and ocean. It holds species of both neighbouring communities along with a few of its own, so the number of species and their density are often higher in it. This crowding at the edge is called the edge effect, and species found only in such a belt are called edge species. A is wrong because the ecosphere means the whole living world of the earth taken together with its environment. B is wrong because ecoboundary is not a term used in ecology. C is wrong because ecotwin is not an ecological term either. Exam tip: tie ecotone to the edge effect, and keep ecotone, a zone, apart from ecocline, a gradual gradient.

The correct answer is B, glaciers and polar ice. About ninety-seven per cent of the water on earth is salt water in the oceans, and of the small freshwater remainder the greater part is locked up as ice in glaciers and the polar ice sheets, with most of what is left held as groundwater. Option A is wrong because rivers and lakes together hold only a tiny fraction of fresh water, even though they supply most of what people use. Option C is wrong because the atmosphere holds the least of all, a mere trace, which is why it must turn over many times a year to produce the rainfall it does. Option D is wrong because soil moisture is likewise a very small store, important to plants but minute in total volume.

The correct answer is C, the phosphorus cycle. Phosphorus has no stable gaseous compound in nature, so its reservoir is rock, chiefly the mineral apatite; it enters the soil only through slow weathering, passes through plants and animals, and returns to sediments, which makes it a purely sedimentary cycle and the slowest of the common cycles. Options A, B and D are wrong because carbon, nitrogen and oxygen all have large atmospheric reservoirs and move as gases, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen respectively, which is why they are called gaseous cycles. Sulphur is a mixed case, mainly sedimentary but with sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide in the air. Remember the pairing: phosphorus and calcium sedimentary, carbon and nitrogen gaseous. Each cycle also has a large slow reservoir pool and a small fast exchange pool.

The correct answer is A, Karnal. The ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute is at Karnal in Haryana and is the national institute for the reclamation of salt-affected soils, the use of poor quality water in irrigation, subsurface drainage in waterlogged land, and salt-tolerant crop varieties. Salt affected land, known as reh, kallar or usar in the Indo-Gangetic plain, is one of the largest forms of land degradation in India, which is why this institute appears in environment and agriculture papers alike. B is wrong because Hisar houses Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University and a central institute for buffalo research, not the salinity institute. C is wrong because Ludhiana is the seat of Punjab Agricultural University. D is wrong because Kanpur has the Indian Institute of Pulses Research and an IIT, but neither deals with soil salinity reclamation as its mandate.

The correct answer is D, aquifer. An aquifer is a body of rock or loose sediment that is both saturated with groundwater and permeable enough to let that water move freely, so a well sunk into it keeps yielding water. Sand, gravel and fractured sandstone or limestone make good aquifers; clay holds water but will not release it at a useful rate, and such a layer is called an aquiclude. An unconfined aquifer is open to the surface and is recharged directly by rain, while a confined aquifer is sealed between impermeable layers and can be under enough pressure to give an artesian well. Option A is wrong because karst is the cave-and-sinkhole landscape produced where limestone dissolves, not the water-bearing unit itself. Option B is wrong because an estuary is the mouth of a river where fresh water meets the sea. Option C is wrong because a reservoir stores water on the surface behind a dam. Exam tip: an aquifer yields water, an aquiclude holds it back.

The correct answer is B, Decibel. The decibel, written dB, is the unit in which the intensity level of sound is expressed, and it is named after Alexander Graham Bell. The scale is logarithmic, so every rise of 10 dB stands for a ten-fold rise in sound intensity; zero decibel is the threshold of hearing and about 120 to 130 decibel is the threshold of pain. For legal limits the A-weighted decibel is used because it follows the response of the human ear. A is wrong because the ohm is the unit of electrical resistance. C is wrong because the joule is the unit of work and energy, and although sound carries energy, its loudness is not reported in joule. D is wrong because the ampere is the unit of electric current. Candidates who confuse these pick an electrical unit instead of the acoustic one.

The correct answer is B, the taiga or boreal coniferous forest. The taiga forms an almost unbroken belt of needle leaved softwood trees, mainly pine, spruce, fir and larch, right across the northern parts of Canada, Scandinavia and Siberia, and this belt covers a greater area of land than any other biome. Its trees are conical and evergreen, their needles cut water loss in a long frozen winter, and the forest is the world's main source of softwood, newsprint and pulp. Option A is wrong because the tropical rainforest, though far richer in species, is confined to a narrow equatorial belt and covers a much smaller area. Option C is wrong because the tundra lies poleward of the taiga on a smaller ring of land and carries no trees at all, only mosses, lichens and sedges above a frozen subsoil. Option D is wrong because the savanna, though extensive in Africa, South America and northern Australia, still covers less land than the boreal forest. Do not confuse largest in area with richest in species.

The correct answer is A, Reduced inequalities. The United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015, with 17 goals and 169 targets, and Goal 10 is Reduced Inequalities. It asks countries to cut inequality of income and of opportunity within and among nations, which is why it covers wages, social protection, safe migration and a bigger voice for developing countries in global institutions. The goals replaced the eight Millennium Development Goals, which ran from 2000 to 2015. In India progress is tracked by the NITI Aayog SDG India Index. B is wrong because Zero Hunger is Goal 2. C is wrong because Climate Action is Goal 13. D is wrong because Decent Work and Economic Growth is Goal 8. Exam tip: fix the easy anchors in memory, Goal 1 No Poverty, Goal 2 Zero Hunger, Goal 10 Reduced Inequalities, Goal 13 Climate Action and Goal 17 Partnerships.

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, one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent. The tonne is the standard trading unit in every carbon market, compliance or voluntary, and it is written as 1 tCO2e. The word equivalent matters: gases other than carbon dioxide are converted into carbon dioxide terms using their global warming potential, so a much smaller quantity of methane or nitrous oxide can earn one credit. A is wrong because a kilogram is far too small to be a market unit; no registry issues credits in kilograms. B is wrong for the same reason, and a hundred kilograms is simply a tenth of the real unit, a figure offered to catch a candidate who half-remembers the tonne. D is wrong because a thousand tonnes is the scale of a whole small project's annual saving, not of a single credit; a project of that size would be issued a thousand separate credits, which is exactly how buyers are able to purchase them in small lots.

The correct answer is B, ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. That is the wording of Sustainable Development Goal 6, the water and sanitation goal.

The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the United Nations in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda, and they replaced the eight Millennium Development Goals. Goal 6 covers safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, the quality of water bodies, the efficiency of water use and the protection of water related ecosystems such as wetlands. In India the Jal Jeevan Mission and the Swachh Bharat Mission are the flagship programmes usually read against this goal.

A is wrong: good health and well being is Goal 3. C is wrong: no poverty is Goal 1. D is wrong: climate action is Goal 13.

Exam tip: learn the first six goals in order, no poverty, zero hunger, good health, quality education, gender equality and clean water and sanitation.

The correct answer is B, Earthworm. The earthworm is called the farmer's friend because its work keeps soil fit for crops. As it burrows it loosens the soil and lets air and water reach the roots, and the castings it leaves behind are rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potash, so the topsoil is steadily renewed. Charles Darwin called earthworms nature's ploughmen for this reason. Farmers use the same habit in vermicomposting, where species such as Eisenia fetida turn cattle dung and crop waste into fine manure within a few weeks. A is wrong because the cockroach is a household pest that spoils food and carries germs. C is wrong because the honey bee is useful as a pollinator and for honey, but the name friend of the farmer is not given to it. D is wrong because the housefly spreads diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Exam tip: earthworm, the farmer's friend and nature's plough, used in vermicompost.

The correct answer is A, Cold Desert. The Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve in the Lahaul and Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh was notified in 2009 as India's 16th biosphere reserve. It covers the Pin Valley National Park, the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary and the high-altitude wetlands of Chandratal and Sarchu, a trans-Himalayan landscape above 3,000 metres that gets very little rain. Its wildlife includes the snow leopard, Himalayan ibex, red fox, blue rock pigeon and the lammergeier or bearded vulture, the bird that drops bones from a height to eat the marrow. Option B is wrong because Seshachalam, in Andhra Pradesh and famous for red sanders, followed in 2010 as the 17th reserve. Option C is wrong because Agasthyamalai, on the Kerala and Tamil Nadu border, was notified in 2001. Option D is wrong because Dehang-Debang in Arunachal Pradesh dates from 1998. Exam tip: the sequence at the end of the list is Cold Desert 2009 (16th), Seshachalam 2010 (17th), Panna 2011 (18th); the first was Nilgiri in 1986.

The correct answer is C, Water Conservation. Tarun Bharat Sangh works on water conservation, and its base is at Bhikampura in Alwar district of Rajasthan. Led by Rajendra Singh, known as the waterman of India, villagers of the area built and repaired thousands of johads, the traditional earthen check dams that hold rainwater and let it sink into the ground. Wells filled again, fields came back under crops and streams such as the Arvari, dry for years, began to flow, which is why the body is studied as a model of community-led water harvesting. Rajendra Singh received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2001 and the Stockholm Water Prize in 2015. A is wrong because women's groups are part of the work but not its field. B is wrong because fighting corruption is not its subject. D is wrong because it is not a tribal youth organisation, and Alwar is not a tribal belt. Exam tip: Tarun Bharat Sangh, Rajendra Singh, johads of Alwar and the revived Arvari river.

The correct answer is A, 2010. The declaration followed the report of a task force on elephants and was meant to raise the status of the animal in policy and to strengthen the protection of its habitats and corridors.

Option B, 1992, is the year of the launch of Project Elephant itself, not of the declaration, and the two are the standard pair of distractors. Option C, 2005, is associated with the Sariska episode and the Tiger Task Force. Option D, 1973, is the year of Project Tiger and of the tiger becoming the national animal. Note the difference in terms: the tiger is the national animal, while the elephant is the national heritage animal, and an examiner will often set the two against each other in the same question.

The correct answer is B, transpiration. Transpiration is the escape of water vapour from a plant, chiefly through the stomata of the leaves, and over a forest or a crop field it returns a large volume of water to the air; together with evaporation from open surfaces it is called evapotranspiration. Option A is wrong because evaporation is the change of liquid water to vapour from a free surface such as a lake, a sea or wet soil, with no living tissue involved. Option C is wrong because condensation is the reverse change, vapour turning to droplets around dust particles to form cloud. Option D is wrong because percolation is the downward seepage of water through soil and rock to the water table. Transpiration and evaporation taken together over vegetated land are called evapotranspiration.

The correct answer is C, Gully erosion. Running water in the Chambal basin of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh has cut deep, steep-sided channels into soft alluvium, and when these channels multiply and widen the land becomes unfit for cultivation. Such dissected and broken land is called badland or ravine land, and the Chambal ravines are the standard Indian example of gully erosion. A is wrong because sheet erosion removes a thin and even film of topsoil over a wide surface and leaves no visible channel, which is why it is the most insidious rather than the most visible form. B is wrong because rill erosion is the intermediate stage of small finger-like channels that can still be ploughed over; gullies are what rills become when they are not checked. D is wrong because wind erosion produces shifting sand dunes and deflation hollows, and dominates western Rajasthan rather than the Chambal ravines.

The correct answer is C, 2000. The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules were notified in the year 2000 and they were framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. These Rules create the four zones, industrial, commercial, residential and silence zone, fix a day limit and a night limit for each, define day as 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and night as 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and restrict loudspeakers at night. A is wrong because 1986 is the year of the parent Environment (Protection) Act, which is the enabling law and not the noise rules themselves; this is the commonest trap in the question. B is wrong because 1991 is associated with the Public Liability Insurance Act. D is wrong because 2010 is the year of the National Green Tribunal Act, which created the tribunal that later heard noise cases.

The correct answer is B, the Kyoto Protocol. Adopted in 1997 at COP3 in Japan and in force from 2005, it set binding emission targets for developed countries and gave them three flexible mechanisms to meet them; the Clean Development Mechanism, under Article 12, let a developed country fund an emission-reduction project in a developing country and claim the saving as Certified Emission Reductions. A is wrong because the Montreal Protocol of 1987 deals with ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons and has no emissions-trading machinery. C is wrong because the Cartagena Protocol, under the Convention on Biological Diversity, governs the transboundary movement of living modified organisms. D is wrong because the Nagoya Protocol, also under that Convention, covers access to genetic resources and the fair sharing of benefits from their use. Only the Kyoto Protocol belongs to the climate treaty family that creates carbon credits.