Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 3

The correct answer is B, decomposers, also called saprotrophs. They feed on dead bodies, fallen leaves and waste matter, break the complex organic substances into simple ones and release nutrients back into the soil, water and air, where plants can take them up again. Without them dead matter would pile up and the supply of nutrients would stop.

Option A, producers, are the green plants that prepare food by photosynthesis. Option C, herbivores, are the plant-eating animals that form the second trophic level. Option D, omnivores, are animals such as the bear, the crow and human beings, which eat both plants and animals. Remember that decomposers also start the detritus food chain, which begins with dead organic matter rather than with living plants. They are the reason nutrients circulate while energy does not, since only they can return carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus to the soil and the air.

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 C, Gir Forest. Gir in Gujarat is a national park and wildlife sanctuary, famous as the only home of the Asiatic lion, but it has never been declared a biosphere reserve. A biosphere reserve is a much larger area, notified under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere programme, with a protected core zone, a buffer zone and a transition zone where people live and work. India's list began with the Nilgiri in 1986, and Panna in Madhya Pradesh, added in 2011, was the eighteenth. A is wrong because the Cold Desert biosphere reserve was set up in 2009 in the Lahaul-Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh. B is wrong because the Sunderbans in West Bengal, home of the Royal Bengal tiger and the mangroves, became a biosphere reserve in 1989 and is on the UNESCO world network. D is wrong because the Nilgiri biosphere reserve, spread over Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, was India's first, declared in 1986. Exam tip: Nilgiri first (1986), Sunderbans 1989, Cold Desert 2009; Gir = lions, national park, not a biosphere reserve.

The correct answer is A, The International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) is one of the expert groups of the IUCN's Species Survival Commission, and it manages the Global Invasive Species Database. The ISSG is a network of scientists and policy experts that gathers information on alien species that spread and harm native wildlife, and it also compiled the well-known list of '100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species'. The IUCN, founded in 1948 and based at Gland in Switzerland, also publishes the Red List of Threatened Species. Invasive plants such as Lantana, water hyacinth and Prosopis juliflora are a major threat to Indian forests and wetlands. Option B is wrong because UNEP runs environmental programmes and conventions but not this specialist group. Option C is wrong because the World Commission on Environment and Development, the Brundtland Commission, is known for its 1987 report 'Our Common Future'. Option D is wrong because WWF is a separate conservation NGO. Exam tip: IUCN means the Red List, the Species Survival Commission and the invasive species database.

The correct answer is A, Lichens. A bioindicator is a living organism whose presence, absence or health tells us about the quality of the environment. Lichens are a partnership between a fungus and an alga or cyanobacterium; they have no roots and take water and nutrients straight from the air and rain. This makes them very sensitive to air pollution, especially sulphur dioxide. They vanish from the bark of trees in polluted cities and grow richly where the air is clean, so scientists map lichens to judge air quality. Mosses are used in a similar way. Option B is wrong because methyl mercury is a toxic pollutant, not a living indicator; it caused Minamata disease in Japan in the 1950s. Option C is wrong because the rose plant is not used as a standard indicator of air quality. Option D is wrong because the sunflower is not a recognised air pollution indicator either. Exam tip: lichens indicate sulphur dioxide in the air; E. coli in water indicates faecal pollution.

The correct answer is B, 1973. Project Tiger was launched on 1 April 1973 by the Government of India under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, from Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, to save the Bengal tiger and its habitat. It began with nine tiger reserves, including Corbett, Kanha, Bandipur, Ranthambore, Sundarbans and Manas, and the network has since grown to more than fifty. Each reserve has a core area free of human activity and a buffer zone around it. Since 2005 the project is run by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, a statutory body under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, and the tiger census is done every four years. A, 1985, is not linked to the tiger programme. C, 1972, is the year of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, the law that came a year before the project and is often confused with it. D, 1970, is when India banned tiger hunting. Exam tip: 1970 hunting ban, 1972 Wildlife Act, 1973 Project Tiger, 1992 Project Elephant.

The correct answer is C, It protects us from harmful radiation. The ozone layer shields us from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, so when it thins, that protection is lost. It lies in the stratosphere, roughly 15 to 35 km above the Earth, and absorbs most of the UV-B and UV-C radiation. More UV reaching the ground means more skin cancer, cataracts and weaker immunity in people, and damage to crops and to plankton in the sea. The main culprits are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), once used in refrigerators, air conditioners and aerosol sprays; a single chlorine atom can destroy thousands of ozone molecules. The Montreal Protocol of 1987 phased these chemicals out. A is wrong because extra UV harms plants and lowers crop yields. B is wrong because ozone loss is about radiation, not the pollution of water. D is wrong because it does nothing to make soil more fertile. Exam tip: ozone layer = Earth's sunscreen in the stratosphere; CFCs damage it; Montreal Protocol 1987; World Ozone Day is 16 September.

The correct answer is B, greenhouse gases emission. The Kyoto Protocol, adopted at Kyoto, Japan on 11 December 1997 under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, was the first treaty to set binding targets for cutting emissions. It came into force on 16 February 2005 and asked industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of about 5 per cent below 1990 levels during 2008 to 2012. It covered six gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, and created market tools such as the Clean Development Mechanism, which let projects in countries like India earn carbon credits. India ratified it in 2002 but, as a developing country, had no binding target. A is wrong, because cutting poverty is the aim of goals such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, not Kyoto. C is wrong, because nuclear arms are dealt with by treaties like the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968. D is wrong, because farm subsidies fall under the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture. Exam tip: Kyoto 1997, in force 2005, binding cuts for rich nations; Paris 2015, pledges from all nations.

The correct answer is D, Blue Flag. In 2018 the Union Environment Ministry started a pilot project to clean up and develop selected beaches so that they could win the Blue Flag. The Blue Flag is an international eco-label given by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), based in Copenhagen, Denmark; it began in France in 1985. A beach must meet strict standards on water quality, environmental education, safety and services, and environmental management. India's programme for this is called BEAMS (Beach Environment and Aesthetics Management Services), and in 2020 Shivrajpur in Gujarat was among the first Indian beaches to receive the Blue Flag. A is wrong because Swachh Bharat is the national sanitation mission started in 2014, not a beach label. B is wrong because the Green Flag is a different award, used in the UK for well-kept parks and green spaces. C is wrong because Clean India is only the English name of the Swachh Bharat campaign. Exam tip: Blue Flag = beach eco-label by FEE, Denmark; India's scheme = BEAMS; the first eight Indian Blue Flag beaches were certified in 2020.

The correct answer is D, Forest Act 1878. The Indian Forest Act of 1878 created the three classes of reserved, protected and village forests. British interest in Indian forests grew as the railways and shipbuilding needed huge amounts of timber. The Imperial Forest Department was set up in 1864 with Dietrich Brandis as the first Inspector General of Forests, and the first Indian Forest Act followed in 1865. That Act was soon found too weak, so the 1878 Act replaced it, giving the state firm control over forest land and sharply cutting down villagers' customary rights, above all in reserved forests. Its successor, the Indian Forest Act, 1927, kept the same three classes and is still the main forest law. Option A is wrong because 1864 is the year the Forest Department was created, not a classification law. Option B is wrong because the 1865 Act only began state control and did not create the three classes. Option C is wrong because 1866 is not linked with this classification at all. Exam tip: 1864 department, 1865 first Act, 1878 three classes, 1927 Act still in use.

The correct answer is A, unidirectional. Energy enters an ecosystem as sunlight, is fixed by green plants, and then moves from producers to herbivores, to carnivores and finally to decomposers. At every step a large part of it is lost to the surroundings as heat, and none of it returns to the Sun, so the flow runs in one direction only.

Option B confuses energy with nutrients. Carbon, nitrogen and other nutrients do move in cycles, because decomposers release them from dead matter for plants to use again. Option C reverses the direction: consumers depend on producers, never the other way round. Option D contradicts the ten per cent law, since only about a tenth of the energy at one level reaches the next. A short way to remember it: nutrients cycle, energy flows.

The correct answer is A, Carbon captured by oceans and coastal ecosystems. Blue carbon is the carbon stored by marine and coastal ecosystems, especially mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass meadows. These plants take in carbon dioxide, and because their waterlogged soils have little oxygen, dead matter decays slowly and the carbon stays locked in the sediment for hundreds or even thousands of years. Area for area, they can store several times more carbon than tropical forests, which is why protecting the Sundarbans and India's seagrass beds counts as climate action. When these habitats are cleared, the stored carbon goes back into the air. Option B is wrong because carbon held in forest biomass and farm soils is called green carbon. Option C is wrong because carbon in petroleum and natural gas is fossil carbon, which is released as carbon dioxide when burnt. Option D is wrong because carbon dioxide in the air is simply atmospheric carbon, not stored carbon. Exam tip: blue carbon means coasts and oceans, green carbon means forests and soils.

The correct answer is C, Kachchh. The Kachchh Biosphere Reserve in Gujarat, notified in 2008, covers about 12,454 square kilometres and is the largest biosphere reserve in India by area. It takes in the Great Rann and the Little Rann of Kachchh, salt marshes that flood in the monsoon, and is home to the Indian wild ass, the flamingo breeding grounds and the desert fox. The first biosphere reserve of India was the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, set up in 1986 across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. A is wrong because the Sundarbans reserve in West Bengal covers about 9,630 square kilometres. B is wrong because the Gulf of Mannar reserve in Tamil Nadu is about 10,500 square kilometres. D is wrong because Nanda Devi in Uttarakhand is about 5,860 square kilometres. Exam tip: largest biosphere reserve by area = Kachchh (Gujarat); first = Nilgiri (1986); do not confuse it with the largest national park, Hemis in Ladakh.

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, acid rain. Rain with a pH below 5.6 is called acid rain. Even clean rain is slightly acidic, with a pH of about 5.6, because carbon dioxide from the air dissolves in it to form weak carbonic acid; that is why 5.6, not 7, is the dividing line. Rain turns more acidic when sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from coal-fired power plants, factories and vehicles mix with water vapour and form sulphuric and nitric acids. Acid rain corrodes marble and metal, kills fish in lakes and harms soil and forests. In India the best-known example is the damage to the Taj Mahal's white marble, often called 'marble cancer'. A is wrong because alkaline rain would have a pH above 7. C is wrong because 'mineral rain' is not a scientific term. D is wrong because hard water means water with dissolved calcium and magnesium salts; it is not a measure of how acidic rain is. Exam tip: rain pH below 5.6 = acid rain; culprits SO₂ and NOₓ; victim marble, as in the Taj Mahal.

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 D, Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu is the first state in India to make rooftop rainwater harvesting structures compulsory for all houses and buildings across the state, through a law brought in 2003. The state depends heavily on the north-east monsoon and on groundwater, and Chennai faced severe water shortages, so collecting roof water and sending it into the ground became a priority. Rooftop harvesting collects rain from roofs and stores it in tanks or uses it to recharge wells and aquifers, which raises the water table. Option A is wrong because Kerala gets heavy rain and has promoted harvesting, but it was not the first to make it compulsory for every house. Option B is wrong because Gujarat is known for check dams and other water works, not for this first law. Option C is wrong because Rajasthan is known for traditional harvesting, such as the tankas of Bikaner and Phalodi, not for the first statewide law. Exam tip: Tamil Nadu was the first state to make rooftop rainwater harvesting compulsory (2003); tankas are Rajasthan's traditional underground tanks.

The correct answer is B, detritus food chain. Detritus is dead organic matter such as fallen leaves, dead bodies and animal waste. Organisms like earthworms, termites, bacteria and fungi feed on it, and they in turn are eaten by small birds and other animals. In many ecosystems, and especially in forests, a larger share of energy flows through this chain than through the grazing chain.

Option A, the grazing food chain, starts with living green plants, as in the sequence grass, grasshopper, frog, snake. Options C and D name no standard category of this classification, although parasitism and predation are both real relationships within an ecosystem. The two food chains do not run separately: they are linked, because the waste of the grazing chain becomes the starting material of the detritus chain.

The correct answer is A, b d a c. Nokrek Biosphere Reserve is in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya; Manas is in Assam along the Bhutan border; Similipal is in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha; and Seshachalam lies in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh. Nokrek is valued as a gene pool of wild citrus, Manas is also a tiger reserve and a World Heritage Site, Similipal is known for its tigers and waterfalls, and the Seshachalam hills are home to the red sanders tree. India began creating biosphere reserves under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme, and the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, set up in 1986, was the first. Option B is wrong because it places Manas in Odisha and Similipal in Assam. Option C is wrong because it puts Similipal in Andhra Pradesh and Seshachalam in Odisha. Option D is wrong because it swaps the states of Nokrek and Manas. Exam tip: Nokrek–Meghalaya, Manas–Assam, Similipal–Odisha, Seshachalam–Andhra Pradesh, and Nilgiri (1986) the first.

The correct answer is C, omnivores. Bears, crows, pigs and human beings eat both plant and animal food, which allows them to occupy more than one trophic level at the same time and makes them a good example of why food webs, rather than single food chains, describe nature better.

Option A, herbivores, feed only on plants and are the primary consumers of a food chain; the cow, the deer and the grasshopper belong here. Option B, carnivores, feed on other animals and form the higher trophic levels; the frog, the snake and the tiger are examples. Option D, autotrophs, are not animals at all: the word means the producers, such as green plants and algae, which make their own food by photosynthesis. Examiners often ask which trophic level a named animal occupies, so read the food chain in the question carefully before answering.