Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 42

The correct answer is A, Amphibian. Frogs, toads and salamanders react quickly to changes in water, air and temperature, which makes them the classic indicator animals.

Amphibians have thin, moist, permeable skin through which they breathe and absorb water, so pollutants and chemicals pass easily into their bodies. They also live a double life: eggs and tadpoles in water, adults on land, so damage to either habitat harms them. Being cold-blooded, they depend on outside temperature and moisture. For these reasons a fall in frog numbers is an early warning of environmental damage, and amphibians are among the most threatened groups of vertebrates in the world.

B is wrong: reptiles have dry, scaly skin and lay shelled eggs on land, which protect them far better than amphibians.

C is wrong: mammals are warm-blooded, with fur and stable body temperature, so they tolerate change better.

D is wrong: insects as a group are hardy and adapt fast, with short life cycles and tough outer skeletons.

Exam tip: permeable skin plus a life split between water and land make amphibians the best bioindicators.

The correct answer is D, National Disaster Management Authority. NDMA is the apex body for disaster management in India, created under the Disaster Management Act of 2005 and chaired by the Prime Minister; it frames policies and plans for prevention, mitigation and preparedness. The partner named in the question, The Energy and Resources Institute, is a New Delhi research body founded in 1974 that works on energy, climate and environmental policy, and such early warning systems are typically built by a research institute with the official authority. Option A substitutes Defence for Disaster, which is a different ministry altogether. Option B changes National to Native, a word no Indian statutory body uses. Option C is the most tempting distractor because NDMA does deal with natural disasters, but the first word of its name is National, not Natural. Read the expansion word by word before marking.

The correct answer is C, Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect. India has no native marsupials, but marsupials are not confined to predator-free montane grasslands.

Marsupials are mammals whose young are born at a very early stage and usually grow further in the mother's pouch. Kangaroos, koalas, wombats and opossums are examples. Living marsupials are native only to Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands, and to the Americas. Their distribution goes back to the break-up of the old southern supercontinent Gondwana, and India, which drifted north and joined Asia, has none. Within their range they live in many habitats: deserts, rainforests, eucalyptus woodland, grasslands, swamps and even cities. The Virginia opossum shares North America with foxes, coyotes and owls, and Australian marsupials long lived alongside dingoes and the thylacine.

A and B are wrong: both treat Statement-II as correct.

D is wrong: Statement-I is correct and Statement-II is not.

Exam tip: marsupials are native to Australia, New Guinea and the Americas, not to Asia or India.

The correct answer is B, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Under the notification of 2006, a Category A project is appraised by the Expert Appraisal Committee constituted at the centre, and the ministry grants or refuses the prior environmental clearance on that committee's recommendation. Option A is wrong because the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority clears Category B projects, on the recommendation of the State Expert Appraisal Committee; swapping the two categories is the commonest error in this question. Option C is wrong because the Central Pollution Control Board sets standards and monitors pollution but grants no environmental clearance. Option D is wrong because the National Green Tribunal is an appellate and adjudicating body: it hears challenges to a clearance that has been granted or refused, and does not grant clearance itself.

The correct answer is C, 1 and 3 only. The Alma-Ata Declaration is about primary healthcare and the Talanoa Dialogue is about climate change; the other two pairs are wrong.

The Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978, adopted at a WHO-UNICEF conference in present-day Almaty, Kazakhstan, set the goal of "Health for All" through primary health care. The Talanoa Dialogue was the facilitative dialogue launched at COP23 under Fiji's presidency in 2017 and run through 2018 to take stock of efforts under the Paris Agreement; "talanoa" is a Pacific word for inclusive, open discussion.

A is wrong: pair 2 is incorrect, because biological weapons are covered by the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972 and chemical weapons by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993, while the Hague Conventions deal mainly with the laws of war and, in another series, private international law such as child abduction.

B is wrong: the Under2 Coalition is a group of sub-national governments committed to keeping global warming well below 2 °C, not a child rights body.

D is wrong: pairs 2 and 4 are incorrect and pair 1 is left out.

Exam tip: Alma-Ata 1978 = Health for All; Talanoa = COP23 Fiji; Under2 = states and regions on climate.

The correct answer is D, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. That ministry is the nodal ministry for climate change in the Government of India, coordinates the plan and its reporting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and itself runs the National Mission for a Green India. Options A, B and C each name a ministry that runs only one of the eight missions: the Ministry of Power handles the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency through the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy handles the National Solar Mission, and the Ministry of Jal Shakti handles the National Water Mission. The trap is to confuse a mission's ministry with the plan's nodal ministry, so keep the coordinating role separate from the individual missions.

The correct answer is C, Polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Polyaromatic hydrocarbons are soot-related pollutants from incomplete burning; they are not among the gases that make up photochemical smog.

Photochemical smog forms on warm, sunny days in cities with heavy traffic. Vehicle exhaust releases nitric oxide and unburnt hydrocarbons; nitric oxide turns into nitrogen dioxide, which sunlight splits to free oxygen atoms that make ozone. Ozone and nitrogen oxides then react with hydrocarbons to form peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), formaldehyde and acrolein. The mix irritates the eyes and lungs and damages plants. It is oxidising, unlike the reducing classical smog of smoke and sulphur dioxide seen in London.

A is wrong: ozone is the main oxidant in photochemical smog.

B is wrong: PAN is a typical secondary pollutant of photochemical smog and a strong eye irritant.

D is wrong: nitric oxide from vehicle engines is the starting point of the smog reactions.

Exam tip: photochemical smog = NO, NO2, O3, PAN, aldehydes (oxidising, Los Angeles type); classical smog = smoke + SO2 (reducing, London type).

The correct answer is A, The Book of Indian Birds. Salim Ali wrote this standard field guide, carried out the bird surveys on which several sanctuaries were notified, and was long associated with the Bombay Natural History Society; the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History at Coimbatore bears his name. Option B is wrong because, although he did support the campaign to save the Silent Valley, that is only one episode and not what he is chiefly identified with. Option C is wrong because the Chipko movement of the Garhwal Himalaya is associated with Sunderlal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad Bhatt and concerned tree felling, not birds. Option D is wrong because Project Tiger, launched in 1973, is associated with Kailash Sankhala as its first director.

The correct answer is B, Saline soil. Halophytes are plants adapted to grow in soil or water with a high salt content.

The word comes from the Greek 'halos', meaning salt. High salt makes it hard for most plants to draw water, but halophytes cope by storing salt in their tissues, pushing it out through salt glands or keeping their sap more concentrated than the soil water. Mangroves such as Rhizophora and Avicennia, which grow in coastal swamps like the Sundarbans, are the best-known examples; many have breathing roots called pneumatophores because the muddy soil lacks oxygen. Salicornia and Suaeda grow on salt marshes and inland salt flats.

A is wrong: acidic soil suits acid-loving plants such as tea, not halophytes as such.

C is wrong: black soil is the regur soil of the Deccan, known for cotton, not for salt.

D is wrong: plants of sandy soil are called psammophytes; salt, not sand, defines halophytes.

Exam tip: halophytes = saline soil (mangroves); xerophytes = dry land; hydrophytes = water.

The correct answer is C, 2070. Panchamrit, the five nectar elements announced by India at COP26, consists of five hundred gigawatts of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, meeting half of the country's energy requirement from renewable sources by 2030, reducing projected emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030, reducing the emissions intensity of the economy by forty-five per cent from the 2005 level by 2030, and achieving net zero emissions by 2070. A is the year many developed countries and the European Union have adopted, and it is offered to mislead. B is the year announced by China, which candidates often transfer to India. D appears in no commitment. India argued that a later date is consistent with equity, since its per capita emissions and its historical share are both low.

The correct answer is C, Methane. Buried organic waste rots without air in a landfill, and bacteria that work without oxygen release methane.

Food scraps, paper and garden waste make up a large share of city garbage. Once they are covered in a landfill, oxygen is soon used up and anaerobic bacteria take over, producing landfill gas that is roughly half methane and half carbon dioxide. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, many times stronger than carbon dioxide over a short period, and it can catch fire, which is why landfill sites such as Ghazipur in Delhi often see fires. Modern landfills capture this gas and burn it to generate electricity.

A is wrong: nitrogen is the main gas of the air and is not a major product of rotting waste.

B is wrong: hydrogen forms only briefly as an intermediate and is quickly used up by other bacteria.

D is wrong: oxygen is consumed, not released, as waste decomposes.

Exam tip: rotting without air in landfills, paddy fields and cattle digestion gives methane, the main part of biogas.

The correct answer is A, Achatina fulica. This large land snail is native to East Africa and reached India long ago, probably through the trade in ornamental plants and shells. It feeds on a very wide range of garden and field plants, breeds rapidly and is listed among the worst invasive species of the world. Option B, Clarias gariepinus, is the African catfish, an invasive fish whose culture is banned in India because it preys heavily on native species. Option C, Pila globosa, is the native Indian apple snail of ponds and paddy fields and is therefore not an invader at all. Option D, Spodoptera frugiperda, is the fall armyworm, an American moth whose caterpillars attack maize and which was first reported in Karnataka in 2018.

The correct answer is B, 2 only. TRAFFIC is a non-governmental wildlife trade monitoring network, not a UNEP bureau, and its mission is the one given in statement 2.

TRAFFIC was set up in 1976 by WWF and IUCN, initially as a specialist group to help put the CITES convention into practice, and it later became an independent NGO with its headquarters in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It monitors legal and illegal trade in wild animals and plants, supports governments with data and training, and works to ensure such trade is not a threat to the conservation of nature. In India, TRAFFIC India works from the WWF-India office in New Delhi and assists the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.

A is wrong: statement 1 is false, as TRAFFIC was never a UNEP body.

C is wrong: only statement 2 is correct.

D is wrong: statement 2 correctly states the mission of TRAFFIC.

Exam tip: TRAFFIC = WWF + IUCN, 1976, wildlife trade monitoring that supports CITES; not a UN agency.

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 A. Both Statement II and Statement III are true, and each one is a reason why a circular economy cuts greenhouse gas emissions.

A linear economy follows "take, make, dispose". A circular economy keeps products and materials in use through reuse, repair, remanufacturing and recycling. Because fewer virgin raw materials have to be mined, refined and transported, the energy and emissions of extraction fall; this is Statement II explaining Statement I. Because less material is wasted in production and fewer goods end up in landfills and incinerators, emissions from manufacturing and waste disposal also fall; this is Statement III explaining Statement I. So both reasons independently lead to lower emissions.

B is wrong: it says only one of the two explains Statement I, but both do.

C is wrong: both Statements II and III are correct, not just one.

D is wrong: reducing raw material use and production waste is the core aim of the circular model.

Exam tip: circular economy = reduce, reuse, recycle, so lower resource use and lower waste both mean lower emissions.

The correct answer is A, the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. Section 38V of that Act, inserted in 2006, requires the State government to notify a tiger reserve on the recommendation of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, with a core or critical tiger habitat to be kept inviolate and a buffer area in which coexistence is allowed, and to prepare a Tiger Conservation Plan. Option B is wrong because the Indian Forest Act, 1927 deals with reserved, protected and village forests and the levy of duty on timber. Option C is wrong because the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 is the general enabling law under which eco-sensitive zones and impact assessment rules are issued. Option D is wrong because the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 governs access to biological resources and benefit sharing, not tiger habitat.

The correct answer is C, 1, 2, 3, 4. Going south from the Nepal border, the order is Dudhwa, Panna, Pench and then Indravati.

Dudhwa lies in the Terai of Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh, close to the Nepal border, at about 28° N. Panna is in the Bundelkhand region of northern Madhya Pradesh, on the Ken river, at about 24.5° N. Pench lies further south on the Madhya Pradesh–Maharashtra border, in Seoni and near Nagpur, at about 21.7° N; it is the setting of Kipling's Jungle Book. Indravati, in Bijapur district of southern Chhattisgarh, is named after the Indravati river and lies at about 19° N, the southernmost of the four.

A is wrong: 4, 3, 2, 1 is the order from south to north, the reverse of what is asked.

B is wrong: Panna cannot come before Dudhwa, which lies on the Nepal border.

D is wrong: Pench lies south of Panna, so 3 cannot come before 2.

Exam tip: trace the line UP Terai (Dudhwa) → Bundelkhand (Panna) → Satpura (Pench) → Bastar (Indravati).

The correct answer is A, methyl isocyanate. Methyl isocyanate, or MIC, was stored at the Union Carbide India Limited plant in Bhopal as an intermediate for making the pesticide carbaryl. Water entering a storage tank set off a runaway reaction, and the gas escaped over the surrounding settlements on the night of 2-3 December 1984. Option B is wrong because carbon monoxide is the product of incomplete combustion and was not the agent here, though candidates confuse the two as colourless poisons. Option C is wrong because chlorine, though a notorious industrial gas, was not involved at Bhopal; it is remembered instead from the First World War and from water treatment accidents. Option D is wrong because phosgene, although it is used in making isocyanates and is sometimes listed among the minor constituents, is not the gas named in the tragedy. Examiners test the single name MIC.

The correct answer is A, of traditional water conservation techniques. A tanka is a covered underground tank, usually sunk in a courtyard or beneath a house in western Rajasthan, into which rain falling on the paved courtyard or the roof is led through a filter and stored for drinking right through the dry months. A khadin, worked out by the Paliwal Brahmins of Jaisalmer in the fifteenth century, is a long earthen embankment thrown across the lower slope of a rocky catchment; runoff collects behind it, soaks the soil, and a crop is raised on the moist bed after the standing water has drained away. Both therefore belong to the family of traditional water harvesting works of the desert, along with the kund, the johad and the baori. Option B is wrong because neither word carries any military sense. Option C is wrong because the folk dances of Rajasthan are Ghoomar, Kalbelia, Terah Taali and Chari. Option D is wrong because, although a khadin supports cropping, the structure itself is a water harvesting work and tanka has no farming meaning at all.

The correct answer is C, 1 and 3 only. The UNCCD works through national action programmes, international partnership and local participation, but its special focus is Africa, not South Asia and North Africa.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was adopted in Paris in 1994 and came into force in 1996. It is the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. Countries draw up national action programmes, supported by international cooperation and partnership, which makes statement 1 correct. The convention stresses a bottom-up approach in which local communities take part in designing and carrying out programmes, which makes statement 3 correct. 17 June is World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, and India hosted COP14 in New Delhi in 2019.

Statement 2 is wrong: the convention's full name refers to countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa, and it has regional annexes for Africa, Asia, Latin America, the northern Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Europe.

So A leaves out statement 3, while B and D include the false statement 2.

Exam tip: UNCCD = 1994, Paris; focus on Africa; bottom-up approach; India hosted COP14 in 2019.