Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 54

The tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound in 1989, releasing crude oil that coated a long stretch of a cold, sheltered coastline where oil breaks down slowly, and killing large numbers of seabirds, sea otters and salmon.

Carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater and reacts with water to form carbonic acid, which dissociates into bicarbonate and hydrogen ions; the extra hydrogen ions lower the pH, and they also combine with carbonate ions, leaving less carbonate for shells and coral skeletons.

The correct answer is B, Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a joint venture of public sector undertakings under the Ministry of Power that procures LED bulbs and street lights in bulk and recovers the cost from consumers or from the savings in a municipality's electricity bill.

That Act created the Bureau of Energy Efficiency as a statutory body and gave it the power to prescribe efficiency standards, run the labelling programme and prepare the building code; the Bureau came into existence on 1 March 2002 under the Ministry of Power.

MARPOL is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, adopted in 1973 and modified by the Protocol of 1978, and it is the main pollution instrument of the International Maritime Organization.

That amendment inserted Section 36A for conservation reserves, usually declared on government land next to a national park or sanctuary, and Section 36C for community reserves, declared on private or community land where people volunteer to protect wildlife.

ISEER measures the total cooling an air conditioner delivers over a cooling season divided by the electricity it consumes in that season, so it reflects part-load working in the Indian climate rather than performance at one fixed temperature; a higher ISEER means a more efficient machine, and the star bands…

The Western Ghats zone includes the hill chain and the Malabar coastal plain, and its wet evergreen forests and high shola grassland mosaic hold a very high share of endemic species, among them the lion-tailed macaque of the rainforest canopy and the Nilgiri tahr of the Eravikulam grasslands.

Oil spill response in Indian waters runs under the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan, and the Coast Guard is its central coordinating agency, working with major ports, state governments, oil companies and the Navy on reporting, containment with booms, recovery with skimmers, use of dispersants and shoreline clean-up.

The first Coastal Regulation Zone notification was issued in February 1991 under the Environment (Protection) Act, declaring the coastal stretches and the waters influenced by the tide as a regulated zone and classifying them for the first time.

The Ministry of Power observes National Energy Conservation Day on this date every year, and the national energy conservation awards are given to industries, buildings and institutions that have cut their energy use.

The leak at the Union Carbide India Limited plant in Bhopal began late on 2 December 1984 and the gas spread through the early hours of 3 December, which is why India observes 2 December as National Pollution Control Day.

The hydrogen ions released when carbonic acid dissociates combine with carbonate ions to form bicarbonate, so the pool of free carbonate shrinks.

Brood parasitism is the habit of laying eggs in the nest of another species and letting the host bird incubate them and feed the young.

PAT gives each designated consumer a target to reduce its specific energy consumption over a cycle; a plant that overshoots the target earns ESCerts and may sell them on the power exchanges to a plant that has fallen short, which turns efficiency into a tradable commodity.

Ex-situ conservation means keeping a species, or only its germplasm, outside its natural habitat, which is what a botanical garden, a zoo, an aquarium, a seed bank, a gene bank or a conservation breeding centre does.

Oilzapper is a consortium of oil-degrading bacteria developed by the institute and used as bioremediation: the bacteria break the hydrocarbons in crude oil and oily sludge into harmless products, which makes it a cheap, low-waste option for contaminated soil at refineries and spill sites.

The code was drawn up by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency for new commercial buildings with a connected load of 100 kW or more, or a contract demand of 120 kVA or more, and it prescribes requirements for the building envelope, lighting, air conditioning, water heating and electrical systems.

Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Below Water, commits countries to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources, with targets on reducing marine pollution from land-based activities, protecting coastal ecosystems, addressing ocean acidification, ending overfishing and conserving coastal and marine areas.

The 2022 amendment to the Energy Conservation Act empowered the Central Government to specify a carbon credit trading scheme, to prescribe a minimum share of non-fossil energy for designated consumers, and to extend the building code to large residential buildings.