Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 7

The correct answer is B, 22 May. The day marks the adoption of the text of the Convention on Biological Diversity and is used each year to draw attention to the loss of species and habitats.

Option A, 22 April, is Earth Day. Option C, 5 June, is World Environment Day, which commemorates the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the human environment in 1972 and is the date candidates most often choose here by mistake. Option D, 2 October, is observed as the International Day of Non-Violence and has no environmental meaning. Important days are a small but certain source of marks in this subject, so learn these four together, and add 21 March for the International Day of Forests and 2 February for World Wetlands Day, which marks the signing of the Ramsar Convention.

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 B, a national park. In a national park the whole ecosystem is protected, rights are settled before the area is notified, grazing and cultivation are prohibited and the boundary cannot be altered except through a resolution of the state legislature.

Option A, a wildlife sanctuary, aims chiefly at protecting animal species and may allow certain regulated activities and some settled rights to continue, which is the main legal difference between the two. Option C, a community reserve, rests on the participation of the local community and therefore assumes human use of the land. Option D, the transition zone of a biosphere reserve, is the outermost belt where communities farm, graze and carry on their livelihoods; the zone free of human activity there is the core. A sanctuary may be upgraded to a park, but not the reverse.

The correct answer is C, 1986. Parliament passed the Environment (Protection) Act in 1986 and it came into force on 19 November 1986. It was enacted soon after the Bhopal gas tragedy of December 1984, when the country needed one general law to fill the gaps left by the earlier pollution laws. Parliament used Article 253, which allows it to legislate to carry out international agreements, so the Act gives effect to the decisions of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. It is called an umbrella law because it gives the Central Government wide powers to fix standards, inspect and shut polluting units and frame rules, and most later environmental rules are made under it. A is wrong because no such central environment Act was passed in 1990. B is wrong because 1991 is the year of the Public Liability Insurance Act. D is wrong because 1988 only brought amendments to the Water Act. Exam tip: Water Act 1974, Air Act 1981, Environment (Protection) Act 1986.

The correct answer is A, 1971. The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance was signed on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the shore of the Caspian Sea, which gave the treaty its popular name. It is the oldest of the modern global environmental agreements and its secretariat is at Gland in Switzerland.

Option B, 1975, is the year the convention came into force after the required number of ratifications, so it is a real date attached to a different event and is the commonest trap here. Option C, 1982, is the year India acceded to the convention and designated its first sites in the previous year. Option D, 1992, is the year of the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, which produced the Convention on Biological Diversity and the climate change convention, not the wetlands treaty. Read whether the question asks for signing, entry into force or India's accession.

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 began on 1 April 1973 as a centrally sponsored scheme with nine tiger reserves, in the same year in which the tiger replaced the lion as the national animal of India.

Option A, 1972, is the year of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, the law under which reserves and protected areas are declared, and candidates often confuse the law with the scheme that followed it. Option C, 1992, is the year in which Project Elephant was launched, the other great species programme of the country. Option D, 2005, is the year in which the loss of all the tigers of the Sariska reserve came to light and a Tiger Task Force was appointed, which led to the amendment of the law in the following year.

The correct answer is A, 5 NTU. Under the Bureau of Indian Standards specification for drinking water, IS 10500:2012, turbidity has an acceptable limit of 1 NTU and a maximum permissible limit of 5 NTU in the absence of any alternate source. Turbidity is the cloudiness of water caused by suspended clay, silt and organic matter, and it is measured in nephelometric turbidity units by how much light a sample scatters sideways. It is kept low because suspended particles shelter bacteria and viruses from chlorine and make disinfection less effective. Option B is wrong because 1 NTU is the acceptable limit, not the maximum permissible one. Option C is wrong because 3 NTU appears in neither column of the standard. Option D is wrong because 7 NTU is above what the standard allows in any circumstance. Exam tip: for IS 10500:2012 remember the pair — turbidity acceptable 1 NTU and permissible 5 NTU, with pH held between 6.5 and 8.5.

The correct answer is A, Tsunami. A tsunami is caused by an undersea earthquake, a volcanic eruption or a landslide on the ocean floor, and has nothing to do with the ozone layer.

The ozone layer lies in the stratosphere, roughly 15 to 35 km above the ground, and absorbs most of the harmful ultraviolet radiation of the Sun. Chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigerators, air conditioners and aerosol sprays release chlorine that destroys ozone, which is why the Montreal Protocol of 1987 phased them out. World Ozone Day is observed on 16 September.

Option B is a real result, because extra ultraviolet radiation damages skin cells and raises the risk of skin cancer. Option C is a real result, since a thinner layer lets more ultraviolet rays reach the Earth. Option D is a real result, as ultraviolet exposure weakens the immune system, and it also causes cataract and harms crops and plankton.

Exam tip: ozone holes bring skin cancer, cataract and weak immunity; tsunamis come from the sea floor, not the sky.

The correct answer is C, Protection of ozone layer. Both treaties were made to save the ozone layer in the stratosphere, which screens out harmful ultraviolet rays. The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was adopted in 1985 as a framework agreement. The Montreal Protocol of 1987 put it into action by fixing deadlines to phase out ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons. In 2009 these became the first UN treaties ratified by every country, and 16 September, the day the Protocol was signed, is observed as World Ozone Day. The Kigali Amendment of 2016 extended the Protocol to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Option A is wrong because desertification is handled by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification of 1994. Option B is wrong because the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 as part of Agenda 2030. Option D is wrong because climate change falls under the UNFCCC of 1992, with its Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement. Exam tip: Vienna 1985 and Montreal 1987 for ozone; Kigali 2016 added HFCs.

The correct answer is C, methane and carbon dioxide. Biogas is produced when cattle dung, crop waste and sewage are broken down by bacteria in a closed tank without air, a process called anaerobic digestion. The gas that collects is about 55 to 70 per cent methane and most of the rest is carbon dioxide, with small traces of hydrogen sulphide and water vapour. Methane is the part that burns, which is why biogas gives a clean blue flame and is used for cooking and lighting in villages; the slurry left behind is a good manure. A gobar gas plant thus turns waste into fuel and fertiliser at the same time. A is wrong because hydrogen is not a major part of biogas. B is wrong because helium is an inert gas that no bacteria produce. D is wrong because nitrogen is present only in traces and does not burn. Exam tip: biogas is mainly methane with carbon dioxide, made by anaerobic digestion, and its slurry is used as manure.

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 B, Pinjore. India's first vulture breeding centre, the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, was set up at Pinjore in the Panchkula district of Haryana in 2001. It was started because the population of white-backed, long-billed and slender-billed vultures had crashed by more than ninety per cent in the 1990s. The cause was diclofenac, a painkiller given to cattle, which caused kidney failure in vultures that fed on the carcasses; its veterinary use was banned in India in 2006. The centre breeds these three critically endangered species in captivity and releases them into the wild. Option A is wrong because Pushkar in Rajasthan is known for its lake and the Brahma temple. Option C is wrong because Rampur in Uttar Pradesh has no such centre, though a vulture centre works at Rani in Assam. Option D is wrong because Agra is known for the Taj Mahal and a bear rescue facility. Exam tip: Pinjore in Haryana for vultures, and diclofenac as the reason for their decline.

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 A, habitat loss and fragmentation. When forests are cleared, wetlands drained and grasslands ploughed, species lose the space they need, and the fragments that survive are often too small to support large animals or to allow populations to mix and breed.

Option D, over-exploitation, is the second member of the evil quartet and covers overfishing and the hunting of animals for skin, horn or bone. Option C, invasive alien species, covers organisms brought from elsewhere that crowd out native ones, such as water hyacinth in Indian waterbodies. Option B, co-extinction, follows when a species disappears and takes with it those that depended on it, such as a parasite or a pollinator. All four together are called the evil quartet, and examiners ask both for the list and for which member stands first, so fix habitat loss as the leading cause.

The correct answer is B, 5th June. The United Nations General Assembly named 5 June as World Environment Day in 1972, and the day has been observed every year since 1974. The date recalls the opening day of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm from 5 to 16 June 1972, the first big world meeting on the environment. The same conference led to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme, or UNEP, which leads the celebrations each year. Every year the day has a new theme and a host country; India hosted it in 2018 with the theme 'Beat Plastic Pollution'. A is wrong because May's main environment date is 22 May, the International Day for Biological Diversity. C is wrong because July has World Population Day on 11 July, not World Environment Day. D is wrong because 5 August is not linked with this day at all. Exam tip: 22 April, Earth Day; 22 May, Biodiversity Day; 5 June, World Environment Day; 16 September, World Ozone Day.

The correct answer is B, the great Indian bustard. The Desert National Park, spread over sand dunes and open grassland near Jaisalmer and Barmer, is the best known habitat of this tall, heavy ground bird, whose numbers have fallen sharply and which is the state bird of Rajasthan.

Option A, the Siberian crane, was a celebrated winter visitor to the wetland of Keoladeo Ghana at Bharatpur rather than to the desert. Option C, the Indian peafowl, is the national bird and is common across the country, so it is never the answer to a park-specific question. Option D, the hornbill, belongs to the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats and the north-east. The bustard also gives its name to a conservation effort, so link the bird, the park and the state together.

The correct answer is A, 2 February. The Ramsar Convention was signed on 2 February 1971, and that anniversary is observed each year as World Wetlands Day to draw attention to the services wetlands provide, such as flood control, groundwater recharge, water purification and habitat for migratory birds.

Option B, 22 March, is World Water Day, which deals with freshwater resources in general rather than with wetlands as ecosystems. Option C, 5 June, is World Environment Day, observed since the Stockholm Conference of 1972. Option D, 16 September, is the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, marking the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987. Environment days are a favourite cluster in general studies papers, so learn these four together with the event behind each.

The correct answer is A, Jim Corbett National Park, in what is now Uttarakhand. It is the oldest national park of India, and the project was formally launched there on 1 April 1973.

Option B, Kanha in Madhya Pradesh, and option C, Bandipur in Karnataka, were both among the nine reserves with which the project began, which is what makes them good distractors, but the launch took place at Corbett. Option D, Kaziranga in Assam, is not a launch site either; it is known above all for the one horned rhinoceros and became a tiger reserve much later. A candidate should remember the nine original reserves as a set: Corbett, Manas, Palamau, Similipal, Kanha, Melghat, Bandipur, Ranthambore and the Sunderbans. The park is named after Jim Corbett, the hunter turned naturalist whose writings did much to make the tiger a matter of public concern in India.

The correct answer is D, Bihar. The Rajgir Zoo Safari stands at Rajgir in Nalanda district of Bihar, in the hills around the old Magadhan capital of Rajgriha. It was opened to visitors in 2022 and is laid out as a safari: people move through the enclosures in vehicles while tigers, lions, leopards, bears and herbivores range in open spaces. A glass bridge and a nature safari were built beside it, and the whole site sits within the wooded country of the Pant Wildlife Sanctuary. Option A is wrong because Tamil Nadu's best-known zoo is the Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur near Chennai. Option B is wrong because Madhya Pradesh has the Van Vihar National Park at Bhopal. Option C is wrong because Gujarat's Sakkarbaug Zoo at Junagadh is the one known for breeding Asiatic lions. Exam tip: remember Rajgir in Bihar for the zoo safari and the glass bridge, and Rajgriha as the first capital of Magadha.