UPSC Ecology & Environment Test 5 (Old Year Questions)

Ans d
The Ramsar Convention (The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat) is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on an loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational value. Ramsar Convention calls for sustainable use of preserved sites in such a way that people living there shall not be deprived and the resources are also maintained for present and future use

Ans c
Methane emissions from flooded rice paddies contribute to global warming just as coal-fired power plants, automobile exhausts and other sources do with the carbon dioxide they spew into the atmosphere. In fact, the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meeting in 2009 in Bangkok concludes that rice production was a main cause of rising methane emissions in the 20th century. Nitrous oxide is produced naturally in soils through the microbial processes of denitrification and nitrification. These natural emissions of N2O can be increased by a variety of agricultural practices and activities, including the use of synthetic and organic fertilizers. The greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapours, carbon particles etc. Growing rice has an adverse environmental impact because of the large quantities of methane gas it generates.

Ans b
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC) is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992. The objective of the treaty is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

Ans b
Taxus wallichiana Zucc., is found in temperate forests of Asia ranging from Afghanistan through the Himalayas to the Philippines with elevation range of 1500-3500 m. it is small to medium-sized tree, with red ‘berries’ (seeds covered by arils), valuable for Taxol extraction. It is used in preparation of anticancer drugs, in addition to other medicinal uses in Ayurveda and Tibetan Medicine. In 1995, Taxus wallichiana was listed in Appendix II of CITES. Its legal status is that it has been included in the Red Data Book.

Ans d
Import cover is an important indicator of the stability of the currency. It measures the number of months of money available in the national bank to cover the cost of imports or the stock of foreign exchange reserves in terms of months of retained imports of goods as at end of year. During the currency crisis of 2013, when foreign exchange reserves fell to around $275 billion, import cover dipped to around seven months.

Ans d
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common bacterium which can cause disease in animals, including humans. It is found in soil, water, skin flora, and most man-made environments throughout the world. It thrives not only in normal atmospheres, but also in hypoxic atmospheres, and has thus colonized many natural and artificial environments. It uses a wide range of organic material for food; in animals, the versatility enables the organism to infect damaged tissues or people with reduced immunity. The symptoms of such infections are generalized inflammation and sepsis. If such colonizations occur in critical body organs, such as the lungs, the urinary tract, and kidneys, the results can be fatal. Because it thrives on most surfaces, this bacterium is also found on and in medical equipment, including catheters, causing cross-infections in hospitals and clinics. It is hydrocarbons and has been uses to break down tarballs and oil from oil spills.

Ans c
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). Government of India, is implementing a GEF/World Bank funded project on Capacity Building on Biosafety in context of Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The project covers the assessment, management and long term monitoring and documentation of the risks to the sustainable use of biodiversity and to human health potentially posed by the introduction of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs).

Ans b
The Canadian House of Commons has become the first Parliament in the world to pass a climate act, which commits the county to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. The House Passed the Climate Change Accountability Bill on 4 June 2008. It was moved by the leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, Jack Layton. The bill sets an interim target of 25% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 and requires progress reports from the government every five years.

Ans b
Carbon credits are a key component of national and international attempts to mitigate the growth in concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The mechanism of carbon credit was formalized in the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement between more than 170 countries, and the market mechanisms were agreed through the subsequent Marrakesh Accords. The mechanism adopted was similar to the successful US Acid Rain Program to reduce some industrial pollutants.

Ans c
More than half of world ethanol production is produced from sugar and sugar byproducts, with Brazil being by far the world leader. Technologically, the process of producing ethanol from sugar is simpler than converting corn into ethanol. Converting corn into ethanol requires additional cooking and the application of enzymes, whereas the conversion of sugar requires only a yeast fermentation process. The energy requirement for converting sugar into ethanol is about half that for corn. Ethanol is produced by microbial fermentation of the sugar. Microbial fermentation will currently only work directly with sugars. Two major components of plants, starch and cellulose, are both made up of sugars, and can in principle be converted to sugars for fermentation. Currently, only the sugar (e.g. sugar cane) and starch (e.g. corn) portions can be economically converted. However, there is much activity in the area of cellulosic ethanol, where the cellulose part of a plant is broken down to sugars and subsequently converted to ethanol

Ans a
The Indian flying fox is one of the largest of all bats and has a wingspan of more than four feet. It does not prey on animals, feeling, instead, almost exclusively on a variety of fruit. The Indian flying fox was named for the shape of its head and its reddish brown fur, which resemble those of a fox. Flying forex are the largest of all bats and are found widely throughout Asia and Australia. The Indian flying fox lives in tropical forests and swamps, primarily in coastal areas. Where it does live inland, the bat is seldom found far from large areas of waster. It is wide spread throughout the Indian subcontinent and is also found on the Maldive Islands.

Ans a
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is an arrangement under the Kyoto Protocol allowing industrialized countries with a greenhouse gas reduction commitment (called Annex 1 countries) to invest in projects that reduce emissions in developing countries as an alternative to more expensive emission reductions in their own countries. A crucial feature of an approved CDM carbon project is that it has established that the planned reductions would not occur without the additional incentive provided by emission reductions credits, a concept known as “additionality”.

Ans d
Major sources of methane are fossil fuel burning, mining, agriculture and wetlands. In an attempt to study the sources of methane in our environment, a programme to study the methane emission from the wetland lakes of Kadinamkulam, Paravur, Ashtamudy, Kayamkulam, Vembanad and Kudungalloor was taken up. The measurement results show that the methane flux from the lake is moderate. It is proposed to estimate methane loading into the atmosphere, from wetland environments of Kerala and to study the climate change potential of this source.

Ans c
Mixture of methane, coal dust and air can produce a shock wave that travels as much as 6 times the speed of sound through the time workings. Confinement is a physical factor to consider in the development of the explosion. The shock waves begins to occur as the expanding gases accelerate into the ambient air. This can be exacerbated in the mining environment because the paths of release are limited.

Ans c
It is a very hardy fish and can adapt to wide variations in temperature as well as to chemical and organic content of the water but does not tolerate very high organic pollution. The optimum temperature for reproduction ranges from 240C to 340C but the fish can survive at freezing temperatures. The most suitable pH of water is between 6.5 and 9.9. Gambusia frequents areas especially suitable for the mosquito larvae. It lives and multiplies in ponds stocked with larger fish provided pond is shallow and has protective vegetation for refuge.

Ans c
South-East coast of Sri Lanka.

Ans b
Kyoto protocol came into force on February 16, 2005 with an obligation on 39 industrialized countries to reduce emissions by an average of 5.2 percent relative to levels prevailing in 1990. Methane accounts for about 20% of contribution to global warming by greenhouse though it is less in concentration (1,720 ppbv) against CO2’s 60% contribution with 358 ppmv concentration in the atmosphere. In consideration of the 20 year total sum of its intensity of green house effect (global warming index), based on the fact that its atmospheric residence time is 56 times longer than that of CO2.

Ans b
Keibul Lamjao National is world’s only floating national park and last natural habitat of Manipur Brow antlered deer – Sangai (Cervus eldi eldi). The national park is characterized by many floating decomposed plant materials locally called phumdis.

Ans c
Nitrogen fixing bacteria converts N2 to Ammonium ion NH4+. with fertilizers already containing NH4 ions, there is no demand or need from plants for the symbiotic association. further, we can certainly assume that there is no positive correlation between fertilizers and bacterium

Ans b
Founded in 1948 as the world’s first global environmental organisation. IUCN supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world, and brings governments, NGOs, the UN and companies together to develop policy, laws and best practice. IUCN is not an organ of UN. This eliminates other 3 options.