Ecosystems and Biodiversity Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Statements 1 and 2 are true, so the answer is 1 and 2 only.

An estuary is the partly enclosed coastal water body where a river's fresh water mixes with sea water (1). Rivers bring in nutrients and sediment while tides keep the water mixed, so estuaries rank among the most productive ecosystems on earth. They support mangroves and salt marshes, act as nurseries for fish and shellfish, and feed large bird populations (2).

Statement 3 contradicts statement 2; an estuary is highly productive, not unproductive. That rules out '3 only', and '1 only' and '2 only' each leave out a true statement.

Answer: A

The State bird of Punjab is the northern goshawk, the baaz, whose zoological name is Accipiter gentilis.

The goshawk is a bird of prey associated with Guru Gobind Singh, who is traditionally depicted with a white hawk, and it was adopted as Punjab's State bird.

The other three are Punjab's other State symbols or not animals at all: Antilope cervicapra is the blackbuck, the State animal; Dalbergia sissoo is the shisham tree, the State tree; and Eichhornia crassipes is water hyacinth, an invasive aquatic weed. Two of them are plants, so they cannot be a bird's zoological name.

Answer: D

All four statements are true, so the answer is 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The Raptor MoU, formally the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia, is an agreement concluded under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS, the Bonn Convention) (1, 2). Like other CMS memoranda it is not legally binding; signatories commit to cooperation and an action plan rather than to treaty obligations (3).

When the Union Cabinet approved India's signing in 2016, the MoU covered 76 species of birds of prey, of which 46, including vultures, falcons, eagles, owls, hawks and kites, also occur in India (4). Any option leaving out a statement is incomplete.

Answer: D

Statements 1, 2 and 4 are true, so the answer is 1, 2 and 4 only.

The Indian vulture is Gyps indicus (1). Its numbers crashed by more than 95 percent from the 1990s; the cause was identified as diclofenac, a painkiller given to cattle, which causes kidney failure in vultures that feed on treated carcasses (2). Haryana launched the Gyps Vulture Reintroduction Programme in 2016, releasing captive-bred birds from its breeding centre (4).

Statement 3 is the false one. The Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre is at Pinjore in Haryana, not in Jharkhand. That rules out every option containing 3, which is why '3 and 4 only' and '1, 2, 3 and 4' are wrong, and '1 and 2 only' leaves out the true statement 4.

Answer: C

Only Statement II is correct, so the answer is Statement II is correct.

The snow leopard conservation centre announced in 2020 as India's first was to be set up by Uttarakhand, in Uttarkashi district, by the Uttarakhand Forest Department with UNDP under the SECURE Himalaya project. It was not a Himachal Pradesh project, so Statement I is wrong.

The Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme is an inter-governmental alliance of all 12 snow leopard range countries, India among them, so Statement II is right. That rules out 'Both statements I and II are correct', 'Statement I is correct' and 'None of the above'.

Answer: C

The key accepts both statements, so the answer is Both I and II.

The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee), listed as Endangered by the IUCN, survives in India mainly in the north-east, above all in Assam's Kaziranga and Manas, and in central India, in Chhattisgarh, where it is the State animal (Statement I).

India holds by far the largest share of the remaining world population, with only small numbers left in Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia, and estimates commonly put India's share above 85 percent (Statement II). So 'Only I', 'Only II' and 'Neither' each reject a statement the key accepts.

Answer: C

The key accepts both statements, so the answer is Both I and II.

Reef-building corals, along with black corals, organ-pipe coral and others, are listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, giving them the highest legal protection; damaging or removing them is an offence (Statement I).

In 2020 the Maharashtra government's mangrove cell was allowed to translocate coral colonies from the path of Mumbai's Coastal Road project, and the colonies were reported to belong to the families Rhizangiidae, Caryophylliidae and Dendrophylliidae (Statement II). With both statements accepted, the other options are wrong.

Answer: D

They are species of Fish.

Gambusia affinis is the mosquitofish and Poecilia reticulata is the guppy. Both are small fish that eat mosquito larvae, and they have been released into ponds and tanks in several Indian states as a biological control against malaria and dengue, which is why they appeared in the news.

The practice is also debated, because both are non-native species that can harm local fish and amphibians. They are not birds, insects or reptiles.

Answer: C

Statements 2, 3 and 4 are correct, so the answer is 2, 3 and 4 only.

Similipal has been part of UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 2009. It is the only known wild population of melanistic (pseudo-melanistic) tigers, whose dark stripes merge into broad black bands. It has also been reported as the first reserve in India where the TrailGuard AI camera system led to the arrest of poachers.

Statement 1 is wrong. Similipal was notified as Odisha's second national park, after Bhitarkanika. Satkosia is a tiger reserve and sanctuary, not a national park, so 'third, after Bhitarkanika and Satkosia' is incorrect.

Answer: A

Both statements are correct and Statement II is the correct explanation for Statement I.

Bergmann's rule says that, within a group of related warm-blooded animals, populations and species in colder climates tend to be larger than those in warmer climates.

The reason is geometry. As body size increases, volume (and heat production) grows faster than surface area, so a larger animal has a smaller surface-area-to-volume ratio and loses relatively less heat through its skin. That is an advantage in the cold, which is exactly what Statement II says.