Environment GK Questions and Answers for Civil Services Examination

Tehuacán Valley desert in southern Mexico
The rain shadow effect is largely responsible for many tropical arid lands that seem to defy the rule that deserts are only found in the earth’s midlatitudinal reaches, such as the Sechura Desert in Peru and Ecuador, the Caatinga scrub in equatorial Brazil, or the Tehuacán Valley desert in southern Mexico, a hotspot for cactus biodiversity. They are also responsible for some high-latitude cold deserts, such as the Great Basin, Patagonia, and the deserts of
Central Asia.

By warming ocean water
In El Nino-year 2010, preliminary reports show global coral bleaching reached its worst level since another El Nino year, 1998, when 16% of the world’s reefs died as a result of increased water temperature. Corals get most of their energy from microscopic algae that live in their tissue. These algae are colorful and are what gives corals their vivid hue. When environmental factors go out of the range that corals are used to (such as warming water), the
symbiosis between the coral and the algae breaks down and corals effectively expel the algae and turn white. The coral is then deprived of its source of energy, and dies.

Only 2 is correct
This is a tricky question. The first statement is incorrect , if you look at the map of India and locate the wetlands. They are located in varied climates some are in arid zones like Rajasthan and some are in tropical zones. So we eliminate this statement. The second statement is correct and most of the wetlands in India are directly or indirectly related to the river systems. The third statement is incorrect , and almost all of you know that we have 25 Ramsar sites but
more than 100 wetlands.

1, 3 & 4
The First statement is correct because Coral Reefs are found in shallow waters. This statement may sound dubious because there are Deep water Corals too. But the problem is that not much is known whether the deep water corals make Coral reefs or not. Deep water coral can exist at greater depths and colder temperatures at much higher latitudes, as far north as Norway. The second statement is incorrect. The Coral Reefs are found in tropical and temperate both kinds of waters but mostly available in 30°N to 30°S latitudes. Coral reefs are estimated to cover 284,300 km² or 0.1% of the oceans’ surface area. The Indo-Pacific region (including the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific) account for 91.9% of this total. Southeast Asia accounts for 32.3% of that figure, while the Pacific including Australia accounts for 40.8%. Atlantic and Caribbean coral reefs account for 7.6%. The statement 3 & 4 are correct and most remarkable features of these “tropical rain forests’ of the Oceans.

1, 2 3 & 4 Only
The Invertebrates are not protected as per the act. In India, the system of Biosphere reserves is there to protect even the invertebrates, but Biosphere
reserves don’t come under the Wildlife protection act.

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