Environment & Biodiversity MCQs

Notes:
The chimpanzee and gorilla are not native to India – they are found in parts of Africa. As for the cheetah, it was once found across parts of India but became extinct in the country by the 1950s due to factors like hunting. However, India has been working on a cheetah reintroduction project to reintroduce the species in certain wildlife habitats. In 2022, eight cheetahs were brought from Africa and introduced in the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh as part of this project. So while cheetahs no longer occur naturally in India, efforts are being made to re-establish a wild population through managed reintroductions. The snow leopard is the only one of the listed animals that still has wild, breeding populations across parts of northern and eastern India such as Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.

Notes:
The Ghatigaon Wildlife Sanctuary (GWS) is located near Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and covers an area of 511 square kilometers. The sanctuary is also as the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary. It houses many varieties of flora such as Khair, Murjan, Palash, Seja, Dhawada, Royenja, Ghote, Beweg, Dhaman, Salai, Heans and Katli. The sanctuary is also a home to the blackbuck, chital, monkey, wolf, blue bull, wild boar, fox and hyena.

Notes:
The Ghughuwa Fossil Park (GFP) is located near Shahpura in Madhya Pradesh and was declared a National Park in 1983. It was founded during the 1970s by Dr. Dharmendra Prasad, in which plant fossils belonging to 31 genera of 18 families have been identified. A eucalyptus fossil found at Ghughua is the oldest fossil of its type ever discovered and this find supports its origins from Gondwana.

Notes:
Sundarbans – a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site. Sundrban has world’s largest mangrove forest which is home to wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, the Bengal tiger and other threatened species such as the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python. It is also home to the rare Irrawaddy dolphin.

Notes:
The energy enters the plants from the sun through the photosynthesis process. This energy is then passed on from one organism to another in a food chain. The flow of energy in the ecosystem is unidirectional because the energy lost as heat from the living organisms of a food chain cannot be reused by plants in photosynthesis. During the transfer of energy through successive trophic levels in an ecosystem, there is a loss of energy all along the path.

Notes:
Nacre also known as mother of pearl, is an organic-inorganic composite material produced by some mollusks as an inner shell layer; it is also what makes up the outer coating of pearls. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.

Notes:
The Clean Development Mechanism was defined in the Kyoto Protocol which provides for emissions reduction projects. It allows industrialized countries with a greenhouse gas reduction commitment to invest in projects that reduce emissions in developing countries as an alternative to more expensive emission reductions in their own countries. The CDM allows net global greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced at a much lower global cost by financing emissions reduction projects in developing countries where costs are lower than in industrialized countries.

Notes:
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) was formed in 1948, following an agreement at a UN conference held in Geneva. They met for the first time in 1959. It is headquartered in London, United Kingdom and currently has a total of 174 member states and 3 associates.

Notes:
National Green Corps is a programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests of Government of India which aims at promoting environmental activity in schools in India. The motto of the initiative is “Where there is Green, there is Prosperity”.

Notes:
Bioremediation is a process that is used to treat contaminated water, soil and subsurface material, by improving environmental factors to stimulate growth of microorganisms and degrade the caused pollutants.