[Mission 2022] QUIZ – 2022: INSIGHTS STATIC QUIZ , 9 November 2021 – Geography – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: d)

Marine macroalgae, or seaweeds, are plant-like organisms that generally live attached to rock or other hard substrata in coastal areas. 

Seaweed species such as kelps provide essential nursery habitat for fisheries and other marine species and thus protect food sources; other species, such as planktonic algae, play a vital role in capturing carbon, producing up to 50% of Earth’s oxygen.

Solution: b)

• Live coral are colonies of small animals embedded in calcium carbonate shells. It is a mistake to think of coral as plants or rocks. Coral heads consist of accumulations of individual animals called polyps, arranged in diverse shapes.
• Reef-building or hermatypic corals live only in the photic zone (above 50 m), the depth to which sufficient sunlight penetrates the water. Coral polyps do not photosynthesize, but have a symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae; these organisms live within the tissues of polyps and provide organic nutrients that nourish the polyp. Because of this relationship, coral reefs grow much faster in clear water, which admits more sunlight.

Solution: c)

Polymetallic nodules (also known as manganese nodules) are potato-shaped, largely porous nodules found in abundance carpeting the sea floor of world oceans in deep sea.

Composition: Besides manganese and iron, they contain nickel, copper, cobalt, lead, molybdenum, cadmium, vanadium, titanium, of which nickel, cobalt and copper are considered to be of economic and strategic importance.

They do not contain crude oil.

Solution: b)

The profundal zone is a deep zone of an inland body of freestanding water, such as a lake or pond, located below the range of effective light penetration. This is typically below the thermocline, the vertical zone in the water through which temperature drops rapidly.

The profundal is often defined, as the deepest, vegetation-free, and muddy zone of the lacustrine benthal. The profundal zone is often part of the aphotic zone.

Solution: a)

Open oceans>Deserts> Temperate forests> Cultivated lands>Tropical forests is the order of geographical area of these ecosystems.

Oceans have the lowest primary productivity. Swamps and tropical rainforests have the highest productivity. Despite low primary productivity, oceans score higher on total biomass due to its huge spread over globe.