[Mission 2022] QUIZ – 2022: INSIGHTS STATIC QUIZ, 11 December 2021 – Environment – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: c)

Energy pyramids represent energy flow through trophic levels. An energy pyramid usually shows rates of energy flow through trophic levels, not absolute amounts of energy stored.

Energy pyramids are always upright (biomass pyramids can be inverted), that is, narrower at each successive level (unless organisms enter the ecosystem from elsewhere). This pattern reflects the laws of thermodynamics, which tell us that new energy can’t be created, and that some must be converted to a not-useful form (heat) in each transfer.

Solution: b)

Statement 1 describes Keystone species.

An ecotype is a population that is adapted to local environmental conditions. The implication is that those individuals which were best adapted to the prevailing conditions left the most offspring.

Moreover, those more successful individuals carry genes that are partly responsible for their success in that environment. Thus, the adaptations of these ecotypes are based on the interactions of their own special sets of genes with their own environment.

Solution: b)

Eutrophication, or hypertrophication, is when a body of water becomes overly enriched with minerals and nutrients which induce excessive growth of algae. This process may result in oxygen depletion of the water body. It leads to increase in the primary productivity of the water body or ‘bloom’ of phytoplankton.

Eutrophication can also occur outside water bodies. For example, soils can be eutrophic when they have high levels of nitrogen, phosphorous or other nutrients.

Solution: c)

Tigers are found in a variety of habitats, including tropical and sub-tropical forests, evergreen forests, mangrove swamps and grasslands.

Solution: b)

The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions are multilateral environmental agreements, which share the common objective of protecting human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals and wastes.

(B) Basel Convention:

• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was created to protect people and the environment from the negative effects of the inappropriate management of hazardous wastes worldwide. It is the most comprehensive global treaty dealing with hazardous waste materials throughout their lifecycles, from production and transport to final use and disposal.

(R) Rotterdam Convention:

• The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for certain hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in international trade provides Parties with a first line of defence against hazardous chemicals. It promotes international efforts to protect human health and the environment as well as enabling countries to decide if they want to import hazardous chemicals and pesticides listed in the Convention.

(S) Stockholm Convention:

• The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from highly dangerous, long-lasting chemicals by restricting and ultimately eliminating their production, use, trade, release and storage.