Environmental Studies PYQs

The correct answer is Euplectella​.

• Euplectella is an example of a sessile animal.

Key Points

Sessile animal:

• Such animals are predominantly immobile. They lack the ability of self-locomotion.
• They do not have to expend large amounts of energy to move through the water to get food.
• Sessile species also depend on water flow during their reproductive cycles. These organisms may reproduce sexually by releasing eggs and sperm into the water or asexually through budding.
• Examples- Corals, Mussels, etc.

Important Points

Euplectella:

• Euplectella is a genus of sponges in the family Euplectellidae.
• They are omnivores.
• They are sessile animals.
• They belong to the phylum Porifera.
• Members of the phylum Porifera are commonly known as ‘sponges’.

Additional Information

• Leeches are not sessile animals and move by crawling and attaching themselves by their suckers.
• Chitons are a type of molluscs that are found primarily on rocks in a marine environment.
• Echinus is a marine and benthonic ani­mal. They habitually live in hard or rocky bottoms.

The correct answer is Amino acid. 

• The unit of a protein molecule is Amino acid.
• Amino Acids:
• These are organic compounds that combine to form proteins.
• These are needed for vital processes like the synthesis of hormones and neurotransmitters.
• These are classified into three groups: Essential amino acids, Non-essential amino acids, Conditional amino acids.
• Our body needs 20 different amino acids to grow and function properly. However, only nine amino acids are classified as essential. These are- histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.

Additional Information

• Glucose:
• It is a subcategory of carbohydrates.
• It is a primary energy source for various tissues including the brain, and insulin maintains the circulating blood glucose concentration within narrow limits.
• Fatty Acid:
• It is a carboxylic acid with a long aliphatic chain.
• It is an important component of lipids in plants, animals, and microorganisms.
• It serves as energy for the muscles, heart, and other organs as building blocks for cell membranes and as energy storage for the body.
• Vitamin:
• It is an essential micronutrient which an organism needs for the proper functioning of its metabolism.
• Vitamins help shore up (make strong) bones, heal wounds, and bolster your immune system. They also convert food into energy and repair cellular damage.

The correct answer is centrosome.

• Plant cells are the basic unit of life in organisms of the kingdom Plantae. They have a true nucleus along with specialized structures called organelles that carry out certain specific functions.
• Centrosome 
• These are organelles that serve as the main microtubule-organizing centers for animal cells.
• It helps in cell division and stimulates the changes in the shape of the cell membrane by phagocytosis.
• They also maintain the chromosome number during cell division.
• Plant cells lack centrosomes. Plant cells have a cell wall, chloroplasts, and other specialized plastids, and a large central vacuole.

Important Points

• Plant cell walls are primarily made of cellulose. Cellulose fibers are long, linear polymers of hundreds of glucose molecules.

Additional Information

• Vacuoles 
• These are found in both animal and plant cells.
• They might store food or any variety of nutrients a cell might need to survive.
• They store waste products so the rest of the cell is protected from contamination.
• Plastids
• These are double-membrane organelle.
• These are responsible for the manufacturing and storing of food.
• There are different types of plastids with specialized functions. For example-Chloroplasts, Chromoplasts, Gerontoplasts, Leucoplasts, etc.
• It is not present in animal cell.

The correct answer is Liver. 

• The largest gland in the human body is the Liver.
• Liver:
• It helps in synthesizing proteins and producing biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth.
• It filters the blood coming from the digestive tract, before passing it to the rest of the body.

Additional Information

• Pancreas:
• It has two main functions: an exocrine function that helps in digestion and an endocrine function that regulates blood sugar.
• It plays an essential role in converting the food into fuel for the body's cells.
• Adrenal glands: 
• These glands produce hormones that help regulate your metabolism, immune system, blood pressure, response to stress, and other essential functions.
• Pituitary gland: 
• It plays a major role in regulating vital body functions.
• It also controls the activity of most other hormone-secreting glands. Hence, it is referred to as the body's 'master gland'.

The correct answer is Sarus Crane. 

• The state bird of Uttar Pradesh is Sarus Crane.
• It is India’s only resident breeding crane.
• There is an estimated population of over 13,000 Sarus Cranes in Uttar Pradesh.
• Characteristics of Sarus Crane:
• It is the tallest flying bird in the world.
• It has a predominantly grey plumage with a naked redhead and upper neck and pale red legs.
• They are found mostly in pairs or small groups of three or four.

Additional Information

• The main threat to the Sarus crane in India is habitat loss and degradation due to draining the wetland and conversion of land for agriculture.
• WWF-India played an instrumental role in setting up the Sarus Crane Conservation Committee in Uttar Pradesh. It also assists the state in developing projects to enhance Sarus crane conservation initiatives.
• House Sparrow is the state bird of Bihar and Delhi.

The correct answer is Tundra.

• The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of northern Europe, Siberia, and North America.
• Reindeer live in areas of Arctic tundra (a cold treeless plain, frequently poorly drained) and the northern boreal forests that make up the southern edge of the tundra.

Key Points

• The polar type of climate and vegetation is found mainly in the North of the Arctic Circle it is also called as Tundra region. The summers are cool and brief here.
• Due to the extreme temperature, very fewer plants survive.
• The environment can support only the lowest form of vegetation that is mosses lichens and sedges.
• The people of the Tundra region live a semi-nomadic life.
• In the Eurasian tundra are other nomadic tribes such as the Lapps of northern Finland and Scandinavia, the Samoyed of Siberia (from the Ural Mountains and the Yenisey basin), the Yakuts from the Lena basin, and the Koryaks and Chukchi of north-eastern Asia.

The correct answer is Campos

Key Points

• The Campos is not a temperate grassland. It belongs to the Sudan type of climate.
• The Sudan or Savanna type of climate is a transitional type of climate found between equatorial forests and trade wind hot deserts.
• Examples are Llanos, Campos, Kano, and Salisbury.
• The temperate climate is found bordering the desert regions and in the interior of the continents.
• In Eurasia, it is called Steppes, Pustaz in Hungary, Prairies in North America, Pampas in Argentina, Downs in Australia.

Additional Information

• GRASSLANDS - 
• Tropical grasslands: These occur on either side of the equator and extend to the tropics.
• This vegetation grows in areas of moderate to the low amount of rainfall.
• The grass can grow very tall, about 3 to 4 meters in height. Savannah grasslands of Africa are of this type.
• Elephants, zebras, giraffes, deer, leopards are common in tropical grasslands.
• Grasslands are known by different names in different regions.
• Tropical Grasslands
• East Africa- Savanna
• Brazil- Campos
• Venezuela- Llanos
• Temperate Grasslands
• Argentina- Pampas
• N. America- Prairie
• S. Africa- Veld
• C. Asia- Steppe
• Australia- Down

The correct answer is Asia.

Key Points

• According to population size, the largest Continent is Asia.
• The population of Asia is equivalent to 59.76% of the total world population.
• The chronology of the Largest content in population size from highest to lowest is Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Australia, Antarctica.

Important Points

Additional Information

• Pamir Plateau which is known as 'Roof of the World' situated in Central Asia.
• Asia is separated from Africa by the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
• Asia is separated from North America by Bering Strait.
• Asia is the largest continent by size.

The correct answer is the Tarai region of Uttar Pradesh.

• Tharu tribe lives in the Tarai region of Uttar Pradesh.

Key Points

• Most of the population of the Tharu tribe are forest dwellers and some practice agriculture.
• They speak dialects of Tharu which is a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup.
• The Terai region is a depositional landform and alluvial plains made by the river Ganga.
• The other plains are Bhabar, Terai, Bhangar, and Khaddar stretching from North to south.
• The eastern part of the Tarai region is known as the Duars in Bangladesh.

Additional Information

• There are about 550 tribes in India. As per the 1951 census, 5.6% of the total population of the country was tribal.
• According to Census 2011, the number of scheduled tribes in India is 10, 42, 81,034.
• The Gond tribe comprises the largest tribal group of India with a population exceeding 12 million.
• In the pristine islands of Andaman and Nicobar, live one of the oldest tribes of India, the Jarawa.

The correct option is Chhattisgarh.

• Bhilai Steel Plant is situated in Chhattisgarh.
• Bhilai is a city in the district of Durg.
• The Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) is India's first and main producer of steel rails.

Important Points

Additional Information

• The largest producer of steel in India is Tata Steel.
• Tata Steel is followed by Steel Authority of India Ltd. in terms of production.
• Bhilai And Bokaro Steel Plants were set up with Soviet collaboration.

The correct answer is Eichhornia crassipes (Water hyacinth).

• World's most problematic aquatic weed also known as the terror of Bengal is Eichhornia Crassipes.
• This weed chokes ponds, lakes, and rivers resulting in an imbalance in the aquatic ecosystem.
• It accelerates eutrophication.

Key Points

• Eutrophication is the gradual increase in the biomass of phytoplankton resulting in 'algal blooms' due to increasing in the concentration of phosphorus, nitrogen, and other plant nutrients in an ageing aquatic ecosystem such as a lake.

Additional Information

• Lantana camara is a flower-bearing shrub.
• Parthenium hysterophorus is a flowering plant species.

The correct answer is It can be crystallized.

• The ability to be crystallized is an abiotic property of the virus.
• An organism with the presence of cell wall and plasma membrane along with the different intracellular organelles cannot be crystallized.
• A genome of the virus contains either DNA or RNA but not both.

Additional Information

• The genome of the virus may be linear or circular.
• Viruses only replicate inside the host cell.
• A complete virus particle is called a virion.

The correct answer is Ethylene.

Key Points

Ethylene:

• Ethylene plays a key role in the ripening of the fruit.​
• ​Ethylene has been found as not harmful or toxic to humans.
• Ethylene is a gas (C2H4) produced by plants and known as the “ripening hormone,”.
• It stimulates fruit ripening.
• Calcium carbide is also used in some countries for artificially ripening fruit.
• When calcium carbide comes in contact with moisture, it produces acetylene gas.
• Acetylene gas provides similar effects to the natural ripening agent, ethylene.

Additional Information

The correct answer is Clostridium.

Concept:

The nitrogen cycle has four steps-

• Nitrogen Fixation- Conversion of molecular nitrogen into the inorganic nitrogenous compound.
• Ammonification- Conversion of the dead organic nitrogenous compound into ammonia.
• Nitrification- Oxidation of ammonia into nitrates.
• Denitrification- Nitrites or nitrates converts back into molecular free nitrogen.

Key Points

​Clostridium

• It is also a non-symbiotic, free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria.​
• Clostridium bacterial species are anaerobic, spore-forming Gram-positive.
• It belongs to the phylum Firmicutes.

Additional Information

Azotobacter

• It is a non-symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
• These are gram-negative, aerobic, free-living that play an important role in the nitrogen cycle
• The first representative of the genus, Azotobacter chroococcum, was discovered and described in 1901 by Dutch microbiologist and botanist Martinus Beijerinck.​

Rhizobium

• It is a symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
• Rhizobium is found in the nodules of legumes and is responsible for nitrogen fixation. This was discovered in 1886 by the German physiologists Heleriegal and Wilfarth.
• Vibrio is a gram-negative, comma-shaped bacteria.

The correct answer is B - DNA.

• B - DNA type of DNA is commonly found inside the cell.
• B-DNA has a structure of double helix, these two strands of the duplex are antiparallel and plectonemically coiled.

Additional Information

• James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the DNA in 1950.
• DNA is made of chemical building blocks of a phosphate group, a sugar group and one of four types of nitrogen bases called nucleotides.
• The four types of nitrogen bases are:
• Adenine (A)
• Thymine (T)
• Guanine (G)
• Cytosine (C)

The correct answer is Bombay to Thane.

• India's first passenger train ran between Bori Bunder station of Bombay and Thane on 16^th April 1853.

Key Points

• The train was operated by three locomotives which were named Sahib, Sultan, and Sindh, and had a total of thirteen carriages.
• Railways were brought to India during the period of Lord Dalhousie.

Additional Information

• Some Important developments during the period of Lord Dalhousie:
• Wood's educational dispatch or Wood's despatch was given in 1854.
• Telegraph lines to connect Calcutta with Bombay, Madras and Peshawar were established.
• Widow Remarriage Act was given in 1856.
• The doctrine of lapse and annexation of Satara, Jaitpur, Sambalpur, Udaipur, Jhansi, Nagpur, and Avadh.

The correct answer is Sonepur.

Key Points

• Asia's largest cattle fair is organised at Sonepur.
• Sonepur Cattle Fair is held on Kartik Poornima (the full moon day) over the months of November and December in Sonepur, Bihar, on the confluence of river Ganges (Gandak).
• It is also known as Harihar Kshetra Mela.

Additional Information

• The buying and selling of cattle at Sonepur cattle fair has taken place for centuries and is spread across an area of 500 acres.
• The largest human congregation, Kumbh Mela takes place at Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik.
• Pushkar is famous for the Pushkar camel Mela.

The correct answer is 1961.

• National Integration Council was established in the year 1961.
• Its first meeting took place in 1962.

Additional Information

• The National Integration Council was established by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to address the problems of communalism and regionalism in India.
• The National Integration Council is an extra-constitutional body.
• The Prime Minister is the chairman of the council.
• The function of the council is to examine the problem of national integration in every aspect and make necessary recommendations to deal with it.

The correct answer is Articles 14 - 18.

• The Right to Equality is mentioned from Articles 14 to18.

Key Points

• Article 14: The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India, on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
• Article 15: The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
• Article 16: There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.
• Article 17: Abolition of untouchability.
• Article 18: Abolition of all titles except military and academic.

Additional Information

• The Fundamental Rights are enshrined in Articles 12 to 35 in Part III of the Indian Constitution.
• The Fundamental Rights are justifiable in nature.
• Other articles include:
• Article 19: Right to Freedom.
• Article 20: Protection in respect of Conviction for Offences.
• Article 21: Protection of Life and Personal Liberty.
• Article 22: Safeguards against Arbitrary Arrest and Detention.
• Articles 23-24: Right against Exploitation.
• Articles 25-28: Right to Freedom of Religion.
• Articles 29-30: Rights to minorities (cultural and educational rights).
• Articles 32-35: Right to Constitutional Remedies

The correct answer is the United Kingdom​.

• The United Kingdom has a flexible Constitution.
• It is so because the constitution of the United Kingdom is not codified and is unwritten.

Key Points

• Some important federal features of the Indian Constitution-
• Dual Polity- Union government and State government.
• Written Constitution- It specifies the structure, powers and functions.
• Division of Powers- The powers are divided between centre and state.
• The supremacy of the Constitution- The constitution is the supreme law of the land.
• Rigid Constitution- The Indian constitution is rigid to the extent and can be amended only by the joint action of the central and state government.
• Independent judiciary
• Bicameralism

Additional Information

• Some important unitary features of the Indian Constitution-
• Strong Centre- The division of powers is in favour of the centre.
• States not indestructible- The states in India have no right to territorial integrity.
• Single Constitution- States cannot form their own constitution.
• Flexible Constitution- The constitution amendment is not as rigid as found in other federations.
• Emergency provisions
• Single Citizenship
• Integrated Election Machinery