UPSC STATIC QUIZ – Environment : 25 March 2024

Solution: d)

The solid portion of the earth on which we live is called the Lithosphere.

The gaseous layers that surround the earth, is the Atmosphere, where oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and other gases are found.

Water covers a very big area of the earth’s surface and this area is called the Hydrosphere. The Hydrosphere comprises water in all its forms, that is, ice, water and water vapour.

The Biosphere is the narrow zone where we find land, water and air together, which contains all forms of life.

Solution: d)

Ecosystem is the groups of organisms from all biological domains in conjunction with the physical (abiotic) environment.

Biome is the continental scale (climatically and geographically contiguous areas with similar climatic conditions) grouping of ecosystems.

Biosphere or Ecosphere is all life plus the physical (abiotic) environment.

Solution: c)

Alpha diversity

Alpha diversity describes the species diversity within a community at a small scale or local scale, generally the size of one ecosystem. When we casually speak of diversity in an area, more often than not it refers to alpha diversity.

Beta diversity

Beta diversity describes the species diversity between two communities or ecosystems. It is at a larger scale, and looks to compare the species diversity between two separate entities that are often divided by a clear geographical barrier like a river or a mountain ridge.

Gamma diversity

Gamma diversity is studied at a very large scale—a biome—where species diversity is compared between many ecosystems. It could range over areas like the entire slope of a mountain, or the entire littoral zone of a sea shore.

Example: Let’s take a mountain slope as our landscape. On this slope, there will be many different patches of forests and grasslands. Alpha diversity is the species diversity present within each forest or grassland patch of the slope. Beta diversity is represented by the species diversity between any two patches and their communities. Gamma diversity of the landscape is the species diversity along the entire range of the mountain slope.

Food web is more comprehensive than food chain.

Solution: a)

Standing crop is defined as the total amount or number of living things or of one kind of living thing (such as an uncut farm crop, the fish in a pond, or organisms in an ecosystem) in a particular area at any given time.

Solution: b)

Option 2 is incorrect.

Pyramid of energy and number is upright in pond ecosystem. Pyramid of biomass is inverted in an aquatic ecosystem because the biomass of fishes far exceeds the biomass of phytoplanktons.