Environment and Ecology Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 25)

MBR systems maintain much higher biomass concentrations (roughly 8,000-12,000 mg/L) than conventional systems (2,000-4,000 mg/L), allowing smaller reactor volumes for the same treatment capacity.

The membrane in an MBR system acts as a physical barrier, replacing the secondary clarifier or settling tank used in conventional activated sludge plants.

A Membrane Bioreactor integrates the conventional activated sludge process, where bacteria break down organic matter, with membrane filtration such as microfiltration or ultrafiltration.

Statement-I is correct — the Indian Flying Fox was once listed under the vermin category. Statement-II is incorrect — it is a frugivore, not a blood-feeder.

The Indian Flying Fox is currently listed under Schedule II of the amended Act, giving it a real degree of legal protection instead of vermin status.

Schedule V of the original 1972 Act listed species classified as vermin, including the Indian Flying Fox at one point. This schedule was abolished by the 2022 amendment.

The 2022 amendment reduced the number of schedules from six to four, and abolished Schedule V, the old vermin category.

The Indian Flying Fox is a frugivore, feeding on fruit, nectar, and flowers. Blood-feeding is a trait of vampire bats, which do not occur in India.

Only three: carabid beetles, flies, and wasps all include genuine parasitoid species. Centipedes are predators, and termites have no known parasitoids.

Centipedes are predators, not parasitoids, and termites have no known parasitoid species. Wasps, flies, and some carabid beetles do have genuine parasitoid members.

Tachinidae is the largest and most important fly family with parasitoid larvae, widely used as natural enemies of agricultural pests.

Wasps, especially the Ichneumonidae and Braconidae families, are the classic textbook example of parasitoids, with larvae developing inside a host insect.

A parasitoid’s young develop on or within a single host and eventually kill it. A typical parasite, by contrast, usually keeps its host alive.

All three statements are correct. PFAS are widespread in water, food, and packaging; they resist environmental degradation; and persistent exposure leads to bioaccumulation in animal tissue.

Non-stick cookware is one of the most common everyday sources of PFAS, alongside water-repellent clothing, stain-resistant fabrics, and firefighting foam.

Bioaccumulation means PFAS build up in animal and human tissue over time, rather than being broken down or flushed out, because the body cannot easily eliminate them.

PFAS are found to be widespread in drinking water, food, and food-packaging materials, a genuine, verified concern rather than a niche industrial issue.

PFAS earn the nickname “forever chemicals” because of their carbon-fluorine bond, one of the strongest in organic chemistry, which resists natural breakdown for decades.

The Republic of Congo’s Environment Law of 2023 prohibits industrial forestry within its peatlands, one of the legal tools helping keep deforestation in the peat zone exceptionally low.

A UK-Congolese research team mapped the full extent of the Cuvette Centrale peatlands in 2017, revealing it as the world’s largest tropical peatland complex.

The Congo Basin peatlands store around 30 billion tonnes of carbon, roughly equivalent to three years of the world’s total fossil-fuel emissions.

The Cuvette Centrale, the world’s largest tropical peatland complex, sits in the central Congo Basin, spanning the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The correct answer is about $1.04 million.

Through 2024, the project had paid approximately $1,039,487 to around 8,005 families, and invested a further $414,951 in forest conservation and management activities.

The correct answer is East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya.

The project operates in the East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya, along the Umiam River watershed, mobilising 10 indigenous Khasi himas to protect their community-owned forests.

The correct answer is degraded open forests.

The project uses REDD+ to protect existing dense forests and ancient sacred groves, while Assisted Natural Regeneration specifically targets degraded open forests, restoring them rather than protecting what’s already intact.