1.

Answer: (B)
Explanation:
● Major Community: These are large-sized, well organized and relatively
independent. They depend only on the sun's energy from outside and are
independent of the inputs and outputs from adjacent communities.
● Minor Community: These are dependent on neighbouring communities and are
often called societies. They are secondary aggregations within a major
community and are not therefore completely independent units. Hence,
statement 2 is incorrect.
● Niche: A niche is the unique functional role or place of species in an ecosystem.
A niche is unique for a species, which means no two species have exact identical
niches. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.
● Ecotone: It is a zone of junction between two or more diverse ecosystems and
contains some organisms which are entirely different from that of adjoining
communities.

2. Answer: (B)
Explanation:
● The sulphur cycle is the collection of processes by which sulphur moves between
rocks, waterways and living systems. This cycle is mostly sedimentary except
two of its compounds hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide add a gaseous
component to its normal sedimentary cycle. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
● It enters the atmosphere from several sources like volcanic eruptions,
combustion of fossil fuels, from surface of ocean and from gases released by
decomposition. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

3. Answer: (D)
Explanation: The tropical rainforest biome has four main characteristics: very high
annual rainfall, high average temperatures, nutrient-poor soil, and high levels of
biodiversity (species richness). The soil is nutrient poor because of the heavy rain that
leaches the top layer of the soil frequently. Temperature is high because they are largely
found in equatorial regions and species richness is high due to abundance of the range
of biotic and abiotic factors expressed in the ecosystem. Hence, all are correct.

4. Answer: (B)
Explanation: Mangroves are a group of trees and shrubs, sustaining in the coastal
regions of the planet. These trees grow in low-oxygen soil with slow-moving water.
These ecosystems of tropical and subtropical inter-tidal regions bordering the sheltered
sea coasts and estuaries, they stabilize the shoreline and act as a bulwark against
encroachments by the sea. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
 5. Answer: (D)
Explanation: The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance
Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and
sustainable use of wetlands. Hence, option (d) is correct.

6. Answer: (A)
Explanation: Photochemical smog (smog) is a term used to describe air pollution that
is a result of the interaction of sunlight with certain chemicals in the atmosphere. One of
the primary components of photochemical smog is ozone. While ozone in the
stratosphere protects earth from harmful UV radiation, ozone on the ground is
hazardous to human health. Ground-level ozone is formed when vehicle emissions
containing nitrogen oxides (primarily from vehicle exhaust) and volatile organic
compounds (from paints, solvents, printing inks, petroleum products, vehicles, etc.)
interact in the presence of sunlight. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

7. Answer: (B)
Explanation: A sequence of organisms that feed on one another, form a food chain. In
nature, two main types of food chains have been found: Grazing food chain and Detritus
food chain. The grazing food chain starts with producers or autotrophs as base, which is
consumed by heterotrophs. It is found in both Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The
Detritus food chain starts from dead organic ‘matter of decaying animals and plant
bodies to the microorganisms and then to detritus feeding organism called detrivores or
decomposer and to other predators. The two food chains are linked as the initial energy
source for detritus food chain is the waste materials and dead organic matter from the
grazing food chain. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

8. Answer: (B)
Explanation: They have adapted to desert conditions by developing extremely
long root systems to draw water from deep underground near the water table.
The mesquite’s roots are considered the longest of any desert plant and have
been recorded as long as 80 feet. Some have succulent leaves to store moisture.
Some have thorny leaves to reduce water loss by transpiration. Waxy leaves
protect soil moisture beneath the coating. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

9. Answer: (B)
Explanation: Phytoplanktons are food factories of the ocean, it fixes atmospheric
carbon dioxide in large quantities (Carbon Sink) and produce food. So, if phytoplanktons
are removed completely it leads to catastrophic failure of ocean ecosystem. It doesn’t
influence the density of ocean water. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
 10. Answer: (D)
Explanation: Nitrogen is one of the essential constituents of all living organisms as part
of proteins, chlorophyll, nucleic acids and vitamins. The atmospheric nitrogen cannot be
taken directly by plants and animals. Certain bacteria and blue green algae present in
the soil fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert into compounds of nitrogen.
Lightning also fixes atmospheric nitrogen. Nitrogen is one of the essential constituents
of all living organisms as part of proteins, chlorophyll, nucleic acids and vitamins. The
atmospheric nitrogen cannot be taken directly by plants and animals. Once nitrogen is
converted into these usable compounds, it can be utilised by plants from the soil
through their root system. Nitrogen is then used for the synthesis of plant proteins and
other compounds. Animals feeding on plants get these proteins and other nitrogen
compounds. When plants and animals die, bacteria and fungi present in the soil convert
the nitrogenous wastes into nitrogenous compounds to be used by plants again. Certain
other bacteria convert some part of them to nitrogen gas which goes back into the
atmosphere. As a result, the percentage of nitrogen in the atmosphere remains more or
less constant. Hence, all are correct.

11. Answer: (A)

Explanation: 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. Hence, statement (a) is correct.

12. Answer: (D)

Explanation: What is so special about tropics that might account for their greater
biological diversity? Ecologists and evolutionary biologists have proposed various
hypotheses; some important ones are:
(a) Speciation is generally a function of time, unlike temperate regions subjected to
frequent glaciations in the past, tropical latitudes have remained relatively undisturbed
for millions of years and thus, had a long evolutionary time for species diversification,
(b) Tropical environments, unlike temperate ones, are less seasonal, relatively more
constant and predictable. Such constant environments promote niche specialisation and
lead to a greater species diversity and
(c) There is more solar energy available in the tropics, which contributes to higher
productivity; this in turn might contribute indirectly to greater diversity.
Hence, all statements are correct.

13. Answer: (C)

Explanation: Lichens are typically the first organisms to colonize bare rock. They are
therefore the pioneer species in primary succession. Many organisms require soil
before they can colonize an area. Lichens that colonize bare rock secrete acids that
break down the rock and start the soil-production process. Also, as lichens die, they
provide some organic matter that also contributes to soil. Mosses can then colonize the
thin soil; as mosses die, the soil thickens more allowing other hardy species to colonize.
The process continues until a mature forest forms, sometimes centuries later. Hence,
statement (c) is correct.

14. Answer: (D)

Explanation: The most important key elements that lead to so much variation in the
physical and chemical conditions of different habitats ones are temperature, water, light
and soil. We must remember that the physico-chemical (abiotic) components alone do
not characterise the habitat of an organism completely; the habitat includes biotic
components also – pathogens, parasites, predators and competitors – of the organism
with which they interact constantly. Hence, all are correct.

15. Answer: (A)

Explanation: In bioaccumulation, there is an increase in the concentration of a pollutant
from the environment to the first organism in a food chain, whereas in biomagnification,
there is an increase in concentration of a pollutant from one link in a food chain to other.
Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
For biomagnification to occur, the pollutant must be: long-lived, mobile, soluble in fats
and biologically active. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.

16. Answer: (A)

Explanation: Tundra means a 'barren land' since they are found where environmental
conditions are very severe. There are two types of tundra – arctic and alpine. Arctic
tundra extends as a continuous belt below the polar ice cap and above the tree line in
the northern hemisphere. On the South Pole, tundra is very small since most of it is
covered by ocean. Hence, statement 1 and 2 are correct.
They are protected from chillness by the presence of thick cuticle and epidermal hair.
Mammals of tundra region have large body size, small tail and small ear to avoid the
loss of heat from the surface. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.

17. Answer: (B)

Explanation:
● Mangroves are salt-tolerant forest ecosystems found mainly in tropical and
sub-tropical inter-tidal regions of the world. They comprise of trees or shrubs that
have the common trait of growing in shallow and muddy salt water or brackish
waters, especially along quiet shorelines and in estuaries. Hence, statement 1 is
correct.
 ● They have a remarkable capacity for saltwater tolerance. Mangrove forests are
one of the most productive and biodiverse wetlands on earth. Yet, these unique
coastal tropical forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world.
Hence, statement 2 is correct.
● West Bengal has the maximum mangrove cover in the country, followed by
Gujarat and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Mangroves in India account for about
five per cent of the world’s mangrove vegetation and are spread over an area of
about 4,500 km2 along the coastal States/UTs of the country. Sunderbans in
West Bengal accounts for a little less than half of the total area under mangroves
in India. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.

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