UGC NTA NET/JRF Exam, Environmental Sciences, June-2025

Monitoring and Feedback in EIA: This stage comes after the prediction, evaluation, and mitigation phases.

Its main purpose is to verify if the predictions were accurate, to see whether mitigation measures are effective, and to allow adaptive changes when unexpected outcomes arise.

It also feeds learning back into the system for improving future EIAs.
Why A and B are excluded:

A. To determine the significance and importance of prediction: This belongs to the impact evaluation phase, where predicted impacts are judged for their seriousness. It is not part of monitoring.

B. To identify and predict impacts on ecosystem component: This is done during the impact prediction stage, which precedes monitoring and feedback.
Why C and E are included:
C. To provide opportunities for corrective action in light of unforeseen outcomes: A central role of monitoring is to detect unexpected environmental damage and allow adaptive management.

This could include modifying project operations, adding safeguards, or even halting certain activities.

E. To strengthen the knowledge base: Feedback ensures that predicted vs. actual impacts are compared, refining models, improving baseline data, and making future EIAs more robust and reliable.

Why D is excluded:
D. To reduce significant adverse effects: This is addressed during the mitigation phase, where measures are planned and executed. Monitoring checks their success, but the reduction itself is not the monitoring function.

Thus, the correct components of Monitoring and Feedback are C and E only.

A DDT analog of similar size/shape with insecticidal activity, but more biodegradable and less bioaccumulative.

Methoxychlor (2,2-bis(p-methoxyphenyl)- 1,1,1-trichloroethane): Replaces DDT's p-Cl groups with p-OCH₃, increasing metabolic lability and reducing persistence/ biomagnification, while retaining insecticidal action.

Why others are unsuitable:
DDD (TDE): DDT metabolite-still persistent and bioaccumulative.
DDA: Oxidation product-not an insecticide.
Toxaphene: Chlorinated camphene mixturenot a DDT analog and highly persistent.

Empirical climate classifications rely on observed temperature/precipitation (and derivatives) rather than air-mass dynamics.

B. Köppen: Classic empirical scheme using T/Р thresholds aligned with vegetation.

D. Thornthwaite: Empirical water-balance/PET based humidity indices and climatic types.
Not selected:

A. Bergeron & Spatial: Genetic (air-mass) approach.

C. Oliver-Hidore and E. Trewartha are treated variably, but in standard exam framing the unambiguous empirical pair is Köppen + Thornthwaite.

A. Cirrus clouds: These are thin, wispy clouds usually found in the upper troposphere. However, in polar regions, where the tropopause is much lower, cirrus can occasionally extend into the lower stratosphere.

Thus, under specific conditions, cirrus clouds are present at stratospheric levels.

C. Mother of Pearl clouds: These are another name for Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs). They form at altitudes of 15-25 km in the stratosphere during extremely cold winter conditions in polar regions.

D. Nacreous clouds: This term is also used for PSCS, having the same characteristics as Mother of Pearl clouds. They exhibit brilliant iridescent colors and occur in the stratosphere.

Why not the others:

B. Cumulonimbus clouds: These are tropospheric storm clouds, with tops that can sometimes overshoot into the tropopause but do not form in the stratosphere.

E. Noctilucent clouds: These are found much higher, in the mesosphere (~80-85 km), and not in the stratosphere.

Conclusion: The cloud types that can be present in the stratosphere are Cirrus, Mother of Pearl, and Nacreous clouds. Therefore, the correct option is A, C, and D only.

A (True): In the Northern Hemisphere, Coriolis deflects motion to the right; combined with friction, near-surface flow yields clockwise circulation around highs (and counterclockwise around lows).

B (False): Principal climatic zones are not defined by precipitation alone; schemes (e.g., Köppen) use temperature and precipitation jointly.

C (True): Altitude, mountains (orography), large water bodies, ocean currents are major controls of regional climate.

D (True): Negative SOI values are typically linked with El Niño events (Tahiti-Darwin pressure anomaly).

E (False): La Niña corresponds to cooler-thannormal tropical Pacific SSTs, not warmer.

Incorrect statement: "Survivorship curves cannot vary among populations of a species between males and females."
Why: Survivorship curves do vary within the same species across sexes, populations, habitats, and time due to differences in mortality risks (e.g., sexual selection, parental investment, predation, disease).

Checks on 1-3 (all correct):

Type I: High survival in early/mid life; mortality rises in old age (e.g., humans in developed settings, many large mammals).

Type II: Roughly constant mortality rate across ages (e.g., many birds, some reptiles), so chance of surviving from one age to the next is approximately constant.

Type III: Very high juvenile mortality, with few individuals reaching adulthood (e.g., many fish, marine invertebrates, plants producing many propagules).

A. Pressure is enough to allow free flow of water above ground → Artesian well (III): In a flowing artesian well, piezometric head exceeds ground level, so water rises freely.

B. Water withdrawn faster than replenishment → Cone of depression (I): Pumping lowers the water level locally, producing a drawdown cone in the potentiometric surface.

C. Elevation to which water rises in the aquifer → Piezometric surface (II): The hydraulic head level indicated by a tightly cased well.

D. Zone of water between aquicludes→ Confined water (IV): Water in a confined aquifer bounded above/below by aquicludes/ aquitards.

A. Hemiparasite extract water and mineral nutrients from host: Correct. Hemiparasites such as mistletoe form a haustorium that penetrates the host's vascular tissue, particularly the xylem, to draw water and minerals.

This allows them to maintain hydration and nutrient supply while attached to the host.

B. Hemiparasite have green leaves and can photosynthesize: Correct. The prefix "hemi-" means partial. Unlike holoparasites (which lack chlorophyll), hemiparasites retain chlorophyll and green leaves, enabling them to carry out photosynthesis and produce their own organic food.

C. Hemiparasite do not rely exclusively on the host for carbohydrates: Correct. Because hemiparasites can generate their own carbohydrates through photosynthesis, they are only partially dependent on the host.

This differentiates them from holoparasites, which rely fully on the host for both minerals and carbohydrates.

D. Corn smut fungus is an example of ectoparasite: Correct in broad biological usage. Ustilago maydis (corn smut) infects maize plants.

While the fungus invades internally (technically endoparasitic), the visible galls and smut masses appear externally on plant tissues.

Many plant pathogenic fungi are often grouped under ectoparasites since their disease effects are manifested outwardly.

E. Ectoparasite does not have ease of dispersal in environment: Incorrect. Ectoparasites usually have high dispersal ability.

Arthropod ectoparasites (fleas, ticks, lice) can move actively between hosts or be passively transported.

Plant pathogenic fungi produce airborne spores (e.g., corn smut spores dispersed by wind and rain), which spread efficiently. Dispersal is, in fact, a key evolutionary strategy of ectoparasites.

Therefore, the correct set of statements is A, B, C, and D only.

The Supreme Court articulated the doctrine of Absolute Liability for enterprises engaged in hazardous activities: if harm occurs, the enterprise is absolutely liable (without exceptions available under Rylands v. Fletcher).

The Oleum Gas Leak case is the landmark source of this principle in Indian environmental jurisprudence.

A. Vertisols → III: Dominated by smectitic (swelling) clays, showing deep cracks on drying; gilgai microrelief common.

B. Histosols → IV: Organic soils with >20% organic matter, often with minimal profile development (peat/muck).

C. Entisols → I: Very weak/no horizon development; commonly an ochric epipedon.

D. Andisols → II: Formed from volcanic ash, rich in allophane/imogolite, with distinctive physical-chemical properties (high P-fixation, low bulk density).