ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF Forests & Climate Change: Carbon, REDD+ & MRV: practice questions

1 · Global climate change: history and projections · hard

Under the very high emissions scenario SSP5-8.5, AR6 projects very likely global warming by 2081–2100 relative to 1850–1900 of about:

1. 3.3 to 5.7 °C
2. 1.0 to 1.8 °C
3. 0.5 to 1.0 °C
4. 7 to 10 °C

2 · Impacts of climate change on forests, wildlife and water · hard

A phenological mismatch occurs when:

1. Two species occupy the same niche
2. Interacting species shift seasonal timing at different rates
3. A species moves to a higher elevation as its lowland habitat warms
4. Trees flower in the same week each year

3 · Impacts of climate change on forests, wildlife and water · hard

Why can climate-driven disturbances turn forests from carbon sinks into sources?

1. Mortality, fire and decay release carbon faster than regrowth absorbs it
2. Disturbed forests stop respiring and therefore emit nothing
3. Disturbances increase photosynthesis permanently
4. Disturbed forests convert CO2 into methane only

4 · Forest carbon pools: above-ground, below-ground, deadwood, litter, soil · hard

Why may a project exclude the dead wood pool from carbon accounting in an afforestation project?

1. Dead wood never contains any carbon, so it can always be ignored
2. Dead wood is counted as soil carbon by definition
3. Excluding a pool that can only increase is conservative
4. IPCC forbids measuring dead wood

5 · Forest carbon pools: above-ground, below-ground, deadwood, litter, soil · hard

Draining and burning a tropical peat swamp forest releases mainly:

1. Above-ground biomass carbon only
2. Soil (peat) carbon
3. Carbon from harvested wood products
4. No carbon (peat is mineral)

6 · UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement and REDD+ · easy

How often are nationally determined contributions updated under the Paris Agreement?

1. Every year
2. Every twenty years
3. Only once
4. Every five years

7 · Afforestation/reforestation and improved forest management projects · medium

Which practice is an example of improved forest management for carbon?

1. Converting forest to cropland
2. Clear-felling primary forest
3. Reduced-impact logging
4. Draining tropical peat swamps

8 · Climate adaptation in silviculture · hard

Why does increasing species and genetic diversity within stands help adaptation?

1. Diverse stands never suffer any mortality from drought or pests
2. A mixture is less likely to fail entirely under unexpected stress
3. Diversity removes the need for monitoring
4. Monocultures cannot be planted legally

9 · Climate adaptation in silviculture · hard

Which adaptation strategy deliberately helps forests change towards compositions suited to future climates?

1. Resistance strategy
2. Resilience strategy (recovery) alone
3. Exclusion strategy
4. Transition or response strategy

10 · Disaster management: floods, droughts, landslides, cyclones · easy

Forest cover most reliably reduces the frequency of:

1. Shallow landslides on steep slopes
2. Deep-seated landslides controlled by geology
3. Earthquakes
4. Tsunamis of any size