ICAR AIEEA-PG — Forestry/Agroforestry & Silviculture (Major Subject Group 09) · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersForests as ecosystems: biotic and abiotic components, energy flow, productivity, nutrient cycling, succession, disturbance and the population and community ecology that silviculture depends on.
In the exams: IFoS Forestry Paper II Section B (forest ecology and ethnobotany); ICAR AIEEA-PG Group 09 (ecosystem, succession, climax); ICAR AICE-JRF 59 Unit 1; PRC Forest Ecosystem subject; GATE EY Section 1
ICAR AIEEA-PG — Forestry/Agroforestry & Silviculture
Recall of ecosystem components, trophic levels and pyramids, productivity terms, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, succession types and climax theories, diversity indices and IVI.
How our questions for ICAR AIEEA-PG spread across the units of Forest Ecology & Ecosystem Processes. Difficulty: 13 easy, 8 medium, 1 hard.
| Ecosystem concepts: biotic and abiotic components | 3 | |
| Biogeochemical cycles: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, water | 3 | |
| Population ecology of trees: regeneration, mortality, self-thinning | 3 | |
| Energy flow, food webs and trophic levels | 2 | |
| Primary productivity and biomass of forests | 2 | |
| Community ecology: structure, diversity indices, species-area relations | 2 | |
| Plant-animal interactions: pollination and seed dispersal | 2 | |
| Ethnobotany and traditional ecological knowledge | 2 | |
| Succession, climax and retrogression | 1 | |
| Disturbance regimes: fire, wind, insects, gap dynamics | 1 | |
| Ecological field methods: quadrats, transects, importance value index | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Who introduced the term 'ecosystem', in 1935?
D. A. G. Tansley
Tansley coined 'ecosystem' in 1935. Clements is known for monoclimax theory, Lindeman for trophic dynamics (1942), Odum for ecosystem textbooks.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Frankia actinomycetes fix nitrogen in nodules of:
C. Alnus, Casuarina
Actinorhizal trees such as Alnus and Casuarina host Frankia.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Which cycle has no significant gaseous phase?
D. Phosphorus
The phosphorus cycle is sedimentary; P enters by weathering and is lost by erosion and leaching.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Tree populations typically show which type of survivorship curve?
D. Type III, with very high early mortality
Seeds and seedlings die in huge numbers; established trees survive much better.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Recruitment in tree demography is:
C. Entry of new individuals into a size class
Recruitment (ingrowth) is balanced against mortality to judge population trends.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Serotinous cones, thick bark and resprouting are adaptations to:
B. Fire
These traits help trees survive or regenerate after fire.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Pollination by bats is called:
D. Chiropterophily
Chiropterophily (bats); ornithophily (birds); melittophily (bees); anemophily (wind).
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
A species occurs in 12 of 20 quadrats. What is its frequency?
D. 60 per cent
12 ÷ 20 × 100 = 60%. 40% is absence; 1.67 inverts the ratio.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Self-thinning in crowded even-aged stands means that:
C. Smaller trees dying from competition
Self-thinning is natural competition-driven mortality; natural pruning and thinning are different.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Producers in a forest ecosystem are mainly:
B. Green plants
Green plants fix energy by photosynthesis.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
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