State Forest Service — Assistant Conservator of Forests (state PSC exams) · India · State Public Service Commissions (e.g. TNPSC, MPPSC, UPPSC, HPPSC, KPSC, MPSC)
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
How our questions for State Forest Service spread across the units of Forest Ecology & Ecosystem Processes. Difficulty: 4 easy, 21 medium, 6 hard.
| Disturbance regimes: fire, wind, insects, gap dynamics | 4 | |
| Ecological field methods: quadrats, transects, importance value index | 4 | |
| Energy flow, food webs and trophic levels | 3 | |
| Biogeochemical cycles: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, water | 3 | |
| Succession, climax and retrogression | 3 | |
| Plant-animal interactions: pollination and seed dispersal | 3 | |
| Ethnobotany and traditional ecological knowledge | 3 | |
| Ecosystem concepts: biotic and abiotic components | 2 | |
| Primary productivity and biomass of forests | 2 | |
| Population ecology of trees: regeneration, mortality, self-thinning | 2 | |
| Community ecology: structure, diversity indices, species-area relations | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Why do forests generally give way to savanna and grassland in drier climates?
D. Trees need enough water to outgrow competition from grasses and shrubs
Water availability limits tree dominance; fire and grazing reinforce the boundary. The other reasons are false.
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 layer of a forest lies directly on top of the mineral soil?
B. The forest floor of litter and humus
The forest floor (litter and humus) lies on the soil. Emergents, canopy and shrubs are above-ground layers.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Leaf litter → springtails → spiders → shrews is an example of a:
B. Detrital food chain
It starts with dead organic matter, so it is a detrital chain.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Phosphorus commonly limits productivity in lowland tropical forests on old soils because:
D. Weathering has depleted it and much is bound to iron and aluminium
Old weathered soils have little available P; mycorrhizae and recycling are critical. P has no gas phase.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
The Janzen-Connell hypothesis proposes that:
B. Specialist enemies kill more seeds and seedlings near their parents
Distance- and density-dependent mortality from specialist pests and pathogens favours other species near each adult.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
36 individuals occur in the 12 quadrats where a species was found. What is its abundance?
B. 3 per quadrat of occurrence
Abundance = 36 ÷ 12 = 3. 1.8 divides by all 20 quadrats (density per quadrat).
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Relative dominance of tree species is usually based on:
A. Basal area
Dominance for trees is measured as basal area.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
The Khejarli sacrifice of 1730 is associated with:
A. The Bishnoi community protecting khejri trees in Rajasthan
Bishnois died protecting khejri (Prosopis cineraria) trees at Khejarli. Chipko was in the 1970s; the Kani example is about benefit sharing.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
People's Biodiversity Registers in India are prepared by:
D. Biodiversity management committees under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002
The 2002 Act created local biodiversity management committees that document resources and knowledge in PBRs.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Primary consumers in a food chain are:
C. Herbivores
Primary consumers eat plants.
Further reading: Odum & Barrett, Fundamentals of Ecology (5th ed., 2005); Barnes et al., Forest Ecology (4th ed., 1998); Kimmins, Forest Ecology (3rd ed., 2004)
Ten here, 31 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to State Forest Service in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
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