CUET-PG — Environmental Sciences · India · National Testing Agency
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersWhat a warmer, more variable climate does to crops, livestock, fisheries, pests, water and food security, and how impacts are studied with experiments and crop models.
In the exams: ICAR AICE subjects 60 and 71 (climate variability, adaptation and mitigation); ICAR AIEEA-PG Agronomy Unit II (climate shift); UGC NET Unit 10
UGC NET Environmental Sciences (Unit 10) and CUET-PG
Climate change and food security, impacts on crops, fisheries and livestock, CO2 fertilisation and nutrition, sea-level rise and salinity, IPCC findings on agriculture, and matching items on mechanisms and methods.
How our questions for CUET-PG spread across the units of Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture & Food Systems. Difficulty: 14 easy, 11 medium, 0 hard.
| Pathways of climate impact on food systems | 4 | |
| Fisheries and aquaculture under climate change | 4 | |
| Regional vulnerability and climate hotspots | 4 | |
| Drought, floods and changing rainfall patterns | 3 | |
| Climate change, food security and nutrition | 3 | |
| CO2 fertilisation, C3 and C4 responses and nutritional quality | 2 | |
| Climate and pests, diseases and weeds | 2 | |
| Temperature, heat stress and crop phenology | 1 | |
| Livestock heat stress and feed availability | 1 | |
| Sea-level rise and salinisation of coastal farmland | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Which stage of the food system is affected when heat and humidity increase spoilage and mycotoxin contamination after harvest?
A. Storage and transport
Post-harvest storage and distribution suffer when heat and humidity raise spoilage and mould growth, especially without cold chains or proper drying. The other stages are upstream of harvest.
Further reading: See the manual sources: IPCC AR6 WGII, FAO-29/FAO-33 and the primary studies named in the explanation
In rice, the stage most sensitive to high-temperature damage, with sterility rising sharply above about 35 °C, is
C. anthesis
Heat at anthesis causes pollen and spikelet sterility in rice; brief exposure above about 35 °C sharply raises sterility. Vegetative stages tolerate more heat, and at maturity grain is already formed.
Further reading: See the manual sources: IPCC AR6 WGII, FAO-29/FAO-33 and the primary studies named in the explanation
Which crop group gains most yield directly from rising atmospheric carbon dioxide under well-watered conditions?
B. C3 crops such as wheat, rice and soybean
In C3 crops Rubisco is unsaturated and photorespiration is significant at current CO2, so more CO2 raises photosynthesis. C4 crops concentrate CO2 internally and gain little directly when water is ample.
Further reading: See the manual sources: IPCC AR6 WGII, FAO-29/FAO-33 and the primary studies named in the explanation
Which type of drought is defined by soil moisture too low to meet crop needs?
D. Agricultural drought
Agricultural drought refers to soil-moisture deficit for crops. Meteorological drought is a rainfall deficit; hydrological drought is low streamflow, reservoir or groundwater; socioeconomic drought is when shortage affects supply of goods.
Further reading: See the manual sources: IPCC AR6 WGII, FAO-29/FAO-33 and the primary studies named in the explanation
A district receives 400 mm of annual precipitation and has 1200 mm of potential evapotranspiration. Under the UNEP aridity index classification, it is
A. semi-arid
AI = P/PET = 400/1200 = 0.33, which lies in 0.20–0.50, semi-arid. Arid is 0.05–0.20, dry sub-humid 0.50–0.65 and hyper-arid below 0.05.
Further reading: See the manual sources: IPCC AR6 WGII, FAO-29/FAO-33 and the primary studies named in the explanation
What is 'peak water' in a glacier-fed river basin?
D. Meltwater flow first rises as glaciers shrink, then falls as the ice runs out
As glaciers melt, runoff first increases, peaks and then declines as ice mass dwindles, a pattern important for the Indus, Ganges, Amu Darya and Andean basins. The other definitions describe floods, water balance or crop transpiration.
Further reading: See the manual sources: IPCC AR6 WGII, FAO-29/FAO-33 and the primary studies named in the explanation
The plant disease triangle states that disease requires
C. a susceptible host, a virulent pathogen and a suitable environment
The triangle is host, pathogen and environment; climate acts mainly through the environment side. Vectors, irrigation, resistance and monoculture can matter but are not the triangle's three elements.
Further reading: See the manual sources: IPCC AR6 WGII, FAO-29/FAO-33 and the primary studies named in the explanation
Aflatoxin contamination of maize and groundnut tends to increase under which conditions?
C. Heat and drought during grain filling, and poor drying after harvest
Aspergillus flavus infection and aflatoxin production are favoured by heat and drought stress late in the season and by inadequate drying and storage. Cool conditions and frost do not favour it.
Further reading: See the manual sources: IPCC AR6 WGII, FAO-29/FAO-33 and the primary studies named in the explanation
For dairy cattle, a THI of about 72 has long been treated as the onset of heat stress. What does more recent work on high-yielding cows suggest?
A. Effects begin at a lower THI, near 68
High producers generate more metabolic heat, and research suggests milk losses begin near THI 68. They are more, not less, sensitive.
Further reading: See the manual sources: IPCC AR6 WGII, FAO-29/FAO-33 and the primary studies named in the explanation
Why do gains in growing-season length at high northern latitudes not offset global agricultural losses?
D. Soils, infrastructure, day length and extremes limit what new northern farmland yields
Poor soils, lack of infrastructure, photoperiod constraints and extremes limit northern expansion, and gains occur far from vulnerable populations. High latitudes do not produce most food, longer seasons are not automatically harmful, and there is land there.
Further reading: See the manual sources: IPCC AR6 WGII, FAO-29/FAO-33 and the primary studies named in the explanation
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