ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF Livestock & the Environment: practice questions

1 · Livestock in global land, water and feed use · medium

Which statement summarises livestock's share of agricultural land and food supply, as estimated in major syntheses?

1. Almost no agricultural land, since all livestock feed comes from ocean fisheries and waste
2. About half of agricultural land, and exactly half of global calories and of global protein
3. About one-tenth of agricultural land, but over half of all the calories and protein eaten worldwide
4. About three-quarters of agricultural land, but under a fifth of calories and over a third of protein

2 · Emissions from livestock supply chains · medium

In FAO's 2013 assessment, which source category made up the largest share of livestock supply-chain emissions?

1. Manure storage, handling and processing on farms
2. Enteric fermentation alone
3. Slaughter, meat processing and retail refrigeration
4. Feed production and processing, including land-use change

3 · Manure nutrients and nutrient surpluses · medium

Animals typically retain roughly what share of dietary nitrogen in their products and growth?

1. About 10-40%
2. Essentially none
3. About 90-99%
4. About 60-80%

4 · Livestock and biodiversity · medium

How does ammonia from livestock reduce plant diversity in nutrient-poor habitats?

1. Nitrogen deposition favours a few fast-growing nitrogen-loving species over many specialists
2. Ammonia blocks sunlight, preventing photosynthesis in low-growing plants
3. Ammonia gas directly poisons all plants within 100 km of any livestock farm, whatever the species
4. Ammonia raises soil salinity to sea-water levels in all inland habitats

5 · Livestock and biodiversity · medium

Which FAO framework (2007) addresses conservation of livestock breed diversity?

1. International Plant Protection Convention and its annexes
2. Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources
3. Warsaw Framework for REDD+
4. Codex Alimentarius General Principles

6 · Feed efficiency and feed-food competition · medium

Why is gross feed conversion ratio a misleading measure of competition between livestock and people for food?

1. It counts only water, ignoring all feed eaten by the animals
2. It counts only human-edible feed, ignoring grass entirely
3. It is measured in calories, which cannot be compared between species or across countries
4. It counts all feed, including grass and by-products that people cannot eat

7 · Mixed crop-livestock systems and circularity · medium

Burning dried dung as cooking fuel instead of returning it to fields mainly results in:

1. No change in nutrient cycling, because all nutrients stay in the ash
2. Loss of nitrogen and organic matter to the soil, plus household air pollution
3. An increase in soil nitrogen, because burning fixes atmospheric nitrogen into the ash and soil
4. A large gain in soil carbon, because ash is pure organic matter

8 · Life-cycle footprints of animal products · medium

Large meta-analyses consistently find which food has the highest greenhouse-gas footprint per kilogram of protein among common foods?

1. Beef from dedicated beef herds
2. Eggs from hens kept in enriched cages
3. Poultry meat
4. Milk

9 · Life-cycle footprints of animal products · medium

Which impacts are most often omitted from standard livestock LCAs?

1. Water use and energy use
2. Climate change and land use
3. Animal welfare and biodiversity beyond land area
4. Eutrophication and acidification of soils and waters

10 · Policy and market tools for sustainable livestock · medium

Since 2006, the European Union has banned:

1. Imports of all meat from outside the EU
2. All use of veterinary antibiotics on farms, including treatment of sick animals
3. Grazing of cattle on public land
4. The use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed