ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) — Environmental Sciences (subject 71) and Agricultural Meteorology (subject 60) · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersWetlands, mangroves, seagrasses and estuaries: their ecology, the services they give agriculture and fisheries, their carbon stores, and the Ramsar and coastal-zone rules that protect them.
In the exams: ICAR AICE subject 71 Unit 2 (wetlands, mangroves, Ramsar); ICAR AICE Aquatic Environmental Management; UPSC CSE environment
ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF Environmental Sciences (Unit 2) and aquatic environmental management
Wetland definitions and types, hydric soils and redox, wetland services, mangroves and their adaptations, Ramsar criteria and Indian sites, constructed wetlands, rice methane and peatlands.
How our questions for ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF spread across the units of Wetlands, Coastal Ecosystems & Blue Carbon. Difficulty: 21 easy, 40 medium, 21 hard.
| Ramsar Convention and wetland inventories | 11 | |
| Mangroves, seagrasses, salt marshes and estuaries | 10 | |
| Wetland definitions and classification | 9 | |
| Rice paddies as managed wetlands | 9 | |
| Peatlands: drainage, fire and rewetting | 9 | |
| Wetland functions and services | 8 | |
| Blue carbon: stocks, fluxes and accounting | 8 | |
| Integrated Coastal Zone Management | 8 | |
| Wetland hydrology, soils and vegetation | 7 | |
| Constructed wetlands for treating farm and village wastewater | 3 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
According to India's National Wetland Atlas (2011), wetlands cover roughly what share of the country's area?
D. About 4.6 %
The atlas mapped about 15.3 million ha, around 4.6 % of India's area. 15 is the area in million hectares, not the percentage.
Further reading: SAC National Wetland Atlas 2011
Why can a wetland that once retained phosphorus begin to release it?
B. Sorption sites saturate and sediment conditions change
Phosphorus is retained by sedimentation and sorption; when capacity is exceeded or conditions become reducing, it can be released. Phosphorus has no significant gaseous phase.
Further reading: Mitsch and Gosselink, Wetlands
Above roughly what salinity does methane emission from coastal wetlands become low?
B. About 18 parts per thousand
Wetlands with salinity above about 18 ppt generally have low methane emissions because sulphate suppresses methanogenesis; fresh and brackish systems emit more.
Further reading: IPCC 2013 Wetlands Supplement
Roughly what share of anthropogenic methane emissions comes from rice cultivation?
C. About a tenth
Rice contributes on the order of 8–10 % of anthropogenic methane, after livestock, fossil fuels and waste.
Further reading: Global Methane Budget
Which plant is most commonly used in constructed wetlands?
B. Common reed, Phragmites
Reeds (Phragmites) and cattails (Typha) tolerate flooding and support microbial processes; dryland crops and trees do not.
Further reading: Kadlec and Wallace 2009
1000 ha of drained tropical peat has an emission factor of 40 t CO2/ha/yr. What are annual emissions?
B. 40000 t CO2
Emissions = area × EF = 1000 × 40 = 40000 t CO2/yr. 1040 adds; 25 divides; 400000 adds an extra factor of ten.
Further reading: IPCC 2013 Wetlands Supplement
The 2015 peat fires in which country caused severe regional haze in Southeast Asia?
D. Indonesia
Drained peatlands in Indonesia burned extensively in 2015 (and 1997–98), releasing huge emissions and haze. Indonesia then created a peatland restoration agency.
Further reading: UNEP Global Peatlands Assessment 2022
Under CRZ 2019, what is the no-development zone for CRZ-III A densely populated rural areas?
B. 50 m from the high tide line
CRZ-III A areas (population density above 2161 per km²) have a 50 m no-development zone; CRZ-III B areas have 200 m.
Further reading: CRZ Notification 2019
On which date is World Wetlands Day observed?
D. 2 February
World Wetlands Day marks the Ramsar Convention's adoption on 2 February 1971. 5 June is World Environment Day; 22 April Earth Day; 16 September World Ozone Day.
Further reading: Ramsar Convention
A waterbird population numbers 150000. How many must a site regularly support to qualify under Ramsar criterion 6?
A. 1500
Criterion 6 = 1 % of the population = 0.01 × 150000 = 1500. 15000 is 10 %; 150 is 0.1 %; 20000 is criterion 5.
Further reading: Ramsar Convention
Ten here, 82 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF 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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