UGC NET — Environmental Sciences (subject code 89) · India · National Testing Agency for the University Grants Commission
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersThe services nature provides to farming and farming provides back: pollination, pest control, soil formation, water regulation, carbon storage. The economics of valuing them (contingent valuation, travel cost, hedonic pricing) is taught in the Agribusiness subject natural-resource-environmental-economics; this subject covers the ecology, the classification systems, the mapping tools and natural-capital accounting.
In the exams: ICAR AICE subject 71 Unit 2 (values of biodiversity); UGC NET Unit 3; TNFD-related professional work; PG research
How our questions for UGC NET spread across the units of Ecosystem Services & Pollinators in Agricultural Landscapes. Difficulty: 17 easy, 31 medium, 18 hard.
| Payments for ecosystem services: design and examples | 10 | |
| Ecosystem service frameworks: MA, TEEB, CICES, IPBES nature's contributions to people | 9 | |
| Supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural services | 8 | |
| Mapping and modelling ecosystem services | 8 | |
| Natural capital accounting: SEEA Ecosystem Accounting | 8 | |
| Ecosystem disservices to agriculture | 6 | |
| Pollination services, pollinator decline and pollinator-friendly farming | 6 | |
| Soil and water regulating services | 6 | |
| Natural pest control and functional agrobiodiversity | 3 | |
| Corporate nature dependency and impact assessment | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Which initiative, launched by G8+5 environment ministers in 2007 and hosted by UNEP, aimed to make nature's economic values visible?
C. TEEB
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) produced reports from 2008 and later TEEB for Agriculture and Food (2018). The IPCC assesses climate science; UNCCD and CITES are conventions.
Further reading: TEEB
Flood regulation by a wetland is which type of ecosystem service?
D. Regulating
Regulating services arise from the regulation of ecosystem processes, such as floods, climate and water quality. Provisioning are products; cultural non-material benefits; supporting underlying processes.
Further reading: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005
Which is an ecosystem disservice to agriculture?
A. Crop raiding by wild boar
Damage by wildlife is a disservice; pollination, pest control and nitrogen fixation are services.
Further reading: Zhang et al. 2007
A forest patch next to a farm supplies pollinators but also shelters crop-raiding monkeys. What does this show?
B. One habitat provides both services and disservices
Net effects depend on species and landscape; assessments must count both. The other conclusions are false.
Further reading: Ecosystem services and disservices literature
Which is a human-health disservice associated with some ecosystems?
C. Disease vectors breeding in wetlands
Mosquitoes and other vectors, allergenic pollen and zoonoses are health disservices. Clean water, recreation and shade are services.
Further reading: Ecosystem disservice literature
Why does a crop list showing 75 % of leading crops depend on pollinators not mean 75 % of food volume depends on them?
B. Staple cereals providing most calories are wind- or self-pollinated
Wheat, rice and maize dominate volume and do not need animal pollination; pollinator-dependent crops are about a third of volume but a large share of micronutrients and value. The other claims are false.
Further reading: Klein et al. 2007
A district starts with 1200 ha of wetland, restores 50 ha and loses 180 ha to conversion. What is the closing extent?
C. 1070 ha
Closing = opening + additions − reductions = 1200 + 50 − 180 = 1070 ha. 1430 adds both; 1330 adds the loss and subtracts the gain; 970 subtracts both and more.
Further reading: UN SEEA EA 2021
Which feature is essential in Wunder's (2005) definition of payments for ecosystem services?
B. Conditionality: payment only if the service is secured
Wunder defined PES as voluntary, with at least one buyer and one provider, paid if and only if the service is secured. Compulsion, state ownership and taxes are not part of the definition.
Further reading: Wunder 2005
Which country created a national payments for environmental services programme under its 1996 Forestry Law, funded partly by a fuel tax?
D. Costa Rica
Costa Rica's programme pays landowners for forest protection, reforestation and agroforestry, financed partly by fuel tax and water charges.
Further reading: Costa Rica Forestry Law 7575
New York City protected the Catskill–Delaware watersheds instead of building what?
A. A water filtration plant
By paying for watershed protection and farm practices, the city avoided a filtration plant estimated to cost several billion dollars.
Further reading: NYC watershed programme
Ten here, 66 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to UGC NET 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.
Free for ten days, then one subscription of US$10 a month. We would rather say so here than have you find it later.
An AI operating system for agriculture: free guides, manuals and tools written for every country.