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 papersWhat happens to pesticides after application and how to reduce harm: fate processes, residues, effects on non-target organisms, regulatory risk assessment and reduction strategies. Field IPM practice is in the crop protection subjects; this subject is the environmental science of pesticides.
In the exams: ICAR AIEEA-PG 3.4 Agricultural Chemicals; ICAR AICE subject 71 Unit 4 (pesticides); UGC NET Unit 6
UGC NET Environmental Sciences (Unit 6 pollution and control; Unit 2 chemistry)
Pesticide classification, environmental chemistry and fate, POPs, biomagnification, effects on wildlife, and conventions.
How our questions for UGC NET spread across the units of Pesticides in the Environment: Fate, Risk & Reduction. Difficulty: 5 easy, 26 medium, 7 hard.
| Effects on non-target organisms: pollinators, aquatic life, soil biota | 7 | |
| Persistent organic pollutants and the Stockholm Convention | 7 | |
| Pesticide risk indicators and reduction targets | 5 | |
| Classification of pesticides by target, chemistry and toxicity | 4 | |
| Residues in food, soil and water; maximum residue limits | 4 | |
| Pesticide risk assessment and registration | 4 | |
| Environmental fate: sorption, degradation, volatilisation, leaching, runoff | 2 | |
| Persistence and half-life | 2 | |
| IPM as risk reduction | 2 | |
| Spray drift and application technology | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Atrazine is a herbicide that acts by inhibiting:
B. Photosystem II
Triazines block electron transport at PSII; paraquat acts at PSI.
A higher LD50 value for a pesticide indicates:
C. Lower acute toxicity
More substance is needed to kill half the test animals, so it is less toxic.
The acceptable daily intake is usually derived by dividing the NOAEL by a default factor of:
D. 100
10 for animal to human and 10 for variation among humans.
Why are indirect food-web effects of herbicides on farmland birds hard to capture in standard regulatory tests?
A. Tests measure toxicity, not loss of food plants and insects
Removing weeds removes insects and seeds birds depend on, which toxicity tests do not measure.
Published studies of Sri Lanka's bans on highly hazardous pesticides found:
C. Suicide deaths fell without loss of crop output
Deaths from pesticide self-poisoning fell; agricultural output was maintained.
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants entered into force in:
B. 2004
Adopted 2001, in force 2004.
Which of the following was NOT one of the original 'dirty dozen' POPs?
A. Endosulfan
Endosulfan was added in 2011; the others were in the original twelve.
Lindane and the other hexachlorocyclohexanes were added to the Stockholm Convention in:
A. 2009
Added in 2009; endosulfan followed in 2011.
In 1986 Indonesia banned 57 insecticides on rice after outbreaks of:
B. Brown planthopper
Insecticides killed natural enemies, causing planthopper resurgence.
A major barrier to full IPM adoption is that:
B. Pesticide prices omit their external costs
Cheap pesticides, seller advice, knowledge and time needs, and missing thresholds hinder IPM.
Ten here, 38 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.
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