UPSC CIVIL SERVICES

PRELIMINARY EXAM COURSE

Environment and Ecology
Part 1
Presented by
MADHAVI G
 CLASS PLAN
S NO TOPICS CLASSES
1 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 3
2 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 2
3 BIODIVERSITY 2
4 ENVIRONMENTAL CONVENTIONS 2
5 ENVIRONMENTAL ACTS 2
6 ENVIRONMENT INSTITUTIONS 2
7 PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTION DISCUSSIONS 2
8 CLIMATE CHANGE 2
9 POLLUTION AND INDICES AND EFFORTS 2
10 CONSERVATION EFFORTS 1
11 AGRICULTURE 1
12 MISCELLANEOUS 1
TOTAL 22
SYLLABUS
• PRELIMS SYLLABUS - General issues on Environmental
ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do
not require subject specialization.
• MAINS SYLLABUS - Conservation, Environmental
Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact
Assessment. Disaster and Disaster Management.
SCOPE OF DISCUSSION
• Trend analysis
• Books to read
• Definitions – environment, ecology, ecosystem
• Ecosystem services
• Types of ecosystem
• Homeostasis
• Food chain
• Biogeochemical cycle
• Added information
Trend analysis
Environment questions

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15 15
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13
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2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017

Number of Questions
Sources to read
• Class VI To Class XI – NCERT Geography
• Class VII And Class X – NCERT Science
• Class XII – NCERT Chemistry
• Class XII – NCERT Biology
• The Official Website of The Environment Ministry
• Newspaper
• Current affairs magazine
SPECIFIC CHAPTERS
• 6th – Chapter 9: The Living Organisms & their Surroundings
• 7th – Chapter 7: Weather, Climate & Adaptations of Animals, Chapter 9:
Soil
• 8th – Chapter 1: Crop Production & Management, Chapter 5: Coal &
Petroleum, Chapter 7: Conservation of Plants & Animals, Chapter
12: Friction, Chapter 18: Pollution of Air & Water
• 9th – Chapter 14: Natural Resources
• 10th – Chapter 14: Sources of Energy, Chapter 15: Our
Environment, Chapter 16: Management of Natural Resources
• Biology Textbook for Class – 11
• 12th (Biology) – Unit X: Ecology ( Chapter 13 – Organisms &
Population, Chapter 14 – Ecosystem, Chapter 15 – Biodiversity &
Conservation, Chapter 16 – Environmental Issues)
Definition
• The environment is the complex network of physical, biological, and
social systems that make up our planet.
• environment is a system that includes all biotic and abiotic
elements that affect human life.
• All flora and fauna are biotic components, and abiotic components
include water, sunlight, air, climate, and so on.
• Ecology can be defined as the scientific study of living
organisms and their interactions with one another and with their
surroundings.
• Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist, initially invented the term
ecology in 1869.
• It is concerned with how organisms are shaped by their
surroundings, as well as how they utilize environmental resources
such as energy flow and mineral cycling.
Definition
• An ecosystem is a geographical area in which plants, animals,
and other species, as well as weather and topography, interact
to generate a living bubble.
• Ecosystems can also be defined as the structural and
functional units of ecology in which living species interact
with one another and with their surroundings.
• The Functions of an ecosystem can be studied under the
following broad classification:
• Energy Flow
• Nutrient cycling
• Ecological succession or ecosystem development
Homeostasis
• Ecological systems' ability to maintain stable system features
despite disturbances can also be referred to as homeostasis.
• Hibernation –winter sleep. Examples of animals that hibernate
include rodents such as the Alpine marmot, Arctic ground squirrel,
eastern chipmunk, and groundhog; bats such as the big brown bat,
gray bat and whiskered bat; and other mammals including the brown
bear, black bear, and short-beaked echidna.
• Aestivation is summer sleep and is common in invertebrates such
as worms and snails as well as other animals like lungfish and
crocodiles.
• The process, in the case of coldblooded animals like reptiles, is
called brumation — it's like a temporary version of a mammal
hibernating. While in this state, reptiles become lethargic and they
can go for long stretches without eating or drinking. Alligators,
bearded dragons, and turtles can be in brumation from just a few
hours to months.
Food chain
• A food chain is the transfer of food energy from green plants
(producers) via a series of organisms with repeated eating and
being eaten links.
• The grazing food chain and the detritus food chain are two
different types of food chains.
• A food web is made up of multiple interconnected food
chains.
• In an ecosystem, a food web represents all of the possible
energy flow paths.
BIO-GEO CHEMICAL CYCLE
• A pathway by which a chemical substance moves through
biotic (biosphere) & abiotic (lithosphere, atmosphere &
hydrosphere) compartments of Earth.
• In the gaseous type of biogeochemical cycle, there is a
prominent gaseous phase. Cycling of carbon and nitrogen
represents gaseous biogeochemical cycles.
• In sedimentary cycles, main reservoir is lithosphere from
which nutrients are released largely by weathering of rocks.
The sedimentary cycle is exemplified by phosphorus and
sulphur.
NITROGEN CYCLE
• Two kinds of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms are
recognized: free-living (nonsymbiotic) bacteria, including
the cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae) Anabaena and Nostoc and
genera such as Azotobacter, Beijerinckia, and Clostridium;
and mutualistic (symbiotic) bacteria such as Rhizobium, associated
with leguminous plants, and various Azospirillum species, associated
with cereal grasses.
• Bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrites
(Nitrosomonas, Nitrosospira, Nitrosococcus, and Nitrosolobus) and
bacteria that convert nitrites (toxic to plants) to nitrates
(Nitrobacter, Nitrospina, and Nitrococcus)
• Thiobacillus denitrificans, Micrococcus denitrificans, and some
species of Serratia, Pseudomonas, and Achromobacter are
implicated as denitrifiers.
• TYPES OF CARBON
• Green carbon – carbon stored in the biosphere (by
the process of photosynthesis).
• Grey carbon – carbon stored in fossil fuel (coal, oil and
biogas deposits in the lithosphere).
• Blue carbon – carbon stored in the atmosphere and
oceans.
• Brown carbon – carbon stored in industrialized forests
(wood used in making commercial articles)
• Black carbon – carbon emitted from gas, diesel engine
and coal fired power plants.
• 0. Which of the following are nitrogen-fixing plants?
• 1. Alfalfa
• 2. Amaranth
• 3. Chickpea
• 4. Clover
• 5. Purslane (Kulfa)
• 6. Spinach
• Select the correct answer using the code given below:
• (a) 1, 3 and 4 only
• (b) 1, 3, 5 and 6 only
• (c) 2, 4, 5 and 6 only
• (d) 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6
• 8. In case of which one of the following biogeochemical cycles,
the weathering of rocks is the main source of release of
nutrient to enter the cycle?
• (a) Carbon cycle
• (b) Nitrogen cycle
• (c) Phosphorus cycle
• (d) Sulphur cycle
• What is the difference between detritovores, saprophytes, scavengers
and decomposers?
• Detritivores – eats remains eg. Snail
• Saprophytes - digest using external enzyme eg.bacteria
• Scavengers – consumes dead and faeces
• Decomposers includes all
• 3. Consider the following kinds of organisms:
1.Copepods
2.Cyanobacteria
3.Diatoms
4.Foraminifera
• Which of the above are primary producers in the food chains of
oceans?
• (a) 1 and 2 only
• (b) 2 and 3 only
• (c) 3 and 4 only
• (d) 1 and 4 only
• Which of the following are detritivores?
1.Earthworms
2.Jellyfish
3.Millipedes
4.Seahorses
5.Woodlice
• Select the correct answer using the code given below.
• (a) 1, 2 and 4 only
• (b) 2, 3, 4 and 5 only
• (c) 1, 3 and 5 only
• (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
•
• Which of the following have species that can establish symbiotic
relationship with other organisms?
1.Cnidarians
2.Fungi
3.Protozoa
• Select the correct answer using the code given below.
• (a) 1 and 2 only
• (b) 2 and 3 only
• (c) 1 and 3 only
• (d) 1, 2 and 3
• Which of the following leaf modifications occur (s) in the desert
areas to inhibit water loss?
1.Hard and waxy leaves
2.Tiny leaves
3.Thorns instead of leaves
• Select the correct answer using the code given below:
• (a) 2 and 3 only
• (b) 2 only
• (c) 3 only
• (d) 1, 2 and 3
Summary
Thank you