Prelims Focused Material#24

Topic: Biology and environment

1. Sepsis

● According to WHO - “Sepsis is a serious condition that happens when the body’s
immune system has an extreme response to an infection. The body’s reaction causes
damage to its own tissues and organs.
● Regional disparities in sepsis incidence and mortality exist; approximately 85% of sepsis
cases and sepsis-related deaths worldwide occurred in low- and middle-income
countries.
● Health care-associated infections are one of the most frequent types of adverse event to
occur during care delivery and affect hundreds of millions of patients worldwide every
year.
● Sepsis is usually caused by bacterial infections but may be the result of other infections
such as viruses, parasites or fungi”.

2. Bacteria

● Microscopic single-celled organisms that have the capacity to survive in all extreme
conditions.
● Not all of them are hazardous, some of them are in fact useful for human growth.
● They lack a nucleus and other internal structures/ organelles and are thus categorized
among the unicellular life-forms called prokaryotes.
● Individual bacteria can assume one of three basic shapes: spherical (coccus), rodlike
(bacillus), or curved (vibrio, spirillum, or spirochete).

3. Invasive species

● Invasive species can be plants, animals, and other living organisms or microbes that are
alien or foreign to the ecosystem and that are dangerous causing economic or
environmental harm or harm to human health.
● Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy
biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats.
● Invasive plant species have invaded 22% of the natural habitats and have the potential
to reach up to 66% of green areas in India, a new study released said.
● It has based its findings on the study of 3,58,000 square km of tiger habitats across 20
Indian states.

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 ● The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in its
new publication – the “Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control’’
has declared that there are 37,000 alien species, including plants and animals, that have
been introduced through human activities.
● There are more than 3,500 invasive alien species.
● The report has also explicitly mentioned that invasive alien species have played a
significant role in 60% of global plant and animal extinctions recorded.

4. Ramsar Site

● UNESCO says that “64% of the world’s wetlands have disappeared since the beginning
of the last century. In most regions across the world, wetlands continue to decline
compromising the benefits that wetlands provide to people”.
● India is one of the Contracting Parties to Ramsar Convention, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in
1971 that promised to protect the wetlands of the world.
● India adds 11 more wetlands to the list of Ramsar sites to complete a total of 75 Ramsar
sites covering an area of 13,26,677 ha in the country.
● This is done in the honor of the 75th year of Independence.
● The new report “Ramsar and World Heritage Conventions converging towards success”
also pinpoints the significance of indigenous and local communities’ participation.

Topic: Geography

5. Maikal Range

● Maikal Range of the Satpura Hills in Madhya Pradesh become the Heartland of India.
● They house the famous Kanha National Park.
● The region has been in the news recent times for maoist activities.
● They are densely forested with the Amarkantak and extremely important for the tigers in
the country and
● They give rise to several streams and rivers including the tributaries of Narmada and
Wainganga rivers.

6. Aravalli range

● Aravalli range is the oldest mountain range.

● They are old fold mountains.
● It is famous for housing the Ranthambore National Park.

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● This spot becomes the meeting point of the Aravalli Range and the Vindhya Range. The
park is one of the best places to see the Bengal tiger, while the park is small, the tiger
density is rich here.
● They begin their journey near Delhi, passing through southern Haryana Rajasthan, and
ending in Ahmedabad, in Gujarat.
● The most ambitious plan associated with them is the Great Green Wall of Aravalli". This
is a 1,600 km long and 5 km wide green ecological corridor along Aravalli range from
Gujarat to Delhi, it will be connected to Shivalik hill range and 1.35 billion (135 crore)
new native trees will be planted over 10 years.

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