2016 QUESTION PAPER

SUBMITTED BY : PRIYANKA ROY

B.SC INTERIOR DESIGN
GUWAHATI COLLEGE OF
ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING
A. 1 what is environment?

Ans: Environment can be defined as a sum total of all the living and non-living elements and their effects that influence
human life. While all living or biotic elements are animals, plants, forests, fisheries, and birds, non-living or abiotic elements
include water, land, sunlight, rocks, and air.

2.What are the two main source of water?

Ans i) surface water

(ii) ground water.
People use surface and ground water every day for a variety of purposes, including drinking, cooking, and basic hygiene, in
addition to recreational, agricultural, and industrial activities.

3.What are renewable resources? Give example

Ans: Renewable resources include biomass energy (such as ethanol), hydropower, geothermal power, wind energy, and
solar energy. Biomass refers to organic material from plants or animals. This includes wood, sewage, and ethanol (which
comes from corn or other plants).
4.What do you mean by landslide?

Ans:A landslide is defined as the movement of a mass of rock, debris, or earth down a slope. Landslides are a type of “mass
wasting,” which denotes any down-slope movement of soil and rock under the direct influence of gravity

5 . What is desertification?

Ans:The United Nations’ official definition says desertification is land degradation in typically dry areas resulting from
various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. ... Many things can cause desertification. Drought,
overgrazing, fire, and deforestation can thin out vegetation, leaving exposed soil.

6.What are the cause of desertification?

Ans : Climatic variations’ and ‘Human activities’ can be regarded as the two main causes of desertification. Removal of the
natural vegetation cover （ by taking too much fuel wood ） , agricultural activities in the vulnerable ecosystems of arid
and semi-arid areas, which are thus strained beyond their capacity.
7.What is meant by eco-system?

Ans:An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work
together to form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic
factors include plants, animals, and other organisms.

8.What is food chain?

Ans: A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms and ending at an apex predator
species, detritivores, or decomposer species. A food chain also shows how organisms are related to each other by the food they
eat. Each level of a food chain represents a different trophic level

9.What is food web?

Ans: A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what
and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is consumer-resource
system.

10.Give two example of lentic ecosystem.

Ans: Lentic Ecosystem or Lotic EcosystemsExamples include: creeks, streams, runs, rivers, springs, brooks and channels. A Lentic
Ecosystem has still waters. Examples include: ponds, basin marshes, ditches, reservoirs, seeps, lakes, and vernal / ephemeral
pools
B. 1 ) write a short note on the use of forest resources.

Ans :
• Forests provide clean water and air, timber for wood products, wildlife habitats, stable
soil, and recreational opportunities, and they beautify the environment. Furthermore,
they are also an important economic resource producing marketable timber.
• Forest Provides Essential Nutrients To Human Kind
• Forests provide home and food to innumerable species of plants and animals.
• Forests provide raw materials for many products that are used by humans.
• Forests prevent global warming.
• Forests prevent soil erosion.
• Forests regulate water cycle
• Forests may provide a diversity of ecosystem services including recycling carbon dioxide
into oxygen, acting as a carbon sink, aiding in regulating climate, purify water, mitigating
natural hazards such as floods, and serving as a genetic reserve. Forests also serve as a
source of lumber and as recreational areas.
B. 2) Discuss the effects of air pollution.
Ans:
• Air pollution also increases the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease, stroke, and
lung cancer, and more severely affects people who are already ill.
• Children, the elderly, and people in low-income neighborhoods experience
disproportionate health effects from air pollution. Burning fossil fuels releases gases and
chemicals into the air.”
• And in an especially destructive feedback loop, air pollution not only contributes to
climate change but is also exacerbated by it.
• Air pollution in the form of carbon dioxide and methane raises the earth’s temperature,”
• Air pollution can also cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea. ...
• Long-term health effects from air pollution include heart disease, lung cancer, and
respiratory diseases such as emphysema.
• Air pollution can also cause long-term damage to people’s nerves, brain, kidneys, liver, and
other organs.
B. 3) Write a note on land as a resources.

Ans:
• Land and Land Resources refer to a delineable area of the earth’s terrestrial surface, encompassing all
attributes of the biosphere immediately above or below this surface, including those of the near-surface
climate, the soil and terrain forms, the surface hydrology (including shallow lakes, rivers, marshes and
swamps ...
• Land resource is important because humans not only live but also perform all economic activities on land.
• Besides, land also supports wild life, natural vegetation, transport and communication activities.
• Ninety five percent of our basic needs and requirements like food, clothing and shelter are obtained from
land.
• Resources which are available on land are called land resources.
• Some common land or natural resources are water, oil, copper, natural gas, coal, and forests.
• Land resources are the raw materials in the production process. These resources can be renewable, such as
forests, or nonrenewable such as oil or natural gas.
B. 4) Discuss Four measure to control noise pollution.

Ans:
• Stay away from Noisy area : Noise producing industries, airports, vehicles should be far from residential areas as it is
very dangerous for infants and senior citizens.Modify the paths by which the noise travels through the air to the people
exposed, eg: Erect enclosures around machines to reduce the amount of noise emitted into the workplace or
environment. Use barriers and screens to block the direct path of sound. Position noise sources further away from
workers

• Follow the Limits of Noise level

• Community law should check the use of loudspeakers, outdoor parties as well as political public announcements.In
general, the human ear can tolerate noise levels up to 85 dB. Anything beyond that can affect their productivity and
quality of life. The decibel levels of common sounds above 80 dB are considered ‘loud’, while the decibel levels of
common sounds between 100-125 dB are termed ‘uncomfortable’.

• Control Noise level near sensitive areas

• There should be control on noise level (Silent zones) near schools, hospitals. Place noise limits boards near sensitive
areas.Erect enclosures around machines to reduce the amount of noise emitted into the workplace or environment.

• Use barriers and screens to block the direct path of sound.

• Position noise sources further away from workers.

• Go Green by planning trees : Plant trees. We can plant more trees as they are good noise absorbents. According to
studies, it can reduce noise by 5 to 10 decibels Db around them.Vegetation reduces noise pollution through a
phenomenon called sound attenuation, which is the reduction of sound intensity. ... Leaves, twigs, and branches on
trees, shrubs, and herbaceous growth absorb and deflect sound energy.

B. (5 write a brief note on soild waste management.

Ans:
• Solid waste management is a term that is used to refer to the process of collecting and treating solid wastes. It also
offers solutions for recycling items that do not belong to garbage or trash. ... Waste management is all about how
solid waste can be changed and used as a valuable resource.

• The primary goal of solid waste management is reducing and eliminating adverse impacts of waste materials on
human health and the environment to support economic development and superior quality of life. This is to be done
in the most efficient manner possible, to keep costs low and prevent waste buildup.The municipal solid waste
industry has four components: recycling composting, land-filling, and waste-to-energy via incineration. The primal)
steps are generation, collection, sorting and separation, transfer and disposal/ utilisation.
C. (1) Short on note on global warming.

Ans:
• Global warming is that the long-term heating of Earth’s climate system observed since the pre-industrial
period (between 1850 and 1900) thanks to human activities, primarily fuel burning, which increases heat-
trapping greenhouse emission levels in Earth’s atmosphere.
• Global warming is an aspect of climate change, referring to the long-term rise of the planet’s temperatures.
• It is caused by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mainly from human
activities such as burning fossil fuels, and farming.Increases in pests and diseases and more frequent and
intense droughts and floods, reduce the availability of food. Heat-stress causes poor yields, or worse, crop
failures.
• Reducing short-lived climate pollutants gives us our best chance to rapidly limit global temperature rise and
reduce the risks to food security.
• The global warming happens because the natural rotation of the sun that changes the intensity of sunlight
and moving closer to the earth.
• Another cause of global warming is greenhouse gases. ...
• Finally, methane is another issue that causes global warming. Methane is also a greenhouse gas.
(B) Ozone Depletion

Ans:
• The ozone layer is the common term for the high concentration of ozone that is found in the stratosphere around 15–
30km above the earth’s surface.
• It covers the entire planet and protects life on earth by absorbing harmful ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation from the sun.
• Ozone layer depletion causes increased UV radiation levels at the Earth’s surface, which is damaging to human health.
Negative effects include increases in certain types of skin cancers, eye cataracts and immune deficiency disorders.
• UV rays also affect plant growth, reducing agricultural productivity.Avoid the consumption of gases dangerous to the
ozone layer, due to their content or manufacturing process.
• Some of the most dangerous gases are CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), halogenated hydrocarbon, methyl bromide and
nitrous oxide. Minimize the use of cars.
• Ozone layer depletion is the thinning of the ozone layer present in the upper atmosphere.
• This happens when the chlorine and bromine atoms in the atmosphere come in contact with ozone and destroy the
ozone molecules.
• Such compounds are known as Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS).
(C) Estuary

Ans:
• An estuary is where a river meets the sea.
• There, saltwater mixes with freshwater.
• The river becomes wider and wider and flows slowly to the ocean.
• Bays, marshes, swamps, and inlets can all have estuaries.Estuaries are very important to the lives of many animal species.
Estuaries filter out sediments and pollutants from rivers and streams before they flow into the ocean, providing cleaner
waters for humans and marine life.Estuaries have an important commercial value.
• Their resources provide tourism, fisheries and recreational activities to have a greater economic benefit. The protected
coastal waters of estuaries also support public infrastructure such as harbors and ports which are a vital part of shipping
and transportation.
• There are four main types of estuaries: coastal plain estuaries/drowned river valleys, tectonic estuaries, bar built estuaries,
and fjords.
• Coastal plain estuaries form from rising sea level, which fills an already existing river valley with water, creating an estuary.
(D) Chipko movement

Ans:
• The Chipko movement or chipko andolan, was a forest conservation movement in India.
• It began in 1973 in Uttarakhand, then a part of Uttar Pradesh (at the foothills of Himalayas) and went on to become a
rallying point for many future environmental movements all over the world.
• The Chipko Movement was triggered by a government decision to allot forest land to a sports goods company.
• The tipping point came when government on January 1974, announced the auction of 2,500 trees, overlooking the
Alaknanda river.
• The main effect of this movement was that the environment became one major agenda in politics.
• The government passed the Forest Protection Act and then Prime Minister banned cutting of forests for 15 years in
Himalayan areas.

(E) Shifting cultivation

• Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which a person uses a piece of land, only to abandon or alter the initial
use a short time later.
• This system often involves clearing of a piece of land followed by several years of wood harvesting or farming until the
soil loses fertility.The different forms of shifting cultivation described include slash-and-burn type of shifting cultivation,
the chitemene system, the Hmong system, shifting cultivation cycle in the Orinoco floodplain, the slash-mulch system,
and the plough-in-slash system.
• Shifting cultivation is one of the oldest forms of subsistence agriculture and is still practised by millions of poor people
in the tropics.Shifting agriculture is a system of cultivation in which a plot of land is cleared and cultivated for a short
period of time, then abandoned and allowed to revert to producing its normal vegetation while the cultivator moves on
to another plot.
(F) Acid rain

Ans:
• Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released
into the air.
• These substances can rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals
to form more acidic pollutants, known as acid rain.
• The ecological effects of acid rain are most clearly seen in aquatic environments, such as streams, lakes, and marshes where
it can be harmful to fish and other wildlife.
• As it flows through the soil, acidic rain water can leach aluminum from soil clay particles and then flow into streams and
lakes
• Power plants release the majority of sulfur dioxide and much of the nitrogen oxides when they burn fossil fuels, such as
coal, to produce electricity.
• In addition, the exhaust from cars, trucks, and buses releases nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide into the air. These
pollutants cause acid rain.
(G) Modern agriculture

Ans:
• Modern agriculture is an evolving approach to agricultural innovations and farming practices that help farmers increase
efficiency and reduce the number of natural resources like water, land, and energy necessary to meet the world’s food, fuel,
and fiber needs. Agriculture is the main source of food, income, and employment of our country. ... Agriculture has been the
highest priority because economic growth was dependent on both increasing the productivity of existing crops and
diversifying the agricultural base for use as industrial inputs.
• Excessive water-supply and wind removes the top fertile layer of the farm. Loss of nutrient rich soil not only reduces
productivity, but also results in silting of water bodies and streams and induces release of soil carbon from particulate organic
material, which contributes to global warming.

(H) Hydrological cycle

Ans:
• The hydrologic cycle begins with the evaporation of water from the surface of the ocean. As moist air is lifted, it cools and
water vapor condenses to form clouds.Groundwater either seeps its way to into the oceans, rivers, and streams, or is
released back into the atmosphere through transpiration.The major components of the hydrologic cycle are precipitation
(rainfall, snowfall, hale, sleet, fog, dew, drizzle, etc.), interception, depression storage, evaporation, transpiration, infiltration,
percolation, moisture storage in the unsaturated zone, and runoff (surface runoff, interflow, and base flow).
• The hydrologic cycle is important because it is how water reaches plants, animals and us! Besides providing people, animals
and plants with water, it also moves things like nutrients, pathogens and sediment in and out of aquatic ecosystems.
D. (1)what do you mean by producer, consumer, and decomposer in an eco-system?

Ans:
• Producers are any kind of green plant.
• Green plants make their food by taking sunlight and using the energy to make sugar.
• The plant uses this sugar, also called glucose to make many things, such as wood, leaves, roots, and bark.
• Trees, such as they mighty Oak, and the grand American Beech, are examples of producers.
• In summary, producers are organisms that make their own food. Producers create food for themselves and also provide
energy for the rest of the ecosystem.
• Any green plant, like a tree or grass, as well as algae and chemosynthetic bacteria, can be producers.
• Producers are extremely important living things within an ecosystem because they make food for other organisms.
• A producer is the organism that creates the primary energy used within an ecosystem.
• Eventually other animals will eat them and the producers pass on their energy as chemical energy.
• Over time, energy leaves the ecosystem as heat and goes back into the rest of the biosphere
Consumers
• Consumers are those organisms that get their energy from eating other organisms.
• They may eat plants or they may eat animals.
• Consumers have to feed on producers or other consumers to survive.
• Deer are herbivores, which means that they only eat plants (Producers).
• Bears are another example of consumers. Black bears are omnivores and scavengers, like skunks and raccoons, which
means that they will eat just about anything.

Decomposer
• In environmental science or ecology, decomposers are the organisms that are involved in the process of decomposition of
the dead, both animal as well as plant matter, in the ecosystem.
• Major decomposers in the ecosystem include bacteria and fungi. One would wonder what do these decomposers eat.More
importantly, decomposers make vital nutrients available to an ecosystem’s primary producers—usually plants and algae.
Decomposers break apart complex organic materials into more elementary substances: water and carbon dioxide, plus
simple compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium
• When an organism dies and decomposers do the work of decomposition, the organism’s remains go through five stages of
decomposition: fresh, bloat, active decay, advanced decay, and dry/remains. There are two main processes that occur in a
decomposing organism: autolysis and putrefaction.
• Examples of decomposers include bacteria, fungi, some insects, and snails, which means they are not always microscopic.
Fungi, such as the Winter Fungus, eat dead tree trunks. Decomposers can break down dead things, but they can also feast
on decaying flesh while it’s still on a living organism.
(2) Explain the major cause of water pollution.

Ans:
MAIN CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION
• Global warming : An increase in water temperature can result in the death of many aquatic organisms and disrupt many
marine habitats. For example, a rise in water temperatures causes coral bleaching of reefs around the world. Global
warming is a process where the average global temperature increases due to the greenhouse effect.Global warming can
impair water quality in several ways, which can have significant consequences for people, wildlife, and ecosystems. Climate
change is causing air temperature to rise, which provokes corresponding water temperature increases in lakes, reservoirs,
and streams.

• Deforestation : Healthy forests are critical to providing clean water.Deforestation in these watersheds, often caused by
commodity and agricultural production, can contaminate water, fuel floods and drought, and lead to higher water treatment
costs. Deforestation and human activities contributed much to reduce water quality in the catchment. This analysis
confirmed that forests regulate soil erosion, reduce sediment load, turbidity, the need for treatment and costs to supply
clean water to the local community.deforestation have been linked to increasing magnitude and frequency of runoff events
and reduced baseflows, increased pesticide contamination, erosion and sedimentation of streams and rivers

• Industry, agriculture and livestock farming: Agriculture, which accounts for 70 percent of water withdrawals worldwide,
plays a major role in water pollution. Farms discharge large quantities of agrochemicals, organic matter, drug residues,
sediments and saline drainage into water bodies.
Industrial Crop Production: The excess nutrients from fertilizer leech into surface and groundwater, causing algal blooms
and nitrate contamination, impacting drinking water, recreational activities (such as swimming and boating), fishing/shell
fishing and marine and aquatic ecology.
Grazing animals and pasture production can negatively affect water quality through erosion and sediment transport into
surface waters, through nutrients from urine and feces dropped by the animals and fertility practices associated with
production of high-quality pasture, and through pathogens from the wastes

• Rubbish and faecal water dumping: Human waste and sewage water that has been partially treated or untreated
goes into the ocean. This is called “garbage dumping” and is one of the world’s leading causes of ocean pollution. ...
This leads to air pollution. The carbon dioxide in the air reaches the ocean and becomes acid rain which then pollutes
the water.

• Fuel spillages: Any fuel spillage is very dangerous because of the highly flammable nature of the product, and can also
result in damage to the environment. Fuel can enter the ground water, and can kill vegetation and wildlife.Weakening
welds on seams and corrosion of walls can contribute to so called pinhole leaks. ... Misuse of the tank by filling it with
a liquid that is incompatible with the construction of the tank can also cause leaks. Tanks can also fail due to an
uncontrolled fuel ignition and explosion.
(3) What do you Mean by deforestation? Discuss the major cause of deforestation.

Ans:
Deforestation refers to the decrease in forest areas across the world that are lost for other uses such as agricultural
croplands, urbanization, or mining activities.
Greatly accelerated by human activities since 1960, deforestation has been negatively affecting natural ecosystems,
biodiversity, and the climate.

Deforestation causes can either be direct or indirect.

Among direct causes are:

1. Natural causes as hurricanes, fires, parasites and floods

2. Human activities as agricultural expansion, cattle breeding, timber extraction, mining, oil extraction, dam construction and
infrastructure development.

Among indirect causes are:

3. Insufficient political actions and governance failure as inadequate land tenure system, corruption, wrong public
administration investments
4. Political and socio-economic causes as population growth, military conflicts and climatic changes
The main causes of deforestation can actually be lead back especially to:

substitution of forest areas with cultivations and breeding:

We should consider, in fact, that with regards to the substitution of forest areas with cultivations and livestock farms, the
impact is much higher because after the extraction of the most precious trees which are destined for timber
commercialization, forests are set on fire causing a great impact on local animals and plants. The most disastrous year for the
Amazon forest has been 1991 when over 50,000 fires where registered by aerial views or satellite images.

timber extraction:
Centuries-old trees are cut down to make timber or cellulose for the furniture or paper industry. Any system employed for
wood cutting causes serious damage to the ecosystem, and these damages are amplified by construction of roads required for
vehicles and to trasport chopped timber to its destination. For this reason, also many other economically unattractive trees
which have an important biological and ecological value are are cut down.

firewood collection:
This activity is undertaken especially by native populations, which due to recent population growth, must provide energy
sources for their survival. This phenomenon adds to large-scale industrial timber exploitation.

road and infrastructure construction:

Besides the construction of roads to transport timber, also dam construction and industrial exploitation of mines contribute to
massive deforestation
(4) Give a short description on alternative source of energy.

Ans:
• Alternative energy refers to energy sources other than fossil fuels (such as coal, petroleum, and diesel) and includes all
renewable and nuclear energy sources.
• Nuclear energy is produced by using elements like uranium and thorium, which cannot be replenished and have a finite
amount in existence.
• Alternative Energy refers to energy sources other than fossil fuels. This includes all renewable sources and nuclear. Nuclear
is not classified as a renewable energy source.
• A renewable energy source is produced from sources that do not deplete or can be replenished 1 within a human’s
lifetime.
• In the future, it is aimed that the main energy sources will become new and renewable energies.
• The share of fossil fuels in total primary energy supply is expected to include around 81% of total in 2023.
• By 2050, renewable energy will approximately account for 30% of energy structure in the world
THANK YOU