Forest and Wildlife Resources Questions and Answers
1. Multiple choice questions.
(i) Which of these statements is not a valid reason for the depletion of flora and fauna?
a) Agricultural expansion.
b) Large-scale developmental projects.
c) Grazing and fuel wood collection.
d) Rapid industrialisation and urbanisation.
Ans: c) Grazing and fuel wood collection
(ii) Which of the following conservation strategies do not directly involve community participation?
a) Joint forest management
b) Beej Bachao Andolan
c) Chipko Movement
d) Demarcation of Wildlife sanctuaries
Ans: d) Demarcation of Wildlife sanctuaries
2. Match the following animals with their category of existence.
| Animals/Plants | Category of Existence |
| Blackbuck | Extinct |
| Asiatic Elephant | Rare |
| Andaman wild pig | Endangered |
| Himalayan brown bear | Vulnerable |
| Pink head duck | Endemic |
Ans:
| Animals/Plants | Category of Existence |
| Blackbuck | Endangered |
| Asiatic Elephant | Vulnerable |
| Andaman wild pig | Endemic |
| Himalayan brown bear | Rare |
| Pink head duck | Extinct |
3. Match the following.
| Reserved forests | other forests and wastelands belonging to both government and private individuals and communities |
| Protected forests | forests are regarded as the most valuable as far as the conservation of forest and wildlife resources |
| Unclassed forest | forest lands are protected from any further depletion |
Ans:
| Reserved forests | forests are regarded as the most valuable as far as the conservation of forest and wildlife resources |
| Protected forests | forest lands are protected from any further depletion. |
| Unclassed forests | other forests and wastelands belonging to both government and private individuals and communities |
4. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.
(i) What is biodiversity? Why is biodiversity important for human lives?
Ans: Biodiversity is a combination of two words -Bio and diversity. Bio means life and diversity means variety. Biodiversity or Biological Diversity is immensely rich in wildlife and cultivated species, diverse in form and function but closely integrated into a system through multiple networks of interdependencies.
(ii) How have human activities affected the depletion of flora and fauna? Explain.
Ans: If you look around, you will be able to find out how we have transformed nature into a resource obtained directly and indirectly from the forests and wildlife – wood, bark, leaves, rubber, medicines, dyes, food, fuel, fodder, manure, etc. So, it is we ourselves who have depleted our forests and wildlife. Cutting down forests for agricultural expansion, large-scale developmental projects, grazing and fuel wood collection, and urbanization have led to the depletion of flora and fauna.
5. Answer the following questions in about 120 words.
(i) Describe how communities have conserved and protected forests and wildlife in India.
Ans: Chipko Movement:
The famous Chipko movement in the Himalayas has not only successfully resisted deforestation in several areas but has also shown that community afforestation with indigenous species can be enormously successful.
Certain societies revere a particular tree that they have preserved from time immemorial. The Mundas and the Santhals of the Chota Nagpur region worship mahua (Bassia latifolia) and kadamba (Anthocaphalus cadamba) trees. The tribals of Odisha and Bihar worship the tamarind (Tamarindus indica) and mango (Mangifera indica) trees during weddings. Many people also consider peepal and banyan trees sacred.
In Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, villagers have fought against mining by citing the Wildlife Protection Act. In many areas, villagers themselves are protecting habitats and are explicitly rejecting government involvement. The inhabitants of five villages in the Alwar district of Rajasthan have declared 1,200 hectares of forest as the Bhairodev Dakav ‘Sonchuri’, declaring their own set of rules and regulations which do not allow hunting and protecting the wildlife against any outside encroachments.
(ii) Write a note on good practices for conserving forests and wildlife.
Ans: Conservation of Forest and Wildlife in India
- Conservation in the background of rapid decline in wildlife population and forestry has become essential.
- Conservation preserves the ecological diversity and our life support systems – water, air, and soil.
- It also preserves the genetic diversity of plants and animals for better growth of species and breeding.
- For example, in agriculture, we are still dependent on traditional crop varieties.
- Fisheries too are heavily dependent on the maintenance of aquatic biodiversity.
- In the 1960s and 1970s, conservationists demanded a national wildlife protection program.
- The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act was implemented in 1972, with various provisions for protecting habitats.
Additional question and answer
Multiple choice question and answer
1. Humans and all living organisms make a web of ecological systems is ________
a) Complex
b) Simple
c) Both of them
d) None of them
Ans: a) complex
2. Who plays an important role in the ecological system?
a) Water
b) Forest
c) Air
d) All of them
Ans: b) Forest
3. Forest is __________
a) Primary producers
b) Secondary producers
Ans: a) Primary producers
4. IUCN stands for
a) International Unit for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
b) International Union for Conservation of Nature and National Resources
c) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Research
d) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
Ans: d) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
5. Flora means in India.
a) Plants
b) Animals
c) Food
d) All of them
Ans: a) plants
6. Fauna means in India.
a) Plants
b) Animals
c) Food
d) All of them
Ans: d) Animals
7. Which country is the world’s richest country in biological diversity?
a) England
b) America
c) India
d) None of them
Ans: c) India
8. Who is on the threatened list?
a) 10% flora and 20% fauna
b) 20% flora and 20% fauna
c) 20% flora and 10% fauna
d) None of them
Ans: a) 10% flora and 20% fauna
9. Forest contain__________ of the total geographical area?
a) 69.42 million hectares (14.16%)
b) 79.42 million hectares (24.16%)
c) 99.42 million hectares (44.16%)
d) None of them
Ans: b) 79.42 million hectares (24.16%)
10. What happened between 1951 and 1980?
(a) Converting forest areas into railway land all over India
(b) Converting forest area into land for living all over India
(c) Converting forest areas into agricultural land all over India
(d) All of them
Ans: c) Converting Forest areas into agricultural land all over India
11. Where was the Narmada Sagar project done?
a) Madhya Pradesh
b) Uttar Pradesh
c) Arunachal Pradesh
d) None of them
Ans: a) Madhya Pradesh
12. Where is the Buxa tiger reserve situated?
a) Chhattisgarh
b) West Bengal
c) Chandigarh
d) None of them
Ans: b) Chandigarh
13. When did the Indian Wildlife Act imply?
a) 1970
b) 1971
c) 1975
d) 1972
Ans: d) 1972
14. Where is Sariska Tiger Reserve situated?
a) Chhattisgarh
b) West Bengal
c) Rajasthan
d) None of them
Ans: c) Rajasthan
15. When did Project Tiger launch?
a) 1972
b) 1973
c) 1975
d) 1970
Ans: b) 1973
16. When was the Asian cheetah declared extinct in India?
a) 1950
b) 1953
c) 1952
d) 1951
Ans: c) 1952
17. What was the objective of the Chipko Movement?
a) Human rights
b) Agriculture protection
c) Human protection
d) Forest conservation
Ans: d) Forest conservation
Short answer type question
1. What is biodiversity?
Ans: We share this planet with millions of other living beings, starting from microorganisms and bacteria, lichens to banyan trees, elephants, and blue whales. This entire habitat that we live in has immense biodiversity.
or
Biodiversity or Biological Diversity is immensely rich in wildlife and cultivated species, diverse in form and function but closely integrated into a system through multiple networks of interdependencies.
2. How do living organisms help to re-create the environment?
Ans: the plants, animals, and microorganisms re-create the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil that produces our food without which we cannot survive.
3. Write some critical categories of flora and fauna names.
Ans: Some are categories in the critical list
- Cheetah (animal)
- Pink-headed duck (animal)
- Mountain quails (animal)
- Forest spotted owlet (animal)
- Mahua (Plant)
- Hubbardia Heptaneuron (a type of grass)
4. What happens during 1951 to 1980?
Ans: Between 1951 and 1980, according to the Forest Survey of India, over 26,200 sq. km. of forest area was converted into agricultural land all over India.
5. What is the Indian Wildlife act?
Ans: The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act was an act that was implemented in 1972, with various provisions for protecting habitats. The program was to protect the remaining population of certain endangered species by banning hunting, giving legal protection to their habitats, and restricting wildlife trade.
6. What did the central government do to protect the wildlife?
Ans: The central government also announced several projects for protecting specific animals, that were gravely threatened, including the tiger, the one-horned rhinoceros, the Kashmir stag or hangul, three types of crocodiles – freshwater crocodile, saltwater crocodile, and the Gharial, the Asiatic lion, and others. Most recently, the Indian elephant, black buck (chinkara), the great Indian bustard (godawan), and the snow leopard, etc. have been given full or partial legal protection against hunting and trade throughout India.
7. What is JFM?
Ans: JFM is a joint forest management program. JFM depends on the formation of local (village) institutions that undertake protection activities mostly on degraded forest land managed by the forest department. In return, the members of these communities are entitled to intermediary benefits like non-timber forest produces and share in the timber harvested by ‘successful protection’.
8. Why the Himalayan Yew was in trouble?
Ans: the Himalayan Yew (Taxus wallachiana) is a medicinal plant found in various parts of Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. A chemical compound called ‘taxol’ is extracted from the bark, needles, twigs, and roots of this tree, and it has been successfully Tribal girls using bamboo saplings in a nursery at Mukhali near Silent Valley Tribal women selling minor forest produce Leaf litter collection by women folk used to treat some cancers – the drug is now the biggest selling anti-cancer drug in the world. The species is under great threat due to over-exploitation. In the last decade, thousands of yew trees have dried up in various parts of Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.
9. Why tiger conservation is important?
Ans: Tiger conservation has been viewed not only as an effort to save an endangered species but with equal importance as a means of preserving biotypes of sizeable magnitude. Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, Sunderbans National Park in West Bengal, Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan, Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam, and Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala are some of the tiger reserves of India.
10. Write some state’s name which comes under forest protection.
Ans: state names are Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Rajasthan.
11. Write some state names that come under reserved forest.
Ans: The state’s names are Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Maharashtra.
Long answer type question
1. write some normal species, endangered species, vulnerable species, rare species, endemic species, and extinct species according to IUCN.
Ans: According to IUCN – International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
| Normal Species | Species whose population levels are considered to be normal for their survival. • Cattle • Sal • pine • rodents |
| Endangered Species | These are species that are in danger of extinction. The survival of such species is difficult if the negative factors that have led to a decline in their population continue to operate. • black buck • crocodile • Indian wild ass • Indian rhino • lion-tailed macaque • sangai (brow anter deer in Manipur) |
| Vulnerable Species | These are species whose population has declined to levels from where it is likely to move into the endangered category in the near future if the negative factors continue to operate. • Blue sheep • Asiatic elephant • Gangetic dolphin |
| Rare Species | Species with a small population may move into the endangered or vulnerable category if the negative factors affecting them continue to operate. • Himalayan brown bear • Wild Asiatic buffalo • Desert fox • Hornbill |
| Endemic Species | These are species that are only found in some particular areas usually isolated by natural or geographical barriers. • Andaman teal • Nicobar pigeon • Andaman wild pig • mithun in Arunachal Pradesh |
| Extinct Species | These are species that are not found after searches of known or likely areas where they may occur. A species may be extinct from a local area, region, country, continent, or the entire earth. • Asiatic cheetah • Pink head duck |
2. Why did the flora and fauna deplete?
Ans: The cause of depletion of flora and fauna: –
- Grazing and fuel-wood collection are the greatest degrading factors behind the depletion of forest resources.
- Large-scale development projects have also contributed significantly to the loss of forests.
- Habitat destruction, hunting, poaching, over-exploitation, environmental pollution, poisoning, and forest fires are factors, which have led to the decline in India’s biodiversity.
- Other important causes of environmental destruction are unequal access, inequitable consumption of resources, and differential sharing of responsibility for environmental well-being.
- Overpopulation is the cause of environmental degradation. However, an average American consumes 40 times more resources than an average Somalian.
3. What are the effects of the depletion of flora and fauna in India?
Ans: Effects of depletion of flora and fauna in India.
- The destruction of forests and wildlife is a biological loss that is strongly correlated with the loss of cultural diversity.
- Such losses have increasingly marginalized and impoverished many indigenous and other forest-dependent communities, who directly depend on various components of the forest and wildlife for food, drink, medicine, culture, spirituality, etc.
- poor, women are affected more than men. In many societies, women are responsible for collecting fuel, fodder, water, and other basic subsistence needs.
- As these resources are depleted, the drudgery (hard work) of women increases, and sometimes they have to walk for more than 10 km to collect these resources. This causes serious health problems for women and negligence of home and children because of the increased hours of work, which often has serious social implications.
- The indirect impact of degradation such as severe drought or deforestation-induced floods, etc. also hits the poor the hardest.
4. How can we conserve the forest and wildlife in India?
Ans: Conservation of Forest and Wildlife in India
- Conservation in the background of rapid decline in wildlife population and forestry has become essential.
- Conservation preserves the ecological diversity and our life support systems – water, air, and soil.
- It also preserves the genetic diversity of plants and animals for better growth of species and breeding.
- For example, we still depend on traditional crop varieties in agriculture.
- Fisheries too are heavily dependent on the maintenance of aquatic biodiversity.
- In the 1960s and 1970s, conservationists demanded a national wildlife protection program.
5. Explain the Indian Wildlife Act 1972.
Ans: The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act was implemented in 1972, with various provisions for protecting habitats.
- The program was to protect the remaining population of certain endangered species by banning hunting, giving legal protection to their habitats, and restricting wildlife trade.
- Subsequently, central and many state governments established national parks and wildlife sanctuaries about which you have already studied.
- The central government also announced several projects for protecting specific animals, that were gravely threatened, including the tiger, the one-horned rhinoceros, the Kashmir stag or hangul, three types of crocodiles – freshwater crocodile, saltwater crocodile and the Gharial, the Asiatic lion, and others.
- Most recently, the Indian elephant, black buck (chinkara), the great Indian bustard (godawan) the snow leopard, etc. have been given full or partial legal protection against hunting and trade throughout India.
- Under the Wildlife Act of 1980 and 1986, several hundred butterflies, moths, beetles, and one dragonfly have been added to the list of protected species.
- In 1991, for the first time plants were also added to the list, starting with six species.
6. Explain the distribution of forests.
Ans: it is classified under the following categories.
- Reserved Forests: More than half of the total forest land has been declared reserved forests. Reserved forests are regarded as the most valuable as far as the conservation of forest and wildlife resources is concerned.
- Protected Forests: Almost one-third of the total forest area is protected forest, as declared by the Forest Department. This forest land is protected from any further depletion.
- Unclassed Forests: These are other forests and wastelands belonging to both government and private individuals and communities
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