Environmental Studies · Geography

Deforestation and Land Degradation

2,532 Questions

Deforestation and land degradation address the environmental impacts of human activities on natural ecosystems. Key areas include soil erosion, forest fires, and the consequences of overgrazing. These subjects frequently appear in the geography and environmental science sections of competitive exams.

Causes of deforestationForest fires consequencesSoil erosion factorsDesertification impactsAgroforestry benefitsReforestation advantages

Deforestation and Land Degradation Questions

Multiple choice

Directions: For this question, select the best of the answer choices given.

A report on acid rain concluded, “Most forests in Canada are not being damaged by acid rain.” Critics of the report insist the conclusion be changed to, “Most forests in Canada do not show visible symptoms of damage by acid rain, such as abnormal loss of leaves, slower rates of growth, or higher mortality.” Which of the following, if true, provides the best logical justification for the critics' insistence that the report's conclusion be changed?

  1. Some forests in Canada are being damaged by acid rain.

  2. Acid rain could be causing damage for which symptoms have not yet become visible.

  3. The report does not compare acid rain damage to Canadian forests with acid rain damage to forests in other countries.

  4. All forests in Canada have received acid rain during the past fifteen years.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The critics' revised conclusion is more precise because it acknowledges that lack of visible symptoms doesn't guarantee absence of damage. Acid rain could be causing internal or gradual damage that hasn't yet manifested in observable ways like leaf loss or mortality. The critics' wording accurately reflects that the report's original conclusion overstated the case by claiming forests are not being damaged, when the evidence only shows no visible symptoms.

Multiple choice

Which is/are the advantage/s we get from the forests?

  1. Source of income

  2. Means of employment

  3. Prevention from soil erosion

  4. All the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Forests provide multiple benefits: they are a source of income through timber and forest products, they create employment opportunities in forestry and related industries, and tree cover prevents soil erosion by binding soil with roots and reducing water runoff.

Multiple choice

Which of the following practices has caused maximum damage to the biodiversity of Indian forests?

  1. Selective harvesting

  2. Block cutting

  3. Tangya cultivation

  4. Jhoom cultivation
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Jhoom cultivation (shifting cultivation) involves clearing and burning forest patches repeatedly, causing maximum biodiversity loss through habitat destruction, soil degradation, and preventing forest recovery. Selective harvesting removes only specific trees, block cutting is controlled logging, and Tangya cultivation is less destructive than Jhoom.

Multiple choice

Overgrazing causes

  1. negative pollution

  2. positive pollution

  3. soil erosion

  4. reduction in crop yield
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods, or without sufficient recovery periods. This strips the land of vegetation cover, exposes the topsoil, and directly leads to severe soil erosion.

Multiple choice

Which of the following is not an effect of deforestation?

  1. Flooding

  2. Endangering life

  3. Overgrazing

  4. Global warming
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Overgrazing is not an effect of deforestation. Overgrazing means to permit animals to graze excessively that results in the depletion of forests. So, it can lead deforestation.

Multiple choice

Higher temperature and lower rainfall is the effect of

  1. soil erosion

  2. deforestation

  3. Both a and b

  4. None of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Deforestation reduces vegetation cover, which disrupts the local water cycle, leading to decreased rainfall, and exposes soil to intense sunlight, increasing temperatures. Thus, higher temperatures and lower rainfall are direct regional effects of large scale deforestation.

Multiple choice

Which of the following leads to the destrution of natural habitat of wild life?

  1. Deforestation

  2. Afforestation

  3. Reforestation

  4. All of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from the land. It has been practiced by humans for thousands of years chiefly as a result of clearing land for commercial and industrial development, cutting trees for building houses, making furniture and paper, clearing of land for growing  crops and to develop pasture for  grazing animals.

Multiple choice

What will be the consequence of indiscriminate cutting of trees?

  1. Amount of carbon dioxide in the air will decrease.

  2. Amount of carbon monooxide in the air will decrease.

  3. Amount of carbon dioxide in the air will increase.

  4. Amount of oxygen in the air will increase.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. Indiscriminate cutting of trees reduces this absorption capacity, leading to an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.