Stream II: Mountain Environment and Development Studies

(c) Sustainable mountain tourism.

International Mountain Day (11 December) in 2021 carried the theme "Sustainable mountain tourism", highlighting tourism that supports local livelihoods and conserves mountain environments.

(a) Transhumance.

Transhumance is the seasonal movement of livestock between high summer pastures and lower winter valleys. Nomadism has no fixed base, and rotational grazing only moves animals between paddocks.

(d) Earthquake and volcanic eruption.

These are geological (tectonic) hazards, not climate-related. Changes in stream flow, floods, landslides, glacial retreat and wildfire are all linked to climate.

(d) All of the above.

Mountains feed most of the world's major rivers, host high biodiversity, and capture moisture from air masses, so they are the "water towers" of the world.

(c) Both of the above.

Highland agriculture faces water scarcity and scattered, fragmented, sloping land holdings, along with poor access and climatic risk.

(b) Tree line.

The tree line is the elevation above which trees cannot grow, because of cold, short growing seasons and harsh conditions.

(a) Marginality.

The standard trio of constraints in mountain development is inaccessibility, fragility and marginality. Diversity is an opportunity, not a constraint.

(b) Deccan plateau.

The Deccan is a plateau. The Appalachians and Himalaya are mountain ranges, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an undersea mountain range.

(b) Orogeny.

Orogeny is mountain building through folding, faulting and deformation of the crust, usually at plate boundaries. Orography is the study of relief/mountain effects on weather.

(a) Submergent.

The three major plate boundary types are convergent, divergent and transform.

(c) Plate tectonics.

Plate tectonics is an endogenic (internal) process. Weathering, mass movement, erosion and deposition are exogenic processes acting at the surface.

(b) 6.5°C per 1000 m.

The average environmental lapse rate is about 6.5°C per km of ascent (about 0.65°C per 100 m).

(d) Cryosphere.

The cryosphere comprises all frozen water: snow, ice, glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice and frozen ground. Permafrost is only the frozen ground part.

(c) Timberline.

The timberline is the upper limit of closed forest. The treeline lies above it, where scattered individual trees survive, and the krummholz zone is stunted trees beyond.

(d) Orographic precipitation.

Moist air forced up a mountain barrier cools adiabatically, condenses and precipitates on the windward side.

(b) Coniferous forests.

The temperate and subalpine zones of the Himalaya are dominated by conifers such as pine, fir, spruce and hemlock, which characterise Himalayan mountain forests.

(b) Hot and dry.

High temperature opens stomata and raises the vapour pressure deficit, and dry air steepens the gradient, so transpiration is fastest in hot, dry conditions.

(c) Biodegradable pollutants.

Biodegradable pollutants, such as sewage and organic waste, are broken down by microorganisms and can be managed. Non-biodegradable ones persist.

(b) Taxus baccata.

Himalayan yew is the trade name for Taxus (T. baccata/T. wallichiana), valued for taxol, an anticancer compound.

(b) Study of different species.

Synecology studies communities, meaning groups of species and their interactions with the environment. Autecology studies a single species.

(b) Ficus religiosa.

Dalbergia sissoo (sissoo) is deciduous and sheds its leaves in the dry season. Ficus religiosa (peepal) is regarded as the evergreen/near-evergreen example, shedding leaves only briefly.

(b) High carbon footprint.

Mountain/family farming is small scale, diversified and low-input, so it has a low, not high, carbon footprint.

(d) All of the above.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya is called the Third Pole, since it holds the largest ice store outside the polar regions, and also the Himalaya and the "Pulse of the Planet".

(d) All of above.

Deep gorges, sharp river turns and steep gradients with frequent landslides show active uplift and ongoing erosion, which are typical of young fold mountains.

(c) Thorong La Pass.

At about 5,416 m, Thorong La is the highest point of the Annapurna Circuit, far above the other options.