Environment and Ecology Important Topics for UPSC Prelims 2024

• Basic Ecology: Concepts of ecosystem, biomes, and niches.
• Food Chains and Webs: Understanding the flow of energy.
• Biodiversity: Levels of biodiversity, its importance, and conservation.

• Global Warming and Climate Change: Causes, effects, and mitigation strategies.
• Air and Water Pollution: Major pollutants, their sources, and impacts.
• Soil Degradation: Causes and effects of soil erosion and remediation techniques.

• Concepts and Applications: Understanding sustainable development goals.
• Energy Resources: Renewable and non-renewable energy sources, their uses, and impacts.
• Conservation Strategies: Community-led efforts, wildlife conservation projects.

• National Policies: India’s National Environment Policy, Forest Policy, Wildlife Action Plan.
• International Agreements: Paris Agreement, Convention on Biological Diversity, Ramsar Convention.
• Regulatory Bodies: Roles of the CPCB, MoEFCC, and other relevant organizations.

• Adaptation vs. Mitigation: Strategies and examples from national and international contexts.
• Impact on Agriculture: Climate change effects on crop patterns, food security implications.
• Disaster Management: Understanding policies, frameworks, and responses to natural disasters.

• Population Ecology: Population dynamics, growth models, carrying capacity.
• Community Ecology: Community structure, species interactions, succession.
• Ecosystem Ecology: Energy flow, nutrient cycling, trophic levels.
• Landscape Ecology: Landscape patterns, connectivity, habitat fragmentation.
• Global Ecology: Biomes, climate change impacts, biodiversity hotspots.

• Species Diversity: Richness, evenness, endangered species, conservation status.
• Genetic Diversity: Importance in adaptation, conservation genetics.
• Ecosystem Diversity: Different ecosystem types, conservation strategies.
• Conservation Biology: Conservation strategies, threats to biodiversity, endangered species conservation.

• Environmental Pollution: Air, water, soil, noise pollution.
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): Assessment methods, mitigation measures.
• Waste Management: Solid waste, hazardous waste, recycling, composting.
• Climate Change: Climate science, impacts, mitigation, adaptation.
• Environmental Policy and Governance: International agreements, environmental laws, sustainable development goals.

• Human Impact on the Environment: Urbanization, deforestation, agriculture, industrialization.
• Sustainable Living: Eco-friendly practices, sustainable consumption, green technologies.
• Ecotoxicology: Pollutants and their effects, ecological risk assessment.

• Freshwater Ecology: Lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, aquatic biodiversity.
• Marine Ecology: Coral reefs, estuaries, deep-sea ecosystems.

• Forest Ecology: Types of forests, deforestation, reforestation.
• Grassland Ecology: Savannas, prairie ecosystems, grazing dynamics.

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