{"id":242,"date":"2023-06-11T19:58:04","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T14:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/?p=242"},"modified":"2024-04-03T07:20:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T01:50:27","slug":"q-if-rainforests-and-tropical-forests-are-the-lungs-of-the-earth-then-surely-wetlands-function-as-its-kidneys-which-one-of-the-following-functions-of-wetlands-best-reflects-the-ab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/upsc\/q-if-rainforests-and-tropical-forests-are-the-lungs-of-the-earth-then-surely-wetlands-function-as-its-kidneys-which-one-of-the-following-functions-of-wetlands-best-reflects-the-ab","title":{"rendered":"Q. \u201cIf rainforests and tropical forests are the lungs of the Earth, then surely wetlands function as its kidneys.\u201d Which one of the following functions of wetlands best reflects the above statement?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"mcq wp-block-list\">\n<li>The water cycle in wetlands involves surface runoff, subsoil percolation and evaporation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Algae form the nutrient base upon which fish, crustaceans, molluscs, birds, reptiles and mammals thrive.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wetlands play a vital role in maintaining sedimentation balance and soil stabilization.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Aquatic plants absorb heavy metals and excess nutrients.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Answer: (d) : Aquatic plants absorb heavy metals and excess nutrients.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wetland is<strong>&nbsp;defined as areas of marshes, fen, peatland, or water whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary with water. that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish, or salt including areas of marine water<\/strong>, the depth of which does not exceed six meters.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These areas have the<strong>&nbsp;soil covered by water or are present either at or near the surface of the soil&nbsp;<\/strong>all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wetlands,&nbsp;<strong>natural and manmade, freshwater or brackish,<\/strong>&nbsp;provide numerous ecological services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The wetlands<strong>&nbsp;essentially act as the \u2018kidneys of the landscape\u2019,<\/strong><strong>filtering and capturing sediment, and helping settle it to the bed of the wetland<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0<strong>plants use these nutrients to grow<\/strong>\u00a0which supports the whole ecosystem.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wetlands are also known as the Kidneys of the landscape&nbsp;<strong>due to their natural ability to accommodate&nbsp;surface runoff&nbsp;and subsequently clean the water, protect against floods<\/strong>, and&nbsp;<strong>recharge the underground aquifers through percolation. Evaporation is also a process instigated by the formation of wetlands.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Importance of Wetlands:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It&nbsp;<strong>helps to maintain sedimentation and balance of soil,&nbsp;<\/strong>helpful in water, carbon, and nutrient cycles.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They<strong>&nbsp;filter, clean, and store water<\/strong>&nbsp;and thus act as kidneys for other ecosystems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It helps to&nbsp;<strong>regulate the amount of water as excess water from rainfall and floods&nbsp;<\/strong>gets absorbed and can be used in times of need.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is the&nbsp;<strong>source of livelihood through fishing and rice farming<\/strong>&nbsp;to travel, tourism, and water provision.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wetlands&nbsp;<strong>host a large variety of life, protect our coastlines, provide natural sponges&nbsp;<\/strong>against river flooding and&nbsp;<strong>store carbon dioxide<\/strong>&nbsp;to regulate climate change.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They&nbsp;<strong>provide habitat for wildlife and migratory birds<\/strong>&nbsp;and help in the conservation of the environment.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-_4daa30-08 .kt-block-spacer{height:40px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-_4daa30-08 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:100%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-_4daa30-08\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Answer: (d) : Aquatic plants absorb heavy metals and excess nutrients. Notes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[36],"years":[51],"class_list":["post-242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upsc","category-prelims","tag-environment","years-51"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1,"label":"UPSC"},{"value":3,"label":"Prelims"}],"post_tag":[{"value":36,"label":"Environment"}],"years":[{"value":51,"label":"2022"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"LotusArise","author_link":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/author\/team-lotusarise"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":1,"name":"UPSC","slug":"upsc","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1269,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1,"category_count":1269,"category_description":"","cat_name":"UPSC","category_nicename":"upsc","category_parent":0},{"term_id":3,"name":"Prelims","slug":"prelims","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":1,"count":1251,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":3,"category_count":1251,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Prelims","category_nicename":"prelims","category_parent":1}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":36,"name":"Environment","slug":"environment","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":36,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":193,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions\/440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242"},{"taxonomy":"years","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/years?post=242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}