With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. Global warming is causing spring to come early and for longer durations. 2. Early spring and longer period of spring is not good for bird populations. Which of the above assumptions is/are correct?

CSAT 2023 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2023 · Question 41 · Reading comprehension

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

Directions for the following 3 (three) items: Read the following three passages and answer the items that follow the passages. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only.

Passage—1

Scientists studied the vernal window — transition period from winter to the growing season. They found that warmer winters with less snow resulted in a longer lag time between spring events and a more protracted vernal window. This change in the spring timetable has ecological, social and economic consequences — for agriculture, fisheries and tourism. As the ice melts earlier, the birds don't return, causing a delay, or lengthening in springtime ecological events.

CSAT 2023 · Q41

Reading comprehension Medium

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1.Global warming is causing spring to come early and for longer durations.
2.Early spring and longer period of spring is not good for bird populations.

Which of the above assumptions is/are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1 only

The passage links warmer winters with less snow to earlier ice-melt and a longer, more drawn-out vernal window, which takes a warming climate to be making spring come early and last longer. It reports that birds do not return on time, but says nothing about harm to bird populations.

✓ 1. 'Warmer winters with less snow' produce 'a more protracted vernal window' and ice that 'melts earlier': the passage takes it that warming brings spring earlier and stretches it out.
✗ 2. The passage says the birds don't return, delaying springtime events; it says nothing about bird numbers, so harm to bird populations is not assumed.

Remember · Separate what a passage reports (birds' timing changes) from a further judgement it never makes (populations suffer).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

Passage—1

CSAT 2023 · Q41

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