{"id":87786,"date":"2025-06-01T06:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T06:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?p=87786"},"modified":"2025-06-01T06:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T06:54:09","slug":"keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of<\/p>\n<p>[amp_mcq option1=&#8221;Starfish.&#8221; option2=&#8221;Blue whale.&#8221; option3=&#8221;Octopus.&#8221; option4=&#8221;Sea horse.&#8221; correct=&#8221;option1&#8243;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"psc-box-pyq-exam-year-detail\">\n<div class=\"pyq-exam\">\n<div class=\"psc-heading\">This question was previously asked in<\/div>\n<div class=\"psc-title line-ellipsis\">UPSC NDA-1 &#8211; 2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pyq-exam-psc-buttons\"><a href=\"\/pyq\/pyq-upsc-nda-1-2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"psc-pdf-button\" rel=\"noopener\">Download PDF<\/a><a href=\"\/pyq-upsc-nda-1-2021\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"psc-attempt-button\" rel=\"noopener\">Attempt Online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"pyq-correct-answer\">\nThe correct answer is A) Starfish.<br \/>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"pyq-key-points\">\nCoral bleaching is primarily caused by environmental stress, most notably elevated sea temperatures. However, biological factors can also contribute. Outbreaks of predatory starfish, specifically the Crown-of-Thorns starfish (*Acanthaster planci*), are known to cause significant damage to coral reefs by feeding on polyps. Severe predation can weaken the coral, making it more susceptible to bleaching, or cause direct mortality that appears as whitening (tissue loss revealing the white skeleton). Keppel Island, being part of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem which experiences COTS outbreaks, is susceptible to such damage. While climate change and rising temperatures are the main driver of widespread bleaching events, localised stress from predators like starfish can exacerbate or cause bleaching in specific areas. Given the options, Starfish (Crown-of-Thorns) is the only organism listed that is a known significant predator of coral and contributes to coral damage and bleaching.<br \/>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"pyq-additional-information\">\nBlue whales, octopuses, and sea horses do not feed on coral and are not associated with causing coral bleaching. While other factors like pollution or disease can cause bleaching, the question points to &#8220;expansion&#8221; of a species, and Crown-of-Thorns starfish populations can undergo periodic outbreaks or expansions, leading to increased predation pressure on reefs.<br \/>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of [amp_mcq option1=&#8221;Starfish.&#8221; option2=&#8221;Blue whale.&#8221; option3=&#8221;Octopus.&#8221; option4=&#8221;Sea horse.&#8221; correct=&#8221;option1&#8243;] This question was previously asked in UPSC NDA-1 &#8211; 2021 Download PDFAttempt Online The correct answer is A) Starfish. Coral bleaching is primarily caused by environmental stress, most notably elevated sea temperatures. However, biological factors can &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/#more-87786\">Detailed Solution<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1093],"tags":[1110,1367,1136],"class_list":["post-87786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upsc-nda-1","tag-1110","tag-ecology","tag-environment-and-ecology","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.2 (Yoast SEO v23.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The correct answer is A) Starfish. Coral bleaching is primarily caused by environmental stress, most notably elevated sea temperatures. However, biological factors can also contribute. Outbreaks of predatory starfish, specifically the Crown-of-Thorns starfish (*Acanthaster planci*), are known to cause significant damage to coral reefs by feeding on polyps. Severe predation can weaken the coral, making it more susceptible to bleaching, or cause direct mortality that appears as whitening (tissue loss revealing the white skeleton). Keppel Island, being part of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem which experiences COTS outbreaks, is susceptible to such damage. While climate change and rising temperatures are the main driver of widespread bleaching events, localised stress from predators like starfish can exacerbate or cause bleaching in specific areas. Given the options, Starfish (Crown-of-Thorns) is the only organism listed that is a known significant predator of coral and contributes to coral damage and bleaching.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The correct answer is A) Starfish. Coral bleaching is primarily caused by environmental stress, most notably elevated sea temperatures. However, biological factors can also contribute. Outbreaks of predatory starfish, specifically the Crown-of-Thorns starfish (*Acanthaster planci*), are known to cause significant damage to coral reefs by feeding on polyps. Severe predation can weaken the coral, making it more susceptible to bleaching, or cause direct mortality that appears as whitening (tissue loss revealing the white skeleton). Keppel Island, being part of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem which experiences COTS outbreaks, is susceptible to such damage. While climate change and rising temperatures are the main driver of widespread bleaching events, localised stress from predators like starfish can exacerbate or cause bleaching in specific areas. Given the options, Starfish (Crown-of-Thorns) is the only organism listed that is a known significant predator of coral and contributes to coral damage and bleaching.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MCQ and Quiz for Exams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T06:54:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of","description":"The correct answer is A) Starfish. Coral bleaching is primarily caused by environmental stress, most notably elevated sea temperatures. However, biological factors can also contribute. Outbreaks of predatory starfish, specifically the Crown-of-Thorns starfish (*Acanthaster planci*), are known to cause significant damage to coral reefs by feeding on polyps. Severe predation can weaken the coral, making it more susceptible to bleaching, or cause direct mortality that appears as whitening (tissue loss revealing the white skeleton). Keppel Island, being part of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem which experiences COTS outbreaks, is susceptible to such damage. While climate change and rising temperatures are the main driver of widespread bleaching events, localised stress from predators like starfish can exacerbate or cause bleaching in specific areas. Given the options, Starfish (Crown-of-Thorns) is the only organism listed that is a known significant predator of coral and contributes to coral damage and bleaching.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of","og_description":"The correct answer is A) Starfish. Coral bleaching is primarily caused by environmental stress, most notably elevated sea temperatures. However, biological factors can also contribute. Outbreaks of predatory starfish, specifically the Crown-of-Thorns starfish (*Acanthaster planci*), are known to cause significant damage to coral reefs by feeding on polyps. Severe predation can weaken the coral, making it more susceptible to bleaching, or cause direct mortality that appears as whitening (tissue loss revealing the white skeleton). Keppel Island, being part of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem which experiences COTS outbreaks, is susceptible to such damage. While climate change and rising temperatures are the main driver of widespread bleaching events, localised stress from predators like starfish can exacerbate or cause bleaching in specific areas. Given the options, Starfish (Crown-of-Thorns) is the only organism listed that is a known significant predator of coral and contributes to coral damage and bleaching.","og_url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/","og_site_name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","article_published_time":"2025-06-01T06:54:09+00:00","author":"rawan239","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rawan239","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/","name":"Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-01T06:54:09+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-01T06:54:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209"},"description":"The correct answer is A) Starfish. Coral bleaching is primarily caused by environmental stress, most notably elevated sea temperatures. However, biological factors can also contribute. Outbreaks of predatory starfish, specifically the Crown-of-Thorns starfish (*Acanthaster planci*), are known to cause significant damage to coral reefs by feeding on polyps. Severe predation can weaken the coral, making it more susceptible to bleaching, or cause direct mortality that appears as whitening (tissue loss revealing the white skeleton). Keppel Island, being part of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem which experiences COTS outbreaks, is susceptible to such damage. While climate change and rising temperatures are the main driver of widespread bleaching events, localised stress from predators like starfish can exacerbate or cause bleaching in specific areas. Given the options, Starfish (Crown-of-Thorns) is the only organism listed that is a known significant predator of coral and contributes to coral damage and bleaching.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/keppel-island-is-completely-bleached-mainly-due-to-the-expansion-of\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UPSC NDA-1","item":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/category\/upsc-nda-1\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Keppel Island is completely bleached mainly due to the expansion of"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/","name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209","name":"rawan239","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/761a7274f9cce048fa5b921221e7934820d74514df93ef195a9d22af0c1c9001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/761a7274f9cce048fa5b921221e7934820d74514df93ef195a9d22af0c1c9001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rawan239"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com"],"url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/author\/rawan239\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}