| Portion | Small |
| discover | live |
| tiny | join, bind |
| environment | attempt |
| exist | stable, steady |
| effort | support, ensure, guarantee |
| interconnect | part, share |
| provide | medicine |
| resistant | surroundings |
| drug | find, reveal, open |
Task 5. Make up sentences mind the word order.
1. identified/ scientists/ have/ different/ about 1.75 million/ species.
2. biodiversity/ within/ the/ given/ kinds/ living/ to/ organisms/ a/ all/ different/ of/ area/ refers.
3. equator/ the/ closer/ is/ the/ generally/ the/ region/ greater/ to/ the/ a/ biodiversity.
4. a/ and/ communities/ these/ are/ effort/ to/ making/ biodiversity/ special/ in/ scientists/ preserve/ regions.
5. another/ genetic/ to/ biodiversity/ way/ is/ diversity/ measure.
6. 400,000/ some/ have/ genes/ species/ as many as.
7. genetic/ some/ why/ variation/ poodles/ is/ some/ are/ this/ and/ are/ dogs/ pit bulls.
8. ecosystems/ with/ biodiversity/ are/ disaster/ fewer/ generally/ with/ and/ more resistant/ those/ to/ a lot of/ than/ stronger/ species.
9. is/ and/ especially/ medical/ biodiversity/ pharmaceutical/ important/ industries/ the/ to.
Comprehension and discussion
Task 6. Decide if these statements are true or false. Explain your opinion according to the text.
1. Biodiversity includes plants, animals, fungi, and other living things.
2. Temperate regions, which have warm summers and cold winters, have more biodiversity.
3. Generally, the closer a region is to the Equator, the lower the biodiversity.
4. Human beings have about 15,000 genes.
5. Greater genetic diversity in species can make plants and animals more resistant to diseases.
6. Ecosystems with a lot of biodiversity are generally weaker and less resistant to disaster than those with fewer species.
7. One of the most popular and safe pain relievers, aspirin, was originally made from the bark of chestnut trees.
Task 7. Discuss the following problems with your partner using the word combinations from the text.
What is biodiversity?
Kinds of biodiversity
Importance of biodiversity
Task 8. Read the text and insert the missing words from the box. Then translate the text into Russian.
Decreasing Biodiversity
| factor, increases, decreased, danger, declines, multiplied, preserve, extinction. |
In the past hundred years, biodiversity around the world has 1_______ dramatically. Many species have gone extinct. 2________ is a natural process; some species naturally die out while new species evolve. But human activity has changed the natural processes of extinction and evolution. Scientists estimate that species are dying out at hundreds of times the natural rate.
A major reason for the loss of biodiversity is that natural habitats are being destroyed. The fields, forests, and wetlands where wild plants and animals live are disappearing. Land is cleared to plant crops or build houses and factories. Forests are cut for lumber and firewood. Between 1990 and 2005, the amount of forested land in Honduras, for instance, dropped 37 percent.
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As habitats shrink, fewer individuals can live there. The creatures that survive have fewer breeding partners, so genetic diversity 3_______.
Pollution, overfishing, and overhunting have also caused a drop in biodiversity. Global climate changethe latest rise in the average temperature around the globe, linked to human activityis also a 4_______. Warmer ocean temperatures damage fragile ecosystems such as coral reefs. A single coral reef can shelter 3,000 species of fish and other sea creatures such as clams and sea stars.
Biodiversity can also be harmed by introduced species. When people introduce species from one part of the world to another, they often have no natural predators. These non-native species thrive in their new habitat, often destroying native species in the process. Brown tree snakes, for instance, were accidentally brought into Guam, an island in the South Pacific, in the 1950s. Because brown tree snakes have no predators on Guam, they quickly 5______. The snakes, which hunt birds, have caused the extinction of nine of the islands 11 native forest-dwelling bird species.
People all over the world are working to maintain the planets biodiversity. In the United States, the Endangered Species Act protects about 2,000 organisms that are in 6________ of becoming extinct. Animals and plants are the most familiar types of endangered species, but a fungus, such as the white ferula mushroom can also be threatened. The white ferula mushroom, a delicacy that only grows on the Italian island of Sicily, helps decompose organic compounds such as plants. Some environmental groups are working to create a sustainable mushroom population to satisfy consumers as well as the local ecosystem.
Around the globe, thousands of wilderness areas have been set up to conserve plants, animals, and ecosystems. Local, national, and international organizations are cooperating to 7_______ the biodiversity of regions threatened by development or natural disasters. UNESCOs World Heritage Site program recognizes areas of global importance, such as the enormous wetland region of the Pantanal in South America. Many national parks, such as Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana, protect biodiversity within the park by restricting extractive activities, such as mining and drilling.
Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been established to preserve sea life. In the marine protected area around Australias Great Barrier Reef, no-fishing zones have helped fish populations thrive. People are also working to limit pollution and restore coral reef ecosystems in the area. As ecosystems become healthier, their biodiversity 8_______.
ECOLOGICAL NICHE
PRE-READING
Before reading the passage,answer the following questions and discuss them with your partner. Then read the passage and find the facts supporting your ideas.
1. What is ecological niche?
2. What does it consist of?
3. Who was the founder of the term ecological niche?
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