INTRODUCTION
These instructions are compiled for students specializing in Ecology and Protection of the Environment. The purpose of the instructions is to present systematically texts and to drill them in a wide variety of exercises.
The instructions introduce the student to a particular type of learning experience and comprise 9 units graded in cognition.
Units 1 – 9 provide the learner of English with original texts from the latest books and journals.
Each unit consists of:
a)a text selected for reading and study in class. Students have to read and to translate the text under the supervision of the teacher. What they are meant to acquire as a result of reading is an insight into structures of the text and an ability to render it as close as possible to the original;
b)keywords, mostly taken from the text. A group of words – keywords – is presented as the core vocabulary;
c)a number of varied comprehension drills. These drills reveal to the students the way in which they are expected to form their own ideas. With this in view the instructions provide multiple-choice questions and substitution tables demanding a freer use of the material, a more creative approach.
All the learners can be directed to Environmental “Idioms”, Glossary, and Map of the World.
UNIT 1.
THE OCCURRENCE OF LIFE
Chaos pervaded the universe then and now. Many of the motions of our Solar System are driven by chaos. Life attempts to create order out of chaos, an uphill struggle that comes at the expense of a great deal of energy, which must be obtained from the Sun. This struggle is manifested by the presence of large amounts of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. Without life, chemical reactions would have run steadily downhill and oxygen would have long since vanished. Thus, life seems to maintain oxygen and carbon dioxide in perfect balance. Too much of one with respect to the other could spell the difference between life and death on Earth.
Organisms might have developed photosynthesis as early as 3.5 billion years ago. The oxygen that was produced in this manner, however, was quickly used up by chemical reactions that permanently stored it in the crust. Then, about 2 billion years ago, these oxygen traps became full and the gas began to slowly build up in the ocean and atmosphere. In addition to the generation of oxygen, simple plants removed carbon dioxide from the environment and buried it in the Earth’s crust in the form of carbonaceous sediments.
About this time, mobile crustal plates on the Earth’s surface began to move extensively. This caused carbonaceous sediments and the oceanic crust to be thrust deep into the Earth. The newly formed surface area increased the amount of carbon dioxide stored in thick deposits of carbonate rocks such as limestone. The first microscopic plants also developed at this time and began to replace the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with oxygen. The combined loss of carbon dioxide caused the climate to cool even though the Sun was becoming progressively hotter. This initiated the first great Ice Age about 2 billion years ago.
Another substantial carbon dioxide repository was the great coal forests that spread over the land during the Upper Paleozoic Era 260 million years ago. Plants invaded the land about 450 million years ago and extended to all parts of the Earth. Lush forests that grew during the Carboniferous period absorbed large quantities of carbon dioxide. Rapid burial under anaerobic, or oxygen-lacking, conditions converted the carbon in the vegetation into thick seams of coal. The burning of coal reverses this process, releasing large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
During the Cretaceous period from about 135 to 65 million years ago, plants and animals were particularly abundant and spread practically from pole to pole. Volcanoes were especially active during this time. They injected massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which warmed the planet significantly. The Cretaceous period was the warmest period in the Earth’s history.
There is no evidence of any permanent ice caps during the warm Cretaceous period. The deep ocean waters, which are now near freezing, were then around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The average global surface temperature, which today is about 60 degrees, was about 20 degrees warmer during this time. The temperature difference between the poles and the equator was only about 40 degrees, whereas today that difference is nearly doubled.
The Earth’s climate actually began to warm at the beginning of the Jurassic period about 180 million years ago. About this time, the large supercontinent Pangaea began to break up, and the continents drifted into warmer equatorial waters. The oceans were interconnected in the equatorial regions by the Tethys and Central American seaways, which provided a unique current system that completely circled the globe and carried heat toward the poles. The high latitude oceans were less reflective than the land and absorbed more heat, which further moderated the climate.
Coral reefs and other tropical biota, for which bright sunlight and warm seas are essential, ranged as much as a thousand miles closer to the poles than they do today. Polar forests extended into latitudes 85 degrees north and south of the equator. One example is found in the fossilized remains of a forest that once thrived on the now frozen continent of Antarctica. Alligators and crocodiles lived as far north as Labrador, whereas today they are restricted to the warm Gulf Coastal region.
Perhaps the greatest contribution to the warming of the Earth, however, came from increased volcanic activity caused by vigorous continental movements called plate tectonics. Volcanoes produced 4 to 8 times the present amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which substantially increased greenhouse warming. This also provided an abundant source of carbon for green plants, which contributed considerably to their prodigious growth and helped feed the hungry dinosaurs.
KEYWORDS:
atmosphere – cap – carbon dioxide – carbonate – Carboniferous – chaos – Cretaceous – crust – crustal – globe – Jurassic – latitude – limestone – lush forests – occurrence – ocean – oxygen – Paleozoic – pole – quantity
DRILLS:
COMPREHENSION OF THE INFORMATION.
- Complete the sentences:
1)______, life seems to maintain oxygen and carbon dioxide in perfect balance.
2)Chaos pervaded the universe ______.
3)Plants invaded the land about 450 million years ago and extended to all parts of the ______.
4)This initiated the first great Ice Age about ______.
5)______is manifested ______of large amounts of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere.
6)This caused ______and ______to be thrust deep into the Earth.
7)______between the poles and the equator was only about 40 degrees, ______that difference is nearly doubled.
- Now complete your Language Record. Give examples of your own in good, natural English.
Word / Example / Explanation
alligator
biota
coral reef
crocodile
life
organism
period
plant
prodigious
rainforest
seam
Tethys sea
volcano / Alligators lived as far north as Labrador. / An alligator is a large animal, chiefly of the southern United States, similar to a crocodile.
The plants and animals in an area.
A reef in relatively shallow, tropical seas composed chiefly of the skeletons of coral.
A crocodile is a large reptile with a long body.
Life is the quality which people, animals, and plants have when they are not dead.
An organism is an animal or plant.
A subdivision of a geologic era corresponding to a rock system: periods are combined to form eras and subdivided into epochs.
A plant is a living thing that grows in earth and has a stem, leaves, and roots.
Something that is amazingly great.
A rainforest is a thick forest of tall trees which is found in tropical areas where there is a lot of rain.
A seam is a long, narrow layer of coal beneath the ground.
The Tethys sea is the hypothetical midlatitude area of the oceans separating the northern and southern continents of Gondwanaland and Laurasia some hundreds of million years ago.
A volcano is a mountain which hot melted rock, gas, steam, and ash sometimes burst out of, coming from inside the Earth.
- What do you know about rainforests? Tell the class your ideas.
What is a rainforest?
Where are the rainforests?
What types of animals live there?
Why are the rainforests important?
What’s happening to the rainforests?
- Read about the rainforests. Here is the article about rainforests. First read the article all the way through. Then write your own questions for other students to answer.
The Rainforests. Why Are They Important?
Rainforests cover six per cent of the Earth’s surface. There are rainforests in many parts of the world but the biggest forests are in South America, Africa and South East Asia. There aren’t any rainforests in Europe or North America. About 75 % of all the types of animals that we know come from rainforests. Thousands and thousands of animals live in rainforests. There are many very beautiful birds, insects and reptiles. Many of them live in the trees, over 30 metres from the ground. There are also thousands of different plants – and lots of tall trees! It is always hot in a rainforest and the ground is always wet. It is also dark. The rainforests are very important for us. We need them! The trees and other plants in the forest help to make the air that we breathe. They also help to control the weather. They give us wood, rubber, fruits and many of our medicines. Unfortunately, in many places, the rainforests are in danger. For example, many years ago there was a large rainforest in Java. There were thousands of different plants and animals in the forest, but now there is nothing. People chopped down the trees because they wanted to grow rice. They also planted rubber trees to make rubber. Many animals lived in the rainforest. Some of them went to other parts of Java but many of them disappeared – forever. The same thing is happening now in many other parts of the world. The rainforests are in danger!
- Are these sentences true or false? If they are false put them right.
a)The ground is always hot in the rainforest.
b)There are rainforests in Asia.
c)Seventy-five per cent of all animals live in rainforests.
d)Many medicines come from rainforests.
e)There is a very big rainforest in Java.
- Imagine that you are walking in a rainforest. It’s hot and dark. You can hear lots of noises. The ground is very wet. You know that there are a lot of wild animals near you. What can you see? What can you hear? How do you feel? Write about your ideas.
- What’s the word? Read the clues and put the words in the puzzle. What word is number 11?
1)The biggest rainforests are in South … .
2)When the … changed millions of years ago, many plants and animals died.
3)We get a lot of … from rainforests.
4)Many rainforests are in … .
5)Rain … from clouds.
6)Clouds are made from water … .
7)The oldest living things on Earth.
8)It grows in Java where the rainforest was.
9)The Sun … .
10)The ground in a rainforest is always … .
21 / 3 / 6 / 8
4 / 10
7
11 / 5 / 9
UNIT 2.
WHAT KILLED THE DINOSAURS
The dinosaurs were the most successful land animals. They inhabited the Earth for 140 million years. Humans, on the other hand, have only been around for the past 4 million years. The dinosaurs originated during the Triassic period, which began 240 million years ago, when all the landmasses were assembled into the supercontinent Pangaea. During the Jurassic period, about 180 million years ago, the continents split apart.
Except for a few temporary land bridges, the newly formed oceans provided a barrier to any further dinosaur migration. At this time, almost identical species lived in North America, Europe, and Africa. The greatest dinosaur that ever lived, brachiosaurus, is found only in Colorado-Utah, southwestern Europe, and eastern Africa. It probably travelled to Africa by way of Europe when the continents were still together.
The success of the dinosaurs is exemplified by their extensive range. They occupied a wide variety of habitats and dominated all other forms of land-dwelling animals. Indeed, if the dinosaurs had not become extinct, mammals would never have achieved dominance over the Earth. Also, humans would not have come into existence because the dinosaurs would have suppressed further advancement of the mammals.
About 500 species of dinosaurs have been discovered thus far, although this is probably only a small fraction of the total. The generally warm climate of the Cretaceous period produced lush vegetation, including ferns and cycads, that supplied the insatiable diets of the plant-eating dinosaurs.
Many theories have been put forward to explain the demise of the dinosaurs. At the end of the Cretaceous period the dinosaurs and 70 per cent of all known species vanished. This indicates that something in the environment made them all unfit to survive, yet did not adversely affect the majority of the mammals. The mammals which were no larger than rodents, coexisted with the dinosaurs for more than 100 million years. They lived a nocturnal life style, however, so as not to compete directly with the dinosaurs.
At the end of the Cretaceous period, the Earth might have been bombarded by a massive meteorite shower. A thin layer of mud at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods provides evidence of such an occurrence. The mud is found in many parts of the world with the greatest concentration in central North America. Within this layer is a high concentration of iridium, an isotope of platinum, and meteoritic amino acids, both of which are extremely rare on Earth, but relatively abundant in meteorites. The iridium level in the layer of mud was a thousand times greater than normal background concentrations, which indicates that meteorite impacts lofted tremendous amounts of dust into the atmosphere and shaded the Earth. This might have cooled the climate enough to cause the extinction of larger numbers of species.
On the other hand, the impacts could have caused widespread extinction of microscopic marine plants called calcareous nannoplankton. These plants produce a sulfur compound that when released into the atmosphere helps to make clouds. Clouds, in turn, reflect sunlight and prevent solar radiation from reaching the surface. The death of the calcareous nannoplankton might have triggered an extreme global heat wave that would have killed off the dinosaurs and most other species. Evidence indicates that ocean temperatures did increase dramatically for tens of thousands of years beyond the end of the Cretaceous period.
The break-up of Pangaea might also have contributed to the demise of the dinosaurs by changing global climate patterns and producing unstable weather conditions. Massive floods of basalt from perhaps the most volcanically active period since the Earth’s beginning might have dealt a major blow to the climatic and ecological stability of the planet.
Another theory is that a massive bombardment of meteorites could have stripped away the ozone layer and bathed the Earth with the Sun’s deadly ultraviolet rays. This would have killed land plants and animals and the primary producers in the surface waters of the ocean. Since the mammals were mostly nocturnal and remained in their underground borrows during the day, they would have survived the onslaught of ultraviolet radiation. This scenario has important implications for us today. For if we continue to destroy the ozone layer with our pollutants, we might find ourselves going the same way as the dinosaurs.
KEYWORDS:
dinosaurs – extinct – fern – kill – mammals – meteorite – nannoplankton – Pangaea – radiation – species – survive – Tertiary – Triassic – vanish – vegetation
DRILLS:
COMPREHENSION OF THE INFORMATION
- Complete the sentences:
1)______, the impacts could have caused widespread extinction of microscopic marine plants called ______.
2)For if we continue to destroy the ozone layer ______, we might find ourselves going the same way as ______.
3)This might have cooled the climate enough to cause the ______of species.
4)The dinosaurs were the most successful ______.
5)The success of the dinosaurs is exemplified by ______range.
6)______, which were no larger than rodents, coexisted ______for more than 100 million years.
7)______is found in many parts ______with the greatest concentration in central North America.
- Now complete your Language Record. Give examples of your own in good, natural English.
Word / Example / Explanation
advancement
animal
basalt
demise
dominance
insatiable
iridium
layer
mud
onslaught
pollutant
rodent / Everybody has the opportunity for personal advancement. / Advancement is moving forward.
An animal is a living creature such as a dog, lion, or rabbit, rather than a bird, fish, reptile, insect, or human being.
A dark, tough, fine-grained to dense, extrusive volcanic rock commonly occurring in sheetlike lava flows.
The demise of something or someone is their end or death.
If someone has dominance over a person, place, or group, they have power or control over them.
A desire or greed that is insatiable is very great.
It is a rare isotope of platinum, relatively abundant in meteorites.
A layer is a flat piece of something or a quantity of something that covers a surface or that is between two other things.
It is a wet, sticky mixture of earth and water.
An onslaught is a violent attack.
A pollutant is a substance that pollutes the environment, especially a poisonous chemical.
A rodent is a small mammal which has sharp front teeth. Rats, mice, rabbits, and squirrels are rodents.
- What do you know about the dinosaurs? Are these sentences true or false?
1)Dinosaurs were reptiles.