Alexander_Reading Items

Level: Upper Intermediate
Aim: Evaluating reading comprehension of students exposed to an article related to the environment.

Reading Items

You are at the Science Museum looking at an exhibition of endangered species. The guide gives you the article “Human Impact Triggers Massive Extinctions.” Read the article and complete the following exercises.

A. Read the statements below and write if they are TRUE or FALSE according to what you read in the text. If false, explain why. (0.75 each - 4.5 points)

1. _______ Some solutions to reduce the number of plants were presented at the Congress.

2. _______ Today we observe, among other things, a serious disappearance of fish.

3. _______ Some species have migrated to areas where they had never been before.

4. _______ Besides food, many more beneficial substances to humans can be found on coral reefs.

5. _______ Environmental changes have affected political campaigns and compromised their leaders.

6. _______ Three-fourths of all species on Earth will disappear this century.


B. The following words are in italics in the article. Match them with their corresponding meanings. (0.5 each - 2 points)

1. Breakthrough
2. Wrought
3. Spawn
4. Scarce

a. In a large number
b. Flat grassy land with very few trees
c. Created in a particular way
d. Important development or achievement
e. Lay eggs
f. Not enough
g. Done in general

C. Answer these questions according to the reading. (1 each - 3 points)

1. What can human influence on Earth be compared to?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What are some consequences of the excess use of fertilizers? Mention two (2).
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the role of vegetation in relation to the environment? Mention two (2) ways in which it happens.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

D. Identify the main idea sentence by circling the corresponding letter. (0.5 points)

a. Human actions may make the world disappear.
b. The Congress has brought together many scientists concerned about the world.
c. Human actions are impairing the survival of some living forms.
d. Researchers established several reasons for the world’s extinction.


Human Impact Triggers Massive Extinctions
ST. LOUIS, Missouri, August 2, 1999 (ENS) - Humanity's impact on the earth has increased extinction rates to levels rivaling the five mass extinctions of past geologic history, transformed nearly half of Earth’s land and created 50 dead zones in the world’s oceans, according to research being presented this week at the 16th International Botanical Congress.
Delegates at the world's largest gathering of plant scientists, which opened Friday, heard a seven point plan to slow the extinction rates of plants around the world. The Congress has brought together some 5,000 scientists from more than 100 countries to discuss the importance of plants for human survival and improved quality of life, and to announce breakthrough research in the field of plant science.
Two studies being discussed find that humans have gravely altered the chemistry, biology and physical structure of the Earth's land and water. What scientists are calling the "human footprint on Earth" is increasingly impairing the planet’s ability to maintain the quality of human life, and may lead to the loss of up to two-thirds of all plant and animal species during the second half of the 21st century.
Earth's Water Resources in Trouble
"We're degrading the water, changing our coastlines, filling in our estuaries, and changing our rivers," says Dr. Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State University, author of "Environmental Science and Engineering for the Twenty-First Century: The Role of the National Science Foundation." Lubchenko specializes in marine biology and zoology and their relation to climate change.
Dr. Lubchenco, past president of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Ecological Society of America, warns, "We're witnessing many signals of the problems that will result from these changes, including toxic algal blooms, coral bleaching and sudden disappearance of fish from key fisheries."
Lubchenko and coauthors Harold Mooney and Peter Vitousek of Stanford University found that close to 50 percent of the land surface of the planet has been transformed by humans through actions such as filling in wetlands, converting tall grass prairies into cornfields, or converting forests into urban areas. Humans have also more than doubled the amount of available nitrogen in the environment because of excess fertilizer use and burning of fossil fuel.
Lubchenco points out that while human domination of land masses is clear, the new data also indicates a dramatic alteration of Earth's oceans. There are now some 50 "dead zones" in the world's coastal areas, she says. The largest in the Western Hemisphere is in the Gulf of Mexico, caused by excess nitrogen and phosphorus flowing down the Mississippi River.
"We've long thought of oceans as having an infinite ability to provide food and other goods and services to humans. But the massive human-wrought changes in our oceans are impairing their ability to function as we assume they will," says Lubchenco.
Lubchenco lists problems facing the world’s waterways, including loss of mangrove forests and invasive marine species carried in ships' ballast waters. About 3,000 species of marine life are in transit in ballast water of ships around the world, Lubchenco says.
The changes humans have set in motion on a global scale will impair the Earth's ability to provide a wide range of services to human life. "In addition to the direct services of food, fiber, shelter, and medicines, many other inter-dependent services are being disrupted," Lubchenco says.
Forests, grasslands and coral reefs contribute to flood control and climate regulation. Mangroves, estuaries, coral reefs, and kelp forests protect shores from erosion and provide nursery areas and spawning habitat for economically important species.
Massive environmental changes also have far reaching implications for peace and political boundaries. "Scarce resources such as water or fishing rights lead to battles between states and nations. Environmental degradation resulting in food shortages lead to civil unrest and migration into neighboring countries," Lubchenco explains.
Massive Species Loss Predicted
Meanwhile, "Plants in Peril: What Should We Do?" a report by the president of the International Botanical Congress, Dr. Peter Raven, predicts massive losses of plant and animal species, most in the tropics, during the second half of the next century.
"Human efforts have been notable for their lack of attention to the living world that supports us all," said Raven, who is also director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, which is hosting the conference. "In the face of the worldwide extinction crisis, we should redouble our efforts to learn about life on Earth while it is still relatively well represented."
Raven's paper says that if current trends continue, within 50 years only five percent of tropical forests will remain in protected areas. Extinction rates will then be three or four orders of magnitude higher than those prevailing between mass extinctions.
Mass extinctions are events where the rate of species extinctions becomes much higher than the background rate, and large percentages of species are lost.
There have been five major extinction events in Earth history, including the one in which dinosaurs disappeared. At that time, two thirds of all land organisms disappeared and the character of life changed permanently.
The current extinction rate is now approaching 1,000 times the background rate and may climb to 10,000 times the background rate during the next century, if present trends continue. At this rate, one-third to two-thirds of all species of plants, animals, and other organisms would be lost during the second half of the next century, a loss that would easily equal those of past extinctions.
Raven’s paper also states that vast numbers of unknown plants, animals, and other organisms are currently being lost before they have even been recognized. Only about 1.6 million organisms out of a conservative estimate of between seven and 10 million have been recognized scientifically. A great majority of these are poorly known, often from a single specimen, a brief description, a locality, and nothing more, according to the paper. Some 250,000 of 300,000 species of plants have been identified, leaving some 50,000 completely unknown.