Speaking: A job of ecologist

a)  Split into groups and discuss the aspects of your future profession: where you can work; what responsibilities you can have; what advantages of such work you can imagine; how the knowledge of the disciplines you study at the university can help you in work; etc.

b) Produce a short leaflet to participate in a competition: How well I imagine my future profession.

c) Present your leaflet to the group. You may add pictures and titles.

Task7

Split into groups. Within your group discuss the ways environmental pollution influences natural populations (Unit 5, Reading C). In each group decide who will report the main findings of the discussion.

 

Task 8

a) Writing an annotation

An annotation is a brief paragraph of information that either describes or evaluates a book or journal article. The purpose of an annotation is to describe the work in such a way that the reader can decide whether or not to read the work itself, to attract readers or to guide selection of materials. Annotations should be about 200 words and differ from an abstract or summary, as abstracts and summaries usually only describe or summarize the content and do not critically evaluate.

 

Useful phrases:

 

The text/article gives us a sort of information about …

The article deals with the problem …

The subject of the text is …

At the beginning the author describes (dwells on; explains; touches upon; analyses;

comments; characterizes; underlines; reveals; gives account of…)

The article begins with the description of …, a review of…, the analysis of…

The article opens with…

Then (after that, further on, next) the author passes on to …, gives a detailed

analysis (description), goes on to say that…

To finish with, the author describes…

At the end of the article the author draws the conclusion that …; the author sums it

all up (by saying…)

In conclusion the author…

 

b) Read the Text: Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea

It is often stated that during the 1900s there has been a fourfold increase in the load of N, and an eight-fold increase in the load of P to the Baltic Sea. Most of the increase has likely occurred since 1950. Although there are indications that such an increase may have occurred, it must be kept in mind that quantitative estimates of long-term changes in the loading of nutrients are uncertain. During 1970-1993 the total annual riverine loads of N and P discharged into the Baltic Sea were fairly constant, with inter-annual variation correlated to freshwater runoff.

 

The input of nutrients to the Baltic Sea occurs along four pathways, namely through riverine runoff, direct emissions from industries and urban areas on the coast, atmospheric deposition on the sea surface, and through N2 fixation. Seepage of groundwater is also a possible way by which nutrients can enter the sea, but this input is regarded As playing a small role for the flux of N and negligible in the transport of P. Fish farms may locally be of importance, e.g. in the archipelago of Finland. There may be other minor inputs, e.g. from ships.

 

The riverine runoff of N and P exceeds in size those of direct discharges, atmospheric deposition, and N2 fixation. During the period 1980-1993, the average annual river transports of N and P to the Baltic Sea were estimated to be 830,000 and 41,000 tonnes, respectively. The six largest river basins, namely the Neva, Narva, Daugava, Neman, Vistula, and Oder River Basins contributed with about 50% of the load of both Tot-N and Tot-P.

 

Direct emissions into the sea from about 20 million people living in areas along the coast of the B atmospheric deposition to the Baltic Sea increasedaltic Sea amounts to a substantial volume of nutrients. Estimated coastal point-source pollution of nutrients are about 95,000 tonnes per year of N and 12,500 tonnes per year P.

 

Atmospheric deposition of N is primarily composed of nitrate from combustion of fossil fuels and exhaust from motor vehicles, and ammonium from agriculture, particularly from livestock farming. The origin of P in this context is less important, although combustion of organic matter, sea-spray, and wind erosion of soils are the dominating sources. The nitrogen atmospheric deposition to the Baltic Sea increased during the 20^th century and was about 330,000 tonnes per year in the middle of the 1980s. Since then it decreased to about 250,000 tonnes per year in the middle of 1990s. There is a clear gradient between different basins: from 1,000mg N/m2.yr in the southern Baltic to less than 200 mg N/m2.yr in the Bothnian Bay. For P investigations propose a range of 5,500-6000 tonnes per year.

 

N2 fixation by blue-green algae, properly called cyanobacteria, where nitrogen gas is transformed into bioavailable N, has been estimated to contribute 180,000 to 430,000 tonnes per year to the Baltic Sea proper. In other sub basins N2 foxation is regarded as insignificant.

 

c) Write your annotation to the text and then compare it with the annotation-example, given below.

Example:

The text gives us a sort of information about the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. The first paragraph deals with quantitative estimates of changes in the loading of nutrients in the Baltic Sea during different periods of time. Then the author dwells upon possible ways by which nutrients can enter the sea. Next  the contribution of the riverine runoff of N and P in comparison with other discharges is discovered. Further on, the author touches upon the quantity of direct emissions into the sea and analyses the sources and the development of atmospheric deposition of N. To finish with, the author gives account of N2  fixation, that is really important to understand the ecological situation in the Baltic Sea. The text is interesting for those who are involved into ecological studies.

 

d) Read the text in Part II: Dispersal, Dispersion and Migration in Space and Time. Write an annotation to this text.

Task 9  Writing a summary

 a) A summary is a shortened version of the original.The main purpose of such a simplification is to highlight the major points fromthe original version, e.g. a text. In contrast to an annotation, a summary contains neither interpretation nor rating. Only the opinion of the original writer is reflected – paraphrased with new words without quotations from the text. A summary is written in present tense. Minor facts have to be left out. In summaries only indirect speech is used and depictions are avoided.

How to write it:

- Read the text carefully. Determine its structure. Formulate the main statement.

- Reread the text. Underline key ideas and terms in each paragraph.

- Write a thesis – a one-sentence summary of the entire text. It should express the central idea of the article. For persuasive articles, summarize in a sentence the author’s conclusion. For descriptive texts, indicate the subject of the description and its key features.

- Write your summary by (1) combining the thesis with your list of one-sentence summaries or (2) combining the thesis with one-sentence summaries plus significant details from the text. In either case, eliminate repetition. Eliminate less important information, generalize minor details. Use as few words as possible to convey the main ideas.

- Check your summary against the original text, and make whatever  summary reflects the original conclusion. Revise your summary, inserting transitional words and phrases where necessary to ensure coherence. Check for grammatical correctness, punctuation, and spelling.

 

b)  Read the text in Part II: ‘Dispersal’  and the summary-example, given below.

 

The subject of the text is dispersal of organisms.

1. Though all species disperse, some are more dispersive than others. There are different types of Dispersal. In some cases it is an escape from the immediate environment. In other cases it is  a ‘discovery dispersal’, when individuals ‘explore’ new sites and either return to a previously chosen one or cease to move at a moment. Such cessation of movement might be under an organism’s control or uncontrolled.

Plant seeds, for example, disperse in no-exploratory way and animals can have any of the three categories of dispersal like most aphids whose ‘discovery dispersal’ is under some limited control.

Dispersal is especially essential for the persistence of species that live in a changing community as their home is sooner or later a dangerous place.

2. There are two ways to gain in fitness: migration in time (by delaying the arrival on the scene) and migration in space (by dispersing progeny). Migration in time is regarded as a period of delay (predictive or consequential) in a state of dormancy to conserve energy and tolerate the adverse environmental conditions.

 

c) Read the text: ‘Intraspecific Competition’  and give your own summary of the article.