Find in the text and translate all names of endangered species

Give annotation of the text.

Put 10 questions to the text (alternative, special, general and disjunctive).

Give a short summary of the text.

Preservation Efforts

Some private and governmental efforts have been mobilised to save declining species. One immediate approach is to protect a species by legislation. Laws were enacted in the United States in the early 1900s, for example, to protect wildlife from commercial trade and overhunting. In 1973 the Endangered Species Act provided mechanisms for the conservation of ecosystems on which endangered species depend; it also discouraged the exploitation of endangered species in other countries by banning the importation and trade of any product made from such species. The U.S. also has various agreements with other nations — for example, with Canada and Mexico for the legal protection of migratory birds.

International efforts centre on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, ratified by 51 nations and signed by the U.S. in 1973. Its purpose is to restrict exploitation of wildlife and plants by regulating and restricting trade in species. The effectiveness of such laws in various countries, however, depends on enforcement and support by people and the courts. Because of a lack of law enforcement, the willingness of some segments of society to trade in endangered species, and the activities of poachers and dealers who supply the trade, the future of many species is in doubt in spite of legal protection.

Efforts to save endangered species also include the propagation of breeding stock for release in the wild, either to restore a breeding population (as in the case of the peregrine falcon) or to augment a natural population (as in the case of the whooping crane). Due to breeding in captivity, the number of known California condors had risen from 27 in 1987 to 52 by 1992. Another approach involves the determination of critical habitats that must be preserved for endangered species. These habitats may be protected by the establishment of reserves; the value of these may be limited, however, because of the island effect. Usually, too, the objections of special interest groups make land preservation for the protection of endangered species difficult, such as the 1992 attempt by the logging industry to block the preservation of Pacific Northwest timberlands that served as the home of the northern spotted owl, an endangered species.

 

 

1. Replace the words and expressions in brackets by their English analogues:

1. Endangered Species are plant and animal species that are in immediate danger of (вымирания).

2. (Загрязнение) is another important cause of extinctions.

3. As the various habitats become fragmented into “islands,” the remaining animal populations (скапливаются) into smaller areas, causing further habitat destruction.

4. Today the majority of the world's environments are changing faster than the ability of most species (приспосабливаться) to such changes through natural selection.

5. Throughout geological time, many more species have become extinct than (существует) today.

6. Some private and governmental efforts have been mobilised to save (сокращающиеся) species.

7. (Завезённые) diseases, parasites, and predators against which native flora and fauna have no defenses have also exterminated or greatly reduced some species.

8. The effectiveness of laws in various countries, however, (зависит от) enforcement and support by people and the courts.

9. Water pollution and increased water temperatures (уничтожили) endemic races of fish in several habitats.

10. Small populations are highly (чувствительны) to extinction; for some species, the fragmented habitats become too small to support a viable population.

 

2. Say what d’you think of (that is how d’you understand) the following (you may make use of clichés given in item 1 of the previous section):

1. Critically endangered species are those that probably cannot survive without direct human intervention.

2. Extinction is actually a normal process in the course of evolution.

3. The process of extinction has accelerated rapidly through the impact of both human population growth and technological advances on natural ecosystems.

4. Species become extinct or endangered for a number of reasons.

5. Introduced diseases, parasites, and predators against which native flora and fauna have no defenses have exterminated or greatly reduced some species.

6. Pollution is an important cause of extinctions.

7. Some private and governmental efforts have been mobilised to save declining species.

 

Give annotation of the text.

 

 

Environment

Environment is all of the external factors affecting an organism. These factors may be other living organisms (biotic factors) or nonliving variables (abiotic factors), such as water, soil, climate, light, and oxygen. All interacting biotic and abiotic factors together make up an ecosystem.

Organisms and their environment constantly interact, and both are changed by this interaction. Additionally, environmental factors, singly or in combination, ultimately limit the size that any population may attain. This limit, a population's carrying capacity, is usually reached because needed resources are in short supply. Occasionally, carrying capacity may be dictated by the direct actions of other species, as when predators limit the number of their prey in a specific area.

Like all other living beings, humans have clearly changed their environment, but they have done so generally on a grander scale than have other species. Some of these changes — such as the destruction of the world's tropical rain forests to create grazing land for cattle or the drying up of almost three-quarters of the Aral Sea, once the world's fourth-largest freshwater lake, for irrigation purposes — have led to altered climate patterns, which in turn have changed the distribution of species of animals and plants.

Scientists are working to understand the long-term consequences that human actions have on ecosystems, while environmentalists — professionals in various fields, as well as concerned citizens in the United States and other countries — are struggling to lessen the impact of human activity on the natural world.

1. Replace words in brackets by their English equivalents:

1. All of the external factors (влияющих на) an organism are called environment.

2. Like all other (живые существа), humans have clearly changed their environment, but they have done so generally on a grander scale than have other (виды).

3. Scientists are working to understand the long-term (последствия) that human actions have on ecosystems, while environmentalists are struggling to lessen the impact of human activity on the natural world.

4. Ecologists also have discovered that all species in an ecosystem (взаимодействуют) with one another, either directly or indirectly.

5. Because the species that (сосуществуют) in natural communities have evolved together for many generations, they have established a balance, and their populations remain relatively stable.

6. (С научной точки зрения), the earth is not a single living organism, but (её можно рассматривать) as a single integrated system.

 

2. Try to explain what do the following statements mean:

1. External factors, affecting an organism, may be biotic or abiotic ones.

2. Both organisms and their environment are changed by their constant interaction.

3. Population’s carrying capacity may be dictated by the direct actions of other species.

4. When humans introduce a non-native species to an ecosystem, dramatic disruptions occur.

5. The planet behaves like a single living organism.

 

Use it means that …, it seems to me that …, I’m sure that… etc.