Task 1. Consult the dictionary and read the words correctly.

environmental

 versus

components

discipline

connote

evaluative issue

normative

quality

ignorance

marine benthic

nutrient budgets

distribution

recently

Industrial ecology

 objective

attempting

efficiency

measurement

appreciate

circle

pastures

dynamics

demography

implications

enormous

predicting

integrative

encouraged

species

 photosynthesis

available

assessment

conceptual

complexity

Task 2. Make pairs out of the following words from the text.

1. Non-living

2. Ecologically

3. Mathematical

4. Human

5. Widespread

6. Environmental

7. Grazing

8. Subject

9. Population

10. Human-made

11. Individual

a. Reasons

b. World

c. Lands

d. Ignorance

e. Species

f. Bad

g. Systems

h. Parts

i. Ecology

j. Matter

k. Activity

Task 3. Match the words and word combinations with their equivalents in Russian.

1. interact

2. sense

3. decades

4. distribution

5.  improve

6. levels

7. appreciate

8. implications

9.  adapting

10. support

11. ascends

12. including

13.  goal

 

a. Поддерживать

b. Десятилетия

c. Включая

d. Взаимодействовать

e. Цель

f. Чувство

g. Улучшать

h. Адаптировать

i. Подниматься

j. Включение

k. Распределение

l. Уровни

m. Ценить

Task 4. Translate the sentences from Russian into English.

1. Экологи заинтересованы в разумном использовании ресурсов природы.

2. Экология популяций является одной из подразделов экологии как науки.

3. Человечество на протяжении многих столетий изменяет окружающую среду – и не всегда в хорошую сторону.

4. Многие современные ученые подчеркивают важность изучения способов сохранения натуральных ресурсов.

5. Будущие профессиональные экологи должны обладать широким кругом знаний из области физики, химии, агрономии, биологии и других наук.

6. Деятельность некоторых промышленных предприятий приносит огромный вред различным видам животных и растений.

7. Ученые по всему миру должны взаимодействовать друг с другом, чтобы достичь главной цели – сохранить окружающую среду.

8. Необходимо, чтобы каждый научился ценить природу.

9. Многие виды животных и растений находятся на грани исчезновения.

 

Task 5. Insert prepositions where necessary.

1. Ecology is the study ___ environmental systems.

2. Environment is greatly impacted ___ human activity.

3. They have been ascending ___ the mountain for 2 days already.

4. Have a look ___ this article – it might be very useful for your report.

5. He’s interested ___ studying the endangered species.

6. Next term I’d like to take a course ___ applied ecology.

7. We’d better appreciate ___ the surrounding nature as we’re part of it.

8. His research is based __ the experiments done by him in the laboratory.

9. To be successful in this competition you should focus __ the details.

10. People are changing the environment every day __ many ways.

Comprehension and discussion

Task 6. Answer the questions.

1. What is ecology?

2. What is the “public” connotation of ecology?

3. What is the subject matter of ecology?

4. What does biogeography/theoretical/applied/empirical/industrial ecology study?

5. Name four main reasons why should we study ecology.

6. What knowledge should future professional ecologists obtain?

7. What is the goal of modern ecologists?

 

Task 7. Are these statements true or false? Explain your opinion according to the text.

1. "Environmental" usually means relating to the human-made world.

2. Ecology is technically an academic discipline because it is often used to connote some sort of normative or evaluative issue.

3. The subject matter of ecology is the entire natural world, including both the living and the non-living parts.

4. Industrial ecology is a discipline that has been developed long time ago, especially in the USA, where the objective is to follow the energy and material use throughout the process of making an automobile with the objective of attempting to improve the material and energy efficiency of manufacturing.

5. Theoretical ecology attempts to derive or apply theoretical or sometimes mathematical reasons and generalities for what is observed in nature.

6. Empirical ecology is concerned principally with measurement.

7. Ecology and environmentalism can be the same in case of understanding, predicting and adapting to these issues.

8. Ecologists interested in population ecology are encouraged to take courses and undertake readings in agronomy, demography, human geography, sociology, economics, and so on.