READING PASSAGE 1

Deforestation in the 21st century

When it comes to cutting down trees, satellite data reveals a shift from the patterns of the past.
A
Globally, roughly 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed each year. Such deforestation has long
been driven by farmers desperate to earn a living or by loggers building new roads into pristine forest.
But now new data appears to show that big, block clearings that reflect industrial deforestation have
come to dominate, rather than these smaller-scale efforts that leave behind long, narrow swaths of
cleared land. Geographer Ruth DeFries of Columbia University and her colleagues used satellite images
to analyse tree-clearing in countries ringing the tropics, representing 98 per cent of all remaining
tropical forest. Instead of the usual ‘fish bone' signature of deforestation from small-scale operations,
large, chunky blocks of cleared land reveal a new motive for cutting down woods.

B
In fact, a statistical analysis of 41 countries showed that forest loss rates were most closely linked with
urban population growth and agricultural exports in the early part of the 21 st century - even overall
population growth was not as strong an influence. ‘In previous decades, deforestation was associated
with planned colonisation, resettlement schemes in local areas and farmers clearing land to grow food
for subsistence,' DeFries says. ‘What we’re seeing now is a shift from small-scale farmers driving
deforestation to distant demands from urban growth, agricultural trade and exports being more
important drivers.’

C
In other words, the increasing urbanisation of the developing world, as populations leave rural areas to
concentrate in booming cities, is driving deforestation, rather than containing it. Coupled with this there
is an ongoing increase in consumption in the developed world of products that have an impact on
forests, whether furniture, shoe leather or chicken feed. ‘One of the really striking characteristics of this
century is urbanisation and rapid urban growth in the developing world,’ DeFries says, ‘People in cities
need to eat.’ ‘There’s no surprise there,’ observes Scott Poynton, executive director of the Tropical
Forest Trust, a Switzerland-based organisation that helps businesses implement and manage
sustainable forestry in countries such as Brazil, Congo and Indonesia. ‘It’s not about people chopping
down trees. It's all the people in New York, Europe and elsewhere who want cheap products, primarily
food.’

D
Dearies argues that in order to help sustain this increasing urban and global demand, agricultural
productivity will need to be increased on lands that have already been cleared. This means that better
crop varieties or better management techniques will need to be used on the many degraded and
abandoned lands in the tropics. And the Tropical Forest Trust is building management systems to keep
illegally harvested wood from ending up in, for example, deck chairs, as well as expanding its efforts to
look at how to reduce the ‘forest footprint’ of agricultural products such as palm oil. Poynton says, ‘The
point is to give forests value as forests, to keep them as forests and give them a use as forests. They’re
not going to be locked away as national parks. That’s not going to happen.’
E
But it is not all bad news. Halts in tropical deforestation have resulted in forest regrowth in some areas
where tropical lands were previously cleared. And forest clearing in the Amazon, the world’s largest
tropical forest, dropped from roughly 1.9 million hectares a year in the 1990s to 1.6 million hectares a
year over the last decade, according to the Brazilian government. 'We know that deforestation has
slowed down in at least the Brazilian Amazon,’ DeFries says. ‘Every place is different. Every country has
its own particular situation, circumstances and driving forces.’

F
Regardless of this, deforestation continues, and cutting down forests is one of the largest sources of
greenhouse gas emissions from human activity - a double blow that both eliminates a biological system
to suck up C02 and creates a new source of greenhouse gases in the form of decaying plants. The
United Nations Environment Programme estimates that slowing such deforestation could reduce some
50 billion metric tons of C02, or more than a year of global emissions. Indeed, international climate
negotiations continue to attempt to set up a system to encourage this, known as the UN Development
Programme’s fund for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing
countries (REDD). If policies [like REDD] are to be effective, we need to understand what the driving
forces are behind deforestation, DeFries argues. This is particularly important in the light of new
pressures that are on the horizon: the need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and find
alternative power sources, particularly for private cars, is forcing governments to make products such
as biofuels more readily accessible. This will only exacerbate the pressures on tropical forests.

G
But millions of hectares of pristine forest remain to protect, according to this new analysis from
Columbia University. Approximately 60 percent of the remaining tropical forests are in countries or
areas that currently have little agricultural trade or urban growth. The amount of forest area in places
like central Africa, Guyana and Suriname, DeFries notes, is huge. ‘There’s a lot of forest that has not yet
faced these pressures.’

1. ;2.E; 3.A; 4.F; 5.A; 6. G

Questions 1-6
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
NB: You may use any letter more than once.
1 ..................... two ways that farming activity might be improved in the future
2 ..................... reference to a fall in the rate of deforestation in one area
3 ..................... the amount of forest cut down annually
4 ..................... how future transport requirements may increase deforestation levels
5 ..................... a reference to the typical shape of early deforested areas
6 ..................... key reasons why forests in some areas have not been cut down

Questions 7-8
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
Which TWO of these reasons do experts give for current patterns of deforestation?
 A to provide jobs
B
C
to create transport routes
to feed city dwellers
B/D
D to manufacture low-budget consumer items
E to meet government targets

Questions 9-10
Choose TWO letters, A-E.
The list below gives some of the impacts of tropical deforestation.
Which TWO of these results are mentioned by the writer of the text?
A local food supplies fall
B soil becomes less fertile
C some areas have new forest growth D/C
D some regions become uninhabitable
E local economies suffer

Questions 11-13
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
11 The expression ‘a 11 .......................................... ’ is used to assess the amount of wood used in certain
types of production.
12 Greenhouse gases result from the 12 ........................................ that remain after trees have been cut
down.
13 About 13 ........................................ of the world’s tropical forests have not experienced deforestation
yet.

Solution: 1. D 8. C OR D IN EITHER ORDER 2. E 9. B, C (in either order) 3. A 10. B, C (in either order) 4. F 11. forest
footprint 5. A 12. decaying plants 6. G 13. 60 percent 7. C OR D IN EITHER ORDER
11. forest footprint
12. decaying plants
13. 60 percent
 The Effects of Deforestation
A
Every year it is estimated that roughly 5.2 million hectares (52,000 km²) of forest is lost worldwide. That
is a net figure, meaning it represents the area of forest not replaced. To put this size in context, that is
an area of land the size of Croatia lost every single year. There are a wide range of negative effects
from deforestation that range from the smallest biological processes right up to the health of our planet
as a whole. On a human level, millions of lives are affected every year by flooding and landslides that
often result from deforestation.

B
There are 5 million people living in areas deemed at risk of flooding in England and Wales. Global
warming, in part worsened by deforestation, is responsible for higher rainfalls in Britain in recent
decades. Although it can be argued that demand for cheap housing has meant more houses are being
built in at-risk areas, the extent of the flooding is increasing. The presence of forests and trees along
streams and rivers acts like a net. The trees catch and store water, but also hold soil together, preventing
erosion. By removing the trees, land is more easily eroded increasing the risk of landslides and also,
after precipitation, less water is intercepted when trees are absent and so more enters rivers, increasing
the risk of flooding.

C
It is well documented that forests are essential to the atmospheric balance of our planet, and therefore
our own well-being too. Scientists agree unequivocally that global warming is a real and serious threat
to our planet. Deforestation releases 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. One third of the carbon
dioxide emissions created by human activity come from deforestation around the globe.

D
In his book Collapse, about the disappearance of various ancient civilisations, writer Jared Diamond
theorises about the decline of the natives of Easter Island. European missionaries first arrived on the
island in 1722. Research suggested that the island, whose population was in the region of two to three
thousand at the time, had once been much higher at fifteen thousand people. This small native
population survived on the island despite there being no trees at all. Archaeological digs uncovered
evidence of trees once flourishing on the island. The uncontrolled deforestation not only led to the
eradication of all such natural resources from the island, but also greatly impacted the number of
people the island could sustain. This underlines the importance of forest management, not only for
useful building materials, but also food as well.

E
Forestry management is important to make sure that stocks are not depleted and that whatever is cut
down is replaced. Without sustainable development of forests, the levels of deforestation are only going
to worsen as the global population continues to rise, creating higher demand for the products of forests.
Just as important though is consumer awareness. Simple changes in consumer activity can make a huge
difference. These changes in behaviour include, but are not limited to, recycling all recyclable material;
buying recycled products and looking for the FSC sustainably sourced forest products logo on any
wood or paper products.
F
Japan is often used as a model of exemplary forest management. During the Edo period between 1603
and 1868 drastic action was taken to reverse the country’s serious exploitative deforestation problem.
Whilst the solution was quite complex, one key aspect of its success was the encouragement of
cooperation between villagers. This process of collaboration and re-education of the population saved
Japan’s forests. According to the World Bank 68.5% of Japanese land area is covered by forest, making
it one of the best performing economically developed nations in this regard.

G
There is of course a negative impact of Japan’s forest management. There is still a high demand for
wood products in the country, and the majority of these resources are simply imported from other,
poorer nations. Indonesia is a prime example of a country that has lost large swaths of its forest cover
due to foreign demand from countries like Japan. This is in addition to other issues such as poor
domestic forest management, weaker laws and local corruption. Located around the Equator, Indonesia
has an ideal climate for rainforest. Sadly much of this natural resource is lost every year. Forest cover is
now down to less than 51 % from 65.4% in 1990. This alone is proof that more needs to be done globally
to manage forests.

H
China is leading the way in recent years for replenishing their forests. The Chinese government began
the Three-North Shelter Forest Program in 1978, with aims to complete the planting of a green wall,
measuring 2,800 miles in length by its completion in 2050. Of course this program is in many ways
forced by nature itself; the expansion of the Gobi Desert threatened to destroy thousands of square
miles of grassland annually through desertification. This is a process often exacerbated by deforestation
in the first place, and so represents an attempt to buck the trend. Forested land in China rose from 17%
to 22% from 1990 to 2015 making China one of the few developing nations to reverse the negative
trend.

Questions 14-20
The reading passage below has eight paragraphs, A-H.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
List of headings
i Atmospheric impacts
ii Ideal forestry management example
iii No trees, less people
iv Good uses for wood
v Looking after the forests
vi Numbers of lost trees
vii Wasted water
viii Replanting forests
ix Happy trees
x Flood risks
ix Poorer nations at higher risk
Example: Paragraph A – vi

14. Paragraph B
15. Paragraph C
16. Paragraph D
17. Paragraph E
18. Paragraph F
19. Paragraph G
20. Paragraph H

Questions 21-26
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

The effects of deforestation are widespread and various. Some examples include flooding at a local
scale to the wider effects of global warming on a worldwide scale. In Britain, for example 21
______________________ people live in areas at risk of flooding. This risk is increased by deforestation.
Trees catch and 22 ________ water lowering the chance of flooding. By removing trees land erosion is
also higher, increasing the chance of 23 ______________________. Deforestation also affects global
warming by contributing 15% of the 24 ______________________ of greenhouse gasses. To make sure that
the cutting down of trees is done in a sustainable way, good forestry 25 ______________________ is
important. In most countries more trees are cut down every year than planted. One country that is
reversing this trend is China, making it one of the few nations to 26 ______________________ the more
common negative trend.
14. x 15. i 16. iii 17. v 18. ¡i 19. xi 20. viii
21.5 million 22. store 23. landslides 24. emissions 25. management 26. Reverse
 Black rats rainforest invasion 'speeded by deforestation'
A
Cutting down trees in rainforests facilitates the spread of invasive black rats, a study suggests. The
rodents normally avoid mature forests with large trees as they provide little in the way of cover. But
researchers, writing in Biotropica, say that logging makes rainforests more attractive for rats as fallen
wood contains more insects which they eat.

B
Scientists are concerned that the invading black rats will be bad news for native mammals. Sometimes
called the ship rat, these rodents have spread around the world over the past 400 years, often causing
the extinctions of native species and spreading disease.

C
Much of their notoriety rests on the idea that black rats were the origin of bubonic plague, although
recent research casts doubt on that notion. Black rats have usually avoided older forests as they contain
large trees which do not provide much in the way of ground level protection. They also tend to have
leafy forest floors which are noisy for rats to run through, as they attract predators.

D
This new study examined the idea that logging of trees in rainforests might facilitate the spread of the
rodents. The researchers looked at the island of Borneo where large tracts of the natural forest have
been degraded.

E
It had been believed that black rats were confined to urban areas in Borneo. To test the idea that they
might spread into deforested regions, the scientists trapped rats from four different species - they then
attached small spools of cotton thread to their backs and and tracked their movements.

F
Across the animals in the study, the researchers found that the black rats had the strongest preference
for the type of disturbed habitat associated with logging. The increased amount of fallen wood boosted
the amount of insects which the rats eat. The logged forests also have more undergrowth which
provides better cover. The researchers believe that black rats favour these small changes far more than
related species.

G
"Logging creates micro-environments that black rats love, helping them move in," said study co-author
Dr Rob Ewers from Imperial College London. "This could be bad news for native mammals who might
not be able to compete with black rats for food and resources. It's also bad for the forest, as many
small mammals are important seed dispersers, helping rainforest plants to grow, and they are also prey
for larger animals."

H
The researchers say that the widespread destruction of forests throughout the tropics may well be
multiplying the threat from invasive species like black rats. They believe the presence of these rats could
pose a significant threat to nesting birds and other small mammals. The scientists say that the way that
logging is done can have a big impact on the suitability of the land for the black rats. The more dead
wood that is left behind the better the black rats like it. If felled trees were more accurately cleared as
well as the vines that connect the trees, the rat's progress might be curbed.

Questions 1-8
The text has eight paragraphs A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.
1. A valid concern
2.
3.
The experiment
More food for rats
1.B 2.E
4. Possible threats 3.A 4.H
5. Bad news
6. A place of the research 5.G 6.D
7. The difference between species
8. The reason for bad reputation
7.F 8.C
BEAHGDFC
 Deforestation And Desertification
A
The Sahel zone lies between the Sahara desert and the fertile savannahs of northern Nigeria and
southern Sudan. The word whet comes from Arabic and means marginal or transitional, and this is a
good description of these semiarid lands, which occupy much of the West African countries of Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, and Chad.
B
Unfortunately, over the last century the Sahara desert has steadily crept southwards eating into once
productive Sahel lands. United Nations surveys show that over 70 percent of the dry land in agricultural
use In Africa has deteriorated over the last 30 years. Droughts have become more prolonged and more
severe, the most recent lasting over twenty years in parts of the Sahel region. The same process of
desertification is taking place across southern Africa as the Kalahari desert advances into Botswana and
parts of South Africa.
C
One of the major causes of this desert advance is poor agricultural land use, driven by the pressures of
increasing population. Overgrazing - keeping too many farm animals on the land - means that grasses
and other plants cannot recover, and scarce water supplies are exhausted. Overcultivation - trying to
grow too many crops on poor land - results in the soil becoming even less fertile and drier, and
beginning to break up. Soil erosion follows, and the land turns into desert.
D
Another cause of desertification is loss of tree cover. Trees are cut down for use as fuel and to clear
land for agricultural use. Tree roots help to bind the soil together, to conserve moisture, and to provide
a habitat for other plants and animals. When trees are cut down, the soil begins to dry and loosen,
wind and rain erosion increase, other plant species die, and eventually the fertile topsoil may be almost
entirely lost, leaving only bare rock and dust.
E
The effects of loss of topsoil and increased drought are irreversible. They are, however, preventable.
Careful conservation of tree cover and sustainable agricultural land use have been shown to halt
deterioration of soils and lessen the effects of shortage of rainfall. One project in Kita in south-west
Mali funded by the UNDP has involved local communities In sustainable management of forest, while
at the same time providing a viable agricultural economy based on the production of soaps, bee-
keeping, and marketing shea nuts. This may be a model for similar projects in other West African
countries.
Questions 1-4
Complete the sentence.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
1. Desertification is caused by overgazing, but this in turn is due to the pressure from 1
__________________.
2. When trees are cut down, the soil is affected, which leads to the death of the surrounding 2
__________________.
3. The consequences of the loss of topsoil cannot be reserved, but they are 3 __________________.
4. Looking after trees reduces the consequences of a lack of 4 __________________.
Questions 5-11
Decide whether the following statements are TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN according to the passage.

5. The Sahara has spread slowly northwards into the Sahel region.
6. Just over 70 per cent of the dry land in agricultural use in Africa has deteriorated over the last 30
years.
7. Desertification is taking place faster in southern Africa than in the Sahel.
8. The advance of the desert is not the result of poor agricultural land use.
9. The loss of tree cover is a minor cause of desertification.
10. If there is a loss of tree cover, the deterioration in the soil is halted.
11. Tree conservation is more effective than sustainable agricultural land use in reducing the
consequences of lack of rain.
increasing population plant species preventable rainfall
1. False 2. Not Given 3. Not Given. 4. False 5. Not Given 6. False 7. Not Given
1.increasing population 2. plant species
3.preventable 4.rainfall

5.F 6.T 7.NG 8.F 9.NG 10.F 11.T

 Why is biodiversity so important?
Our planet's diverse, thriving ecosystems may seem like permanent fixtures but they're actually
vulnerable to collapse. Jungles can become deserts and reefs can become lifeless rocks, even without
cataclysmic events like volcanoes and asteroids.

What makes one ecosystem strong and another weak in the face of change? The answer, to a large
extent, is biodiversity. Biodiversity is built out of three intertwined features: ecosystem diversity, species
diversity, and genetic diversity. The more intertwining there is between these features, the denser and
more resilient the weave becomes.

Take the Amazon rainforest, one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth due to its complex ecosystems,
huge mix of species, and the genetic variety within those species. Here are tangled liana vines which
crawl up from the forest floor to the canopy, intertwining with treetops and growing thick wooden
stems that support these towering trees. Helped along by the vines, trees provide the seeds, fruits and
leaves to herbivores, such as the tapir and the agouti, which disperse their seeds throughout the forest
so they can grow. Leftovers are consumed by the millions of insects that decompose and recycle
nutrients to create rich soil.

The rainforest is a huge system filled with many smaller systems, like this, each packed with
interconnected species. Every link provides stability to the next, strengthening biodiversity's weave. That
weave is further reinforced by the genetic diversity within individual species, which allows them to cope
with changes. Species that lack genetic diversity due to isolation or low population numbers are much
more vulnerable to fluctuations caused by climate change, disease or habitat fragmentation. Whenever
a species disappears because of its weakened gene pool, a knot is untied and parts of the net
disintegrate.

So, what if we were to remove one species from the rainforest? Would the system fall apart? Probably
not. The volume of species, their genetic diversity, and the complexity of the ecosystems form such rich
biodiversity in this forest that one species gap in the weave won't cause it to unravel. The forest can
stay resilient and recover from change. But that's not true in every case. In some environments, taking
away just one important component can undermine the entire system.

Take coral reefs, for instance. Many organisms in a reef are dependent on the coral. It provides key
microhabitats, shelter and breeding grounds for thousands of species of fish, crustaceans and molluscs.
Corals also form interdependent relationships with fungi and bacteria. The coral itself is a loom that
allows the tangled net of biodiversity to be woven. That makes coral a keystone organism, one that
many others depend on for their survival. So what happens when destructive fishing practices, pollution
and ocean acidification weaken coral or even kill it altogether? Exactly what you might think. The loss
of this keystone species leaves its dependents at a loss, too, threatening the entire fabric of the reef.
Ecosystem, species and genetic diversity together form the complex tangled weave of biodiversity that
is vital for the survival of organisms on Earth. We humans are woven into this biodiversity, too. When
just a few strands are lost, our own well-being is threatened. Cut too many links and we risk unravelling
it all. What the future brings is unpredictable, but biodiversity can give us an insurance policy, Earth's
own safety net to safeguard our survival.

Questions 1-4
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–G, below.
1. The strength of an ecosystem is determined by
2. Plant eating creatures in the Amazon rainforest are responsible for
3. Species with genetic diversity are
4. Coral is vitally important to biodiversity because it

A returning nutrients to the soil when they die and decay.

B supports many other marine species.
C the level of interconnection between the three features of biodiversity.
D provides a key food source for reef species.
E more resilient to changes in climate and habitat.
F less able to adapt to changes in their environment or disease.
G spreading seeds around the forest.
CGEB
 Orientation of birds
A
For many of US, the way birds are able to orientate is both astounding and difficult to appreciate fully.
For instance, the annual migration of tire golden plover of the Pacific takes it from Alaska to Hawaii on
a flight of well over 3000 kilometres, and if it were to deviate by only one degree, it would miss the
island on which it nests.

B
The first systematic studies on orientation in birds were made possible by the ‘homing instinct’ exhibited
by so many species. Birds are caught at a time when they show an attachment to their territory,
especially during the nesting season. They are taken to some spot, released, and the percentage of
returns is recorded. The distance can be varied, and the direction, as well as the method of transporting
them, and then the influence of climatic and other factors on their ability to find their way home can
be studied. These experiments have shown a wide variation in ability to home, and three types of
homing behaviour have been identified.

C
In the first type, birds methodically explore the area in which they are released until they pick up some
familiar feature, and then they quickly find their way back to the nest. Such birds possess a highly
developed visual memory, as experiments with pigeons have shown. Domestic pigeons have been
trained to peck at a certain point on an aerial photograph, with a system of rewards, and four years
later the birds were still able to respond to this training when placed on the aerial photograph. Birds’
eyes have a power of resolution two to three times greater than ours, enabling them to pick up very
fine details. If a bird uses only this type of homing behaviour, however, it can only succeed if the point
of release is not too far away. If the birds are transported 800 kilometres from their nest, it is only by
good fortune that they find their way back as a result of long exploratory flights. Usually, the area
known to a bird is its feeding territory. Released within this area, the birds soon make their return;
release them outside it and far fewer return. However, if a bird is released for a second time in the same
place, its visual memory comes into play, and the bird, no longer requiring tedious exploratory flights,
will return much more quickly.

D
The second type of homing behaviour is shown by birds that are capable of choosing their flight
direction and holding to it for the rest of their journey. How do they decide what direction to take?
They appear to choose their normal migration direction even if they are released in a different place
from their usual stalling point. If, for example, birds which normally fly to the north-east to reach latitude
45 degrees north are released at that latitude, they will immediately start flying north-east anyway. So
if they’re released further to the west, they’ll maintain the correct direction, but fly west of their
destination, and so fail to arrive.

E
The third type of homing behaviour shows the highest degree of orientation. Released at one point,
the birds immediately take stock of it, compare its position with that of the nest, decide on the direction
and fly off. This happens even if the birds are in a country right off their migration routes, where they
have never been before. In one example, a laysan albatross returned to its nesting area on Midway
Island in the middle of the Pacific, having flown over 5000 kilometres from the west coastal of the USA
in just over ten days. This is a perfect example of the third type of homing, for the albatross clearly
couldn’t rely on any landmarks over the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

F
The percentage of successful birds varies greatly, being highest in those species with a strong migratory
behaviour. Thus the lesser black-backed gull is more migratory than the herring gull and more often
reaches ‘home’. Great migrants such as the swift have the highest percentage of returns. In one case,
seven out of nine alpine swifts were recaptured at their nests after being displaced some 1400
kilometres; one made the journey in three days.

G
What part does heredity play in all this? Two research studies suggest that instinctive, i.e. genetically
inherited, behaviour patterns play a part in navigation. The first was carried out by Ernst Schuz and it is
highly significant. This was a most striking finding, for it showed that the birds had an innate and
unlearned attraction for the African wintering area that they have occupied for thousands of years.

H
The case of starlings is a little different. These birds have a great aptitude for homing, but this behaviour
differs in the different age groups. Birds that were shifted to the south-east of their normal migration
route split into two lots. The adults, in full possession of their gift for orientation, found their wintering
area by modifying their direction by 90 degrees, whereas the juveniles sought their winter quarters to
the south-east of their real position.

Questions 1-5
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
Types of homing behaviour
First type:
Birds rely on their sophisticated 1 _____________________. However, they are generally most successful if
they are released within their feeding territory.
Second type:
Birds select their accustomed 2 _____________________, no matter where they are released. As a result,
they may miss their 3 _____________________.
Third type:
Birds orientate correctly, even when they are released in an unfamiliar place and have no 4
_____________________ to make use of. One bird with this type of skill is the 5 _____________________.
Questions 6-9
Reading Passage has eight paragraphs, A-H
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 7-9 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.

6 The effects of distance on some birds’ ability to find their nests

7 A methodology for testing the general ability of birds to find their nests
8 One aspect of physical ability in humans and birds
9 How some birds’ migration was delayed for experimental purposes

Questions 10-13
Look at the following types of birds and the list of points which the author wishes to illustrate below.
Match each bird with the point which it illustrates, A-G.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.

10. domestic pigeon

11. alpine swift
12. European stork
13. starling

List of points which the author wishes to illustrate

A an ability to orientate without previous training
B the speed at which birds can fly
C the ability to remember things seen previously
D the effect of age on homing ability
E the strength required to fly a great distance
F a high success rate in finding nests
G the importance of seasonal cues for migrating birds
1. visual memory 2. migration direction 3. Destination 4. Landmarks 5. (laysan) albatross 6. C 7.
B 8. C 9. G 10. C 11. F 12. A 13. D
 The Mystery of Bird Migration
A
Birds have many unique design features that enable them to perform such amazing feats of endurance.
They are equipped with lightweight, hollow bones, intricately designed feathers providing both lift and
thrust for rapid flight, navigation systems superior to any that man has developed, and an ingenious
heat conserving design that, among other things, concentrates all blood circulation beneath layers of
warm, waterproof plumage, leaving them fit to face life in the harshest of climates. Their respiratory
systems have to perform efficiently during sustained flights at altitude, so they have a system of
extracting oxygen from their lungs that far exceeds that of any other animal. During the later stages of
the summer breeding season, when food is plentiful, their bodies are able to accumulate considerable
layers of fat, in order to provide sufficient energy for their long migratory flights.

B
The fundamental reason that birds migrate is to find adequate food during the winter months when it
is in short supply. This particularly applies to birds that breed in the temperate and Arctic regions of
the Northern Hemisphere, where food is abundant during the short growing season. Many species can
tolerate cold temperatures if food is plentiful, but when food is not available, they must migrate.
However, intriguing questions remain.

C
One puzzling fact is that many birds journey much further than would be necessary just to find food
and good weather. Nobody knows, for instance, why British swallows, which could presumably survive
equally well if they spent the winter in equatorial Africa, instead of several thousands of miles further
to their preferred winter home in South Africa Cape Province. Another mystery involves the huge
migrations performed by arctic terns and mudflat-feeding shorebirds that breed close to Polar Regions.
In general, the further north a migrant species breeds, the further south it spends the winter. For arctic
terns, this necessitates an annual round trip of 25,000 miles. Yet, en route to their final destination in
far-flung southern latitudes, all these individuals overfly other areas of seemingly suitable habitat
spanning two hemispheres. While we may not fully understand birds’ reasons for going to particular
places, we can marvel at their feats.

D
One of the greatest mysteries is how young birds know how to find the traditional wintering areas
without parental guidance. Very few adults migrate with juveniles in tow, and youngsters may even
have little or no inkling of their parents’ appearance. A familiar example is that of the cuckoo, which
lays its eggs in another species’ nest and never encounters its young again. It is mind-boggling to
consider that, once raised by its host species, the young cuckoo makes its own way to ancestral
wintering grounds in the tropics before returning single-handedly to northern Europe the next season
to seek out a mate among its own kind. The obvious implication is that it inherits from its parents an
inbuilt route map and direction-finding capability, as well as a mental image of what another cuckoo
looks like. Yet nobody has the slightest idea as to how this is possible.

E
Mounting evidence has confirmed that birds use the positions of the sun and stars to obtain compass
directions. They seem also to be able to detect the earth’s magnetic field, probably due to having
minute crystals of magnetite in the region of their brains. However, true navigation also requires an
awareness of position and time, especially when lost. Experiments have shown that after being taken
thousands of miles over an unfamiliar landmass, birds are still capable of returning rapidly to nest sites.
Such phenomenal powers are the product of computing several sophisticated cues, including an inborn
map of the night sky and the pull of the earth’s magnetic field. How the birds use their ‘instruments’
remains unknown, but one thing is clear: they see the world with a superior sensory perception to ours.
Most small birds migrate at night and take their direction from the position of the setting sun. however,
as well as seeing the sun go down, they also seem to see the plane of polarized light caused by it,
which calibrates their compass. Traveling at night provides other benefits. Daytime predators are
avoided and the danger of dehydration due to flying for long periods in warm, sunlit skies is reduced.
Furthermore, at night the air is generally cool and less turbulent and so conducive to sustained, stable
flight.

F
Nevertheless, all journeys involve considerable risk, and part of the skill in arriving safely is setting off
at the right time. This means accurate weather forecasting, and utilizing favorable winds. Birds are adept
at both, and, in laboratory tests, some have been shown to detect the minute difference in barometric
pressure between the floor and ceiling of a room. Often birds react to weather changes before there is
any visible sign of them. Lapwings, which feed on grassland, flee west from the Netherlands to the
British Isles, France and Spain at the onset of a cold snap. When the ground surface freezes the birds
could starve. Yet they return to Holland ahead of a thaw, their arrival linked to a pressure change
presaging an improvement in the weather.

G
In one instance a Welsh Manx shearwater carried to America and released was back in its burrow on
Skokholm Island, off the Pembrokeshire coast, one day before a letter announcing its release!
Conversely, each autumn a small number of North American birds are blown across the Atlantic by
fast-moving westerly tail winds. Not only do they arrive safely in Europe, but, based on ringing evidence,
some make it back to North America the following spring, after probably spending the winter European
migrants in sunny African climes.
Questions 14-20
Reading passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.
List of headings
i The best moment to migrate
ii The unexplained rejection of closer feeding ground
iii The influence of weather on the migration route
iv Physical characteristics that allow birds to migrate
v The main reason why birds migrate
vi The best wintering grounds for birds
vii Research findings on how birds migrate
viii Successful migration despite the trouble of wind
ix Contrast between long-distance migration and short-distance migration
x Mysterious migration despite lack of teaching

14. Paragraph A
15. Paragraph B
16. Paragraph C
17. Paragraph D
18. Paragraph E
19. Paragraph F
20. Paragraph G

Questions 21-22
Choose TWO letters, A-E
Write the correct letters in boxes 21 and 22 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following statements are true of bird migration?
A Birds often fly further than they need to.
B Birds traveling in family groups are safe.
C Birds flying at night need less water.
D Birds have much sharper eyesight than humans.
E Only shorebirds are resistant to strong winds.
Questions 23-26
Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
23 It is a great mystery that young birds like cuckoos can find their wintering grounds without 23
________________________.
24 Evidence shows birds can tell directions like a 24 ________________________ by observing the sun
and the stars.
25 One advantage for birds flying at night is that they can avoid contact with 25
________________________.
26 Laboratory tests show that birds can detect weather without 26 ________________________ signs.
14. iv 15. v 16. ii 17. x 18. vii 19. i 20. viii 21. A 22. C 23. parental guidance 24. Compass 25. predators
26. visible
Migration: The Birds
Birds are forced to migrate for a number of reasons, including seasonal climate cycles, a scarcity of food
or of appropriate nesting sites. Established routes are followed, many involving punishing distances over
land and sea. The longest migration of any known animal is that of the Arctic tern, which travels more
than 15,000 miles from north to south and back again.

A
What are some of the main ‘cues’ that research has indicated birds use in order to navigate successfully
during migration? As the question suggests, there is no single answer; Keeton concluded that bird
navigation is characterised by ‘considerable redundancy of information whereby birds appear to draw
on more than one method. This would seem to be essential, given changeable weather conditions, the
need to overfly a variable landscape and/or seascape, and the fact that some birds manage to navigate
at night.

B
Rabol suggested that a bird is born with its migratory track imprinted as part of its DNA, but his ideas
have been rejected by a number of experts, including Wiltschko and Wiltschko, who suggest instead
that navigation techniques are an integral part of parenting. Of course, this does not account for the
cuckoo, which does not remain with its parents (cuckoos lay their eggs in the nest of another bird).

C
There is no doubt that major topographical features, such as hills and rivers, can provide birds with
important landmarks. The fact that some birds, such as the swallow, return to the same nest year after
year after a journey of thousands of miles suggests the ability to recognise key sites. Moreover, birds
may use sight to orientate themselves in relation to the sun, perhaps using its relative height in the sky
to determine latitude. However, an experiment by Schlicte and Schmidt-Koenig, whereby pigeons were
fitted with frosted lenses, may indicate that sight is less important in birds than in humans, for these
birds could still use the sun for orientation.

D
It is thought that, unlike human eyes, birds’ eyes can detect ultra-violet light in adverse weather
conditions. Matthews suggested that birds use the sun’s arc to establish longitude. The sun appears to
be used by a number of birds as a compass and they seem able to adjust their biological clock to
compensate for shifting through time zones from east to west.

E
At night, the stars and moon provide an alternative source of observable data for birds. There is
evidence that some birds memorise constellations (for example, Emlen’s work with indigo buntings in
1967 and Wallraffs 1969 experiment with caged ducks). If these constellations provide a reliable and
little-changing map in a clear night sky, the moon on the other hand is too random to be helpful,
changing its position in the sky night after night.
F
Just as birds’ vision is more sensitive than our own, there is evidence to suggest that many birds can
detect sounds outside our own range of hearing. Yodlowski et al. discovered that homing pigeons were
sensitive to sounds below 10 Hz, known as ‘infra-sound, and could employ this for orientation purposes
and in the crucial early detection of severe thunderstorms, with a consequent adjustment of flight path.

G
Most birds don’t have a good sense of smell, but fish-eaters such as petrels and Shearwaters are
significant exceptions. These birds probably act on olfactory cues given that they only reach their
nesting sites during the hours of darkness. However, this area of research is inconclusive: two
experiments conducted by Papi, where the olfactory nerve of pigeons was cut, leading to a loss of
navigation skills, gave inconsistent results ; Baker and Mather regarded them as flawed, and suggested
that the confusion may have been induced by the trauma of the experiments, or through loss of
magnetic awareness.

Η
Geomagnetism was suggested as a possible cue for bird navigation as early as 1859 and much research
has been done in this area. The Earth’s magnetic field is not of uniform intensity, being at its weakest
at the equator ; homing pigeons are thought to exploit magnetic anomalies for orientation (Gould
1980). In earlier research, Walcott and Green (1974) fitted pigeons with electric caps to produce a
magnetic field. Under overcast skies, reversing the magnetic field by reversing the electric current
caused the birds to fly in the opposite direction to their original course. This and other work suggests
that magnetism does indeed play an important part in navigation for many birds.

Questions 14 and 15
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
14. According to Wiltschko and Wiltschko,
A cuckoo’s behaviour supports a genetic explanation for navigation.
B Rabol’s ideas on imprinting are worthy of further investigation.
C adult birds train their young to react to navigational cues.
D more studies are needed on the role of parenting in navigation.

15. What does the text suggest about the role of sight in bird navigation?
A Birds are unlikely to take notice of many physical landmarks.
B It provides essential information for revisiting breeding locations.
C Birds find it impossible to look directly at the sun when it is high.
D It is without doubt the most important sense that a bird has.
Questions 16-21
Look at the following statements about research and the list of people below.
Match each statement to the correct person or people.
Write the correct letter, A-J.
List of people
A Baker and Mather F Papi
B Emlen G Rabol
C Gould H Schlichte and Schmidt-Koening
D Keeton I Walcott and Green
E Matthews J Yodlowski et al

16 proved that some birds navigate by the stars

17 raised the possibility of genetic programming
18 dismissed someone’s ideas about disorientation
19 demonstrated that birds do not need perfect vision
20 argued that birds rely on a combination of cues
21 suggested that birds may use their sense of hearing to forecast bad weather
 The migration of the Monarch butterfly
A
It’s fall in North America, and millions of Monarch butterflies are migrating to warmer climates for the
winter, heading either to the Californian coast or to certain mountains in Mexico. These butterflies
recognise the arrival of fall in the same way that we do: they feel the chill in the air. While we adapt by
putting on a sweater, the situation is much more serious for the Monarchs. Temperatures below 55°F
make it impossible for them to take to the air; temperatures below 40°F paralyse them. The Monarchs
originated in the tropics and can’t live for long at temperatures below freezing. At the same time that
the air is cooling, the nectar supply in flowers that feeds the butterflies is dwindling. To survive, they
begin migrating in late summer, flying with the wind to reach their winter homes.

B
Up to 100 million Monarch butterflies migrate either to California or to Mexico each year. This isn’t the
entire population because some never make the migration. There are more than 25 winter roosting
sites along the California coast and about a dozen known sites in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains
of Mexico. In both regions, butterflies depend upon trees for their survival. They cluster in pine and
eucalyptus trees along the California coast and in ovamel trees in Mexico.

C
Wintering Monarchs stay together. The end result looks like massive clumps of feathery orange-and-
black grapes. Each butterfly hangs with its wings over the butterfly beneath it, creating a shingle effect
that buffers them from the rain and creates warmth. The weight of the cluster also prevents the
butterflies from being blown away. Butterflies stay in their winter homes until about March, when they
begin the return journey to their summer homes, travelling as fast as 30mph at times.

D
Monarch butterflies are in danger of losing both their summer and winter habitats. Summer habitats
are being destroyed as more roads and new housing developments and business complexes encroach
upon open space in North America (a phenomenon known as urban sprawl). As land is developed, the
milkweed plant is killed. This is disastrous for the Monarch species, because once the butterfly larvae
hatch from their eggs, they feed on this planet alone. Milkweed plants are also vulnerable to herbicides
used by farmers, homeowners, landscapers, and gardeners. The butterflies don’t have it easy in Mexico,
either. The ovamel trees that they winter in also serve as a lumber source for local communities and
big logging companies. Logging not only removes the trees, it opens up the forest canopy as well, and
in creating these overhead holes, the butterflies are potentially exposed to the life-threatening elements.
Each wintering site in Mexico contains millions of butterflies, and so damage to even one site could be
a catastrophe for the Monarch butterfly population. Recent findings report that 44% of the ovamel
forest has already been damaged or destroyed by logging.

Questions 22-27
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 22-27 on your answer sheet, write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN
22 The Monarch butterfly’s ability to fly is affected by cool atmospheric conditions.
23 The Monarch’s migratory track changes according to wind direction.
24 Monarchs that spend the winter in California favour one type of tree.
25 One reason why Monarchs collect in groups is to protect themselves from the wind
26 Because of climate change, Monarch butterflies now spend less time at winter locations than they
used to.
27 Man-made adjustments to the Mexican habitat have led to higher mortality rates.

Great Migrations
Animal migration, however it is defined, is far more than just the movement of animals. It can loosely
be described as travel that takes place at regular intervals - often in an annual cycle - that may involve
many members of a species, and is rewarded only after a long journey. It suggests inherited instinct.
The biologist Hugh Dingle has identified five characteristics that apply, in varying degrees and
combinations, to all migrations. They are prolonged movements that carry animals outside familiar
habitats; they tend to be linear, not zigzaggy; they involve special behaviours concerning preparation
(such as overfeeding) and arrival; they demand special allocations of energy. And one more: migrating
animals maintain an intense attentiveness to the greater mission, which keeps them undistracted by
temptations and undeterred by challenges that would turn other animals aside.

An arctic tern, on its 20,000 km flight from the extreme south of South America to the Arctic circle, will
take no notice of a nice smelly herring offered from a bird-watcher's boat along the way. While local
gulls will dive voraciously for such handouts, the tern flies on. Why? The arctic tern resists distraction
because it is driven at that moment by an instinctive sense of something we humans find admirable:
larger purpose. In other words, it is determined to reach its destination. The bird senses that it can eat,
rest and mate later. Right now it is totally focused on the journey; its undivided intent is arrival. Reaching
some gravelly coastline in the Arctic, upon which other arctic terns have converged, will serve its larger
purpose as shaped by evolution: finding a place, a time, and a set of circumstances in which it can
successfully hatch and rear offspring.

But migration is a complex issue, and biologists define it differently, depending in part on what sorts
of animals they study. Joel Berger, of the University of Montana, who works on the American pronghorn
and other large terrestrial mammals, prefers what he calls a simple, practical definition suited to his
beasts: 'movements from a seasonal home area away to another home area and back again'. Generally
the reason for such seasonal back-and-forth movement is to seek resources that aren't available within
a single area year-round.

But daily vertical movements by zooplankton in the ocean - upward by night to seek food, downward
by day to escape predators - can also be considered migration. So can the movement of aphids when,
having depleted the young leaves on one food plant, their offspring then fly onward to a different host
plant, with no one aphid ever returning to where it started.

Dingle is an evolutionary biologist who studies insects. His definition is more intricate than Berger's,
citing those five features that distinguish migration from other forms of movement. They allow for the
fact that, for example, aphids will become sensitive to blue light (from the sky) when it's time for takeoff
on their big journey, and sensitive to yellow light (reflected from tender young leaves) when it's
appropriate to land. Birds will fatten themselves with heavy feeding in advance of a long migrational
flight. The value of his definition, Dingle argues, is that it focuses attention on what the phenomenon
of wildebeest migration shares with the phenomenon of the aphids, and therefore helps guide
researchers towards understanding how evolution has produced them all.

Human behaviour, however, is having a detrimental impact on animal migration. The pronghorn, which
resembles an antelope, though they are unrelated, is the fastest land mammal of the New World. One
population, which spends the summer in the mountainous Grand Teton National Park of the western
USA, follows a narrow route from its summer range in the mountains, across a river, and down onto
the plains. Here they wait out the frozen months, feeding mainly on sagebrush blown clear of snow.
These pronghorn are notable for the invariance of their migration route and the severity of its
constriction at three bottlenecks. If they can't pass through each of the three during their spring
migration, they can't reach their bounty of summer grazing; if they can't pass through again in autumn,
escaping south onto those windblown plains, they are likely to die trying to overwinter in the deep
snow. Pronghorn, dependent on distance vision and speed to keep safe from predators, traverse high,
open shoulders of land, where they can see and run. At one of the bottlenecks, forested hills rise to
form a V, leaving a corridor of open ground only about 150 metres wide, filled with private homes.
Increasing development is leading toward a crisis for the pronghorn threatening to choke off their
passageway.

Conservation scientists, along with some biologists and land managers within the USA's National Park
Service and other agencies, are now working to preserve migrational behaviours, not just species and
habitats. A National Forest has recognised the path of the pronghorn, much of which passes across its
land, as a protected migration corridor. But neither the Forest Service nor the Park Service can control
what happens on private land at a bottleneck. And with certain other migrating species, the challenge
is complicated further - by vastly greater distances traversed, more jurisdictions, more borders, more
dangers along the way. We will require wisdom and resoluteness to ensure that migrating species can
continue their journeying a while longer.

Questions 14-27
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 14-27 on your answer sheet, write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.
14 Local gulls and migrating arctic terns behave in the same way when offered food.
15 Experts definitions of migration tend to vary according to their area of study.
16 Very few experts agree that the movement of aphids can be considered migration.
17 Aphids journeys are affected by changes in the light that they perceive.
18 Dingle s aim is to distinguish between the migratory behaviours of different species.
Questions 19-22
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G, below.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.
19 According to Dingle, migratory routes are likely to
20 To prepare for migration, animals are likely to
21 During migration, animals are unlikely to
22 Arctic terns illustrate migrating animals’ ability to

A be discouraged by difficulties.
B travel on open land where they can look out for predators.
C eat more than they need for immediate purposes.
D be repeated daily.
E ignore distractions.
F be governed by the availability of water.
G follow a straight line.

Questions 23-26
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
The migration of pronghorns
Pronghorns rely on their eyesight and 23 __________________ to avoid predators. One particular
population’s summer habitat is a national park, and their winter home is on the 24 __________________
where they go to avoid the danger presented by the snow at that time of year. However, their route
between these two areas contains three 25 __________________. One problem is the construction of new
homes in a narrow 26 __________________ of land on the pronghorns’ route.
Cam11 Test3 R2