Vocabulary notes

account for – відповідати за

with no regard for / without regard for – не зважаючи на

keep something in check – тримати під контролем

III. Use the phrases from the vocabulary notes in the sentences of your own

IV. Decide whether the following statements are true or false according to the text

1. Most of the species inhabiting the earth have already been described by botanists and zoologists.

2. There is no life at elevations over 5000 meters above sea level.

3. All terrestrial organisms derive from creatures that once lived in water.

4. Charles Darwin managed to explain the relation between the morphological structure of living organisms’ body parts and their physiological function.

5. In the 20^th century genetics largely disproved Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

6. Sexual reproduction is one of the mechanisms that promote evolutionary process.

7. All new features that arise by mutation are acquired by the following generations.

8. Gene migration occurs when individuals from different populations mate producing offspring.

9. When living forms reach perfection in their development the evolutionary process will stop.

10. Mutation, gene migration and drift are processes that facilitate organisms’ adaptation to the environment.

V. Make up 6-7 questions about the text “Evolution” and ask them to your partner

VI. Look for the words with the following meanings in the text “Evolution”

1. to claim or assume as true, existent, or necessary;

2. a source of water issuing from the ground;

3. to grow vigorously; flourish;

4. endless; inexhaustible;

5. to become different in character or form;

6. to prove or try to prove by giving reasons;

7. to open up to view; to disclose;

8. to involve something as a necessary part or result;

9. suitable and likely to make something happen or succeed;

10. an animal that kills and eats other animals;

11. having a good effect; advantageous;

12. to derive as a conclusion from facts; to guess or surmise.

VII. Use the words from exercise V to fill in the blanks in the following sentences

1. So, reasoned Darwin, variations must occur in nature that are _________ or useful in some way to the organism itself in the struggle for existence.

2. A remarkable uniformity exists in the molecular components of organisms which _________ the genetic continuity and common ancestry of all organisms.

3. Some paleontologists _________ that morphological evolution is in most cases gradual and only rarely jerky, whereas others think the opposite is true.

4. The job _________ being on call twenty-four hours a day.

5. The species that arrived on the Hawaiian Islands found there many unoccupied ecological niches, or local environments suited to sustain them and lacking _________ that would prevent them from multiplying.

6. It is of considerable significance to ascertain whether new species arise by altering only a few genes, or whether the process requires drastic changes—a genetic “revolution,” as _________ some evolutionists in the past.

7. Increased melanin pigmentation may be advantageous to inhabitants of tropical Africa, where dark skin protects them from the Sun's ultraviolet radiation; but it is not _________ in Scandinavia, where the intensity of sunlight is low and light skin facilitates the synthesis of vitamin D.

8. There are several _________ with hot water in the area.

9. Two geographically separate populations that at one time were members of the same species later may have _________ into two different species.

10. If the fitnesses of the two homozygotes are known, it is possible to _________ the allele equilibrium frequencies.

11. There are a lot of plants that _________ in tropical rainforests

12. The variations of colour that a human eye can see are _________.

VIII. Some of the science-related words can be misused by students of English due to similarities in their meanings. Study the examples below and discuss the difference between the highlighted words. Use a dictionary to find more about their meanings

1. Natural selection can be studied by analyzing its effects on changing gene frequencies; but it can also be explored by examining its effects on the observable characteristics—or phenotypes—of individuals in a population.

2. Paleontologists have recovered and studied the fossil remains of many thousands of organisms that lived in the past.

3. The problem of the origin of Homo sapiens from his Middle Pleistocene forebears is complex; hence, it is valuable to examine in detail those specimens that come from the earliest well-dated sites.

4. Since the 1960s a related scientific discipline, molecular biology, has advanced enormously knowledge of biological evolution and has made it possible to investigate detailed problems that seemed completely out of reach a few years earlier.

5. Investigations of hominid origins are variously concerned with diverse comparative studies of extant higher primates and humans, as well as the search for ancestors in the fossil record.

6. Five major areas of research can be identified in human evolutionary studies: the origins of Hominidae, adaptation and diversification of the genus Australopithecus, the origins of the genus Homo, the emergence of Homo erectus and subsequent hominid occupation of Eurasia, and the origins and dispersals of premodern and modern Homo sapiens.

7. Scientific Officer required to assist with a project researching intracellular events in scrapie-infected cells.