5. Read the following English word combinations and supply the Russian equivalents:

To come into prominence; to be around for a long time; to be closely interwined; to have interest in; to be the first to take on the study; due to new discoveries in chemistry; side effects; most of the world’s nations; on a worldwide scale; to take into account; to be relevant to; notably; to become a distinct field of study; a breakthrough in the field; conditions promoting life.

6. Replace the following by one word. Use the text «History of ecology» if necessary.

1. conditions promoting life, such as those found on the Earth, which includes flora, fauna, minerals, matter cycles, et cetera;

2. the group of living creatures;

3. the sum of all ecosystems;

4. the science of ecosystems;

5. scientists who study the environment;

6. a political party whose main aim is to conserve the environment;

7. an international organization whose members work actively to protect the environment from damage caused by industrial processes or military activities.

7. Here are the names of several famous scientists mentioned in the text. They are:

a) Theophrastus; b) Alexander von Humboldt; c) Charles Darwin; d) Eduard Suess; e) Vladimir I. Vernadsky; f) Arthur Tansley

Without reading the text, try to rearrange the following information by making true sentences about these famous people.

a) the Austrian geologist;

2. Aristotle’s student;

3. redefined the biosphere as the sum of all ecosystems;

4. the German botanists and explorer;

5. the writer of the work The Origin of Species;

6. described interrelationships between animals and their environment in the 4th century BC;

7. coined the term ecosystem;

8. considered to be a father of ecology;

9. wrote the book «The biosphere»;

10. a Russian geologist;

11. wrote the work «Idea for a Plant Geography»;

12. the British ecologist;

Now look through the text and check up whether you were right or wrong.

8. Translate the verbs underlined in the text «History of ecology». Pay attention to the tenses they are used in.

Model: had colonized- колонизировали. Вспомогательный глагол had указывает на прошедшее совершенное время.

9. Read the text, translate it (using a dictionary if necessary) and draw a table showing the main stages in the history of ecology. It can be done in this way:

Date	Important events	People/places

History of ecology

Ecology is generally spoken of as a new science, really not coming into prominence before the middle of the 20th century. Nonetheless, ecological thinking at some level has been around for a long time, and the principles of ecology have developed gradually, closely intertwined with the development of other biological disciplines. Thus, one of the first ecologists may have been Aristotle or perhaps his student, Theophrastus, both of whom had interest in many species of animals. Theophrastus described interrelationships between animals and between animals and their environment as early as the 4th century BC.

Throughout the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the great maritime powers such as Britain, Spain, and Portugal launched many world exploratory expeditions to develop maritime commerce with other countries, and to discover new natural resources, as well as to catalog them. These expeditions were joined by many scientists, including botanists, such as the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt. Humboldt is often considered a father of ecology. He was the first to take on the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment. He exposed the existing relationships between observed plant species and climate, and described vegetation zones using latitude and altitude, a discipline now known as geobotany. One of Humboldt's famous works was «Idea for a Plant Geography» (1805).

Towards 1850 there was a breakthrough in the field with the publishing of the work of Charles Darwin on The Origin of Species. Ecology passed from a repetitive, mechanical model to a biological, organic, and hence evolutionary model.

By the 19th century, ecology blossomed due to new discoveries in chemistry by Lavoisier and Eduard Suess, notably the nitrogen cycle. The Austrian geologist Eduard Suess proposed the term biosphere in 1875 for the conditions promoting life, such as those found on Earth, which includes flora, fauna, minerals, matter cycles, et cetera.

In the 1920s Vladimir I. Vernadsky, a Russian geologist, detailed the idea of the biosphere in his work «The biosphere» (1926), thus redefining it as the sum of all ecosystems.

It was in 1935 that Arthur Tansley, the British ecologist, coined the term ecosystem, the interactive system established between the biocoenosis (the group of living creatures), and their biotope, the environment in which they live. Ecology thus became the science of ecosystems.

Human ecology began in the 1920s, through the study of changes in vegetation succession in the city of Chicago. It became a distinct field of study in the 1970s. This marked the first recognition that humans, who had colonized all of the Earth's continents, were a major ecological factor. Humans greatly modify the environment through the development of the habitat (in particular urban planning), by intensive exploitation activities such as logging and fishing, and as side effects of agriculture, mining, and industry.

Since the 19th century, ecology has been relevant to social and philosophical movements related to protection of the natural environment, such as conservationism and environmentalism. Today ecology is a major political topic, and a source of ideology for major political organizations such as the Green Party and Greenpeace.

Ecology became a central part of the World’s politics as early as 1971, UNESCO launched a research program called Man and Biosphere.

In 1972, the United Nations held the first international conference on the human environment in Stockholm. This conference was the origin of the phrase «Think Globally, Act Locally». The next major event in ecology was the appearance of term «biological diversity» – or now more commonly biodiversity – in the 1980s. This term was developed during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, where risks associated with reductions in biodiversity were publicly acknowledged.

Then, in 1997, the dangers the biosphere was facing were recognized from an international point of view at the conference leading to the Kyoto Protocol. In Kyoto, most of the world’s nations recognized the importance of looking at ecology from a global point of view, on a worldwide scale, and to take into account the impact of humans on the Earth’s environment.

10. Read the statements and decide whether they are true or false. Correct the false ones. Express agreement using I think so; That’s right; I fully agree or disagreement using Far from it; I don’t think so; I disagree.

1. The first description of interrelationships between animals and between animals and their environment dates back as far as the 4th century BC.

2. World exploratory expeditions of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century contributed greatly to the development of ecological science.

3. It’s due to Charles Darwin’s ideas that ecology passed from a repetitive, mechanical model to an evolutionary model.

4. The Russian geologist Vladimir I. Vernadsky was the first to propose the term biosphere.

5. Human ecology became a distinct field of study in the 1970s.

6. The term «biological diversity» – or biodiversity – was first introduced during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

7. The first international conference on the human environment in Stockholm was the origin of the phrase «Think Locally, Act Globally».

8. It was due to Arthur Tansley that ecology became the science of ecosystems.

11. Let’s see how much you remember from the history of ecology. Here are some important dates- tell what they are all about. But don’t look at the text!

4^th century BC; 1850; 1971; 1926; 1997; 1972.

And now here are some famous scientists who contributed to the development of ecology. What are they famous for, I wonder?

Alexander von Humboldt; Theophrastus; Charles Darwin; Eduard Suess; Vladimir I. Vernadsky; Arthur Tansley.

12. Arrange the items of the given outline in the order according to the text:

1. The biosphere - Eduard Suess and Vladimir Vernadsky;

2. Human ecology;

3. Breakthrough in ecological thought;

4. The ecosystem: Arthur Tansley;

5. Conservation and environmental movements;

6. First steps in ecological thinking;

7. The botanical geography and Alexander von Humboldt;

8. Ecology and global policy.

13. Now tell your fellow-students about the main stages in the history of ecology using the correct outline of ex. 12 and the table of ex. 9.

14. Tell the group about the scientists who contributed to the development of ecology.

15. Can you find any abbreviations in the text? What are they? What do they mean? How are they read? Find, read and translate them.

Do you know any other abbreviations? Hard to say? Let’s find out!

What do these abbreviations stand for? Use a dictionary if necessary.

N, S, E or W?	CD?	BBC?	NATO?
UFO?	RIP?	FBI?	OPEC?
AIDS?	BIO?	WWW?	WWF?