SEA WATER BACTERIA Pre-reading 1. What is microbial biodiversity, biosphere, biomass? Can you pronounce these words correctly? 2. What is the difference between a virus and a bacterium? Complete the chart and then compare. CHARACTERISTICS BACTERIUM VIRUS unable to replicate without a host cell prokaryotic unicellular usually having a cell wall lacking chlorophyll intracellular parasites microscopic living organism reproduces by cell division (fission) or by forming spores ultramicroscopic infectious agent a piece of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) wrapped in a thin coat of protein replicates only within the cells of living hosts 3. How many types of different bacteria can one litre of seawater contain? Have a guess. Reading Part A 4. Read Part A of the text and find the answers to the following questions What is the aim of the whole project? What are the latest findings? Are they identical with their previous estimates? How were the findings obtained? Where were the results published? 5. Language focus What is the expression for counting of a population? Find a verb with the same meaning. What do the verbs allow for, probe, constitute mean? Parts B and C 6. Information gap. Work in pairs. One part of your text (B or C) is incomplete. You have to ask your partner (C/B) about the piece of information that is missing. Create one direct question and one indirect. Write the questions. Examples: direct question - What is your name? indirect question - I wonder what your name is. 7. Make a definition of gene pool. The whole text 8. Language focus Find the synonyms for make it possible (Parts A, B). Find the antonym of scarce in the text? (Part C). Translate the sentence: They could easily have been overlooked by previous studies. There are two expressions having the meaning uncommon, unusual – find them in the text Major ecological changes: what is a synonym of major......................... what is an antonym of major........................ Look for the words that express uncertainty, doubt. (Parts C, D) . 9. True/false The new findings confirmed the former estimates. PNAS means Proceedings of Natural Academy of Sciences. The 454 tag sequencing technique enables to identify the rare background population. The project will scale minimum 1200 marine sites. 10. Formulate the key idea of the text in one sentence. Video watching 11. Watch the video and answer the questions a) What is the name of the project? b) What is the aim of the project? c) How large is the studied area? d) Where is the research carried out? e) How deep is the ocean floor? f) What is the name of the vehicle? g) How does the vehicle work? http://coml.org/video/index3.html (Discovery Corridor), Accessed: Oct.25, 2009 biomass biodiversity biosphere catalogue (n) census snippet Video Discovery corridor § over 2/3 of our planet is covered by ocean § identify only a tiny percentage of the world's marine species § researchers and volunteers § an unprecedented project § Census of Marine Life § an attempt to assess marine biodiversity § lead the research – called Discovery corridors § the corridor stretches 500 miles from the coast § focus the biodiversity research on one geographic region § a remotely operated underwater survey vehicle ROPOS – Canadian § 8000 feet below the ocean surface § a special pressure-resistant design § recording video and still images § works as an undersea measuring stick § a robotic arm collects samples § in the deep water environment § ROPOS, a well-equipped robot with tools that vacuum, snip and dig into the ocean floor § sample the sea floor using various coring devices § push into the sediment, § bring them back to the surface § take the sediments out of these § examine them for the organisms that live in the sediments § beneath the ocean surface § on the sea bed habitat § human impact – for the last 15 years § a large variety of habitats § take a closer detailed look at one small part of the vast ocean § the species yet to be discovered http://coml.org/video/index3.html Accessed: Oct.25, 2009