Listen&Learn: Pando
6th April 2022 by Jaksyn Peacock
Pre-listening vocabulary
- aspen: a type of tree
- organism: a living being
- identical: exactly the same
- disrupt: to cause something to stop functioning properly
- ecosystem: a group of living things that interact with each other
- predator: an animal that hunts other animals for food
- overpopulation: too much of a certain species in an area
Listening activity
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:14 — 1.1MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | More
Gapfill exercise
Comprehension questions
- Pando is considered
a. an entire ecosystem
b. a single organism
c. a family of plants - The grove is believed to be
a. made up of 80,000 trees
b. 80,000 years old
c. home to 80,000 species - Pando is at risk because of
a. deer overpopulation
b. human overpopulation
c. predator overpopulation
See answers below
Discussion/essay questions
- Do you think it’s possible for humans to reverse the damage we have done to ecosystems?
Transcript
Pando is an aspen grove in Utah. It is one of the largest and oldest organisms in the world. Pando is considered a single organism because all of its trees grow from shared roots under the ground. The DNA of every tree is identical. Scientists believe that Pando’s first roots grew out of a single seed over 80,000 years ago. However, the ancient organism’s life may now be in danger. Pando’s trees are dying faster than they can grow. Human activity has disrupted the ecosystem, harming the populations of predator animals. This causes overpopulation of deer, who feed on the aspen trees. Some parts of the grove now have fences for protection.
Answers to comprehension questions
1b 2b 3a