From the results of an annual Alaskan betting contest to sightings of migratory birds, ecologists are using a wealth of unusual data to predict the impact of climate change.
A
Tim Sparks slides a small leather-bound notebook out of an envelope. The book’s yellowing pages contain beekeeping notes made between 1941 and 1969 by the late Walter Coates of Kilworth, Leicestershire. He adds it to his growing pile of local journals, birdwatchers’ lists and gardening diaries. “We’re uncovering about one major new record each month,” he says, “I still get surprised.” Around two centuries before Coates, Robert Marsham, a landowner from Norfolk in the east of England, began recording the life cycles of plants and animals on his estate — when the first wood anemones flowered, the dates on which the oaks burst into leaf and the rooks began nesting. Successive Marshams continued compiling these notes for 211 years.
B
Today, such records are being put to uses that their authors could not possibly have expected. These data sets, and others like them, are proving invaluable to ecologists interested in the timing of biological events, or phenology. By combining the records with climate data, researchers can reveal how, for example, changes in temperature affect the arrival of spring, allowing ecologists to make improved predictions about the impact of climate change. A small band of researchers is combing through hundreds of years of records taken by thousands of amateur naturalists. And more systematic projects have also started up, producing an overwhelming response. “The amount of interest is almost frightening,” says Sparks, a climate researcher at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire.
C
Sparks first became aware of the army of “closet phenologists”, as he describes them, when a retiring colleague gave him the Marsham records. He now spends much of his time following leads from one historical data set to another. As news of his quest spreads, people tip him off to other historical records, and more amateur phenologists come out of their closets. The British devotion to recording and collecting makes his job easier — one man from Kent sent him 30 years’ worth of kitchen calendars, on which he had noted the date that his neighbour’s magnolia tree flowered.
D
Other researchers have unearthed data from equally odd sources. Rafe Sagarin, an ecologist at Stanford University in California, recently studied records of a betting contest in which participants attempt to guess the exact time at which a specially erected wooden tripod will fall through the surface of a thawing river. The competition has taken place annually on the Tenana River in Alaska since 1917, and analysis of the results showed that the thaw now arrives five days earlier than it did when the contest began.
E
Overall, such records have helped to show that, compared with 20 years ago, a raft of natural events now occur earlier across much of the northern hemisphere, from the opening of leaves to the return of birds from migration and the emergence of butterflies from hibernation. The data can also hint at how nature will change in the future. Together with models of climate change, amateurs’ records could help guide conservation. Terry Root, an ecologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, has collected birdwatchers’ counts of wildfowl taken between 1955 and 1996 on seasonal ponds in the American Midwest and combined them with climate data and models of future warming. Her analysis shows that the increased droughts that the models predict could halve the breeding populations at the ponds. “The number of waterfowl in North America will most probably drop significantly with global warming,” she says.
F
But not all professionals are happy to use amateur data. “A lot of scientists won’t touch them, they say they’re too full of problems,” says Root. Because different observers can have different ideas of what constitutes, for example, an open snowdrop. “The biggest concern with ad hoc observations is how carefully and systematically they were taken,” says Mark Schwartz of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, who studies the interactions between plants and climate. “We need to know pretty precisely what a person’s been observing — if they just say ‘I noted when the leaves came out’, it might not be that useful.” Measuring the onset of autumn can be particularly problematic because deciding when leaves change colour is a more subjective process than noting when they appear.
G
Overall, most phenologists are positive about the contribution that amateurs can make. “They get at the raw power of science: careful observation of the natural world,” says Sagarin. But the professionals also acknowledge the need for careful quality control. Root, for example, tries to gauge the quality of an amateur archive by interviewing its collector. “You always have to worry— things as trivial as vacations can affect measurement. I disregard a lot of records because they’re not rigorous enough,” she says. Others suggest that the right statistics can iron out some of the problems with amateur data. Together with colleagues at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, environmental scientist Arnold van Vliet is developing statistical techniques to account for the uncertainty in amateur phenological data. With the enthusiasm of amateur phenologists evident from past records, professional researchers are now trying to create standardized recording schemes for future efforts. They hope that well-designed studies will generate a volume of observations large enough to drown out the idiosyncrasies of individual recorders. The data are cheap to collect, and can provide breadth in space, time and range of species. “It’s very difficult to collect data on a large geographical scale without enlisting an army of observers,” says Root.
H
Phenology also helps to drive home messages about climate change. “Because the public understand these records, they accept them,” says Sparks. It can also illustrate potentially unpleasant consequences, he adds, such as the finding that more rat infestations are reported to local councils in warmer years. And getting people involved is great for public relations. “People are thrilled to think that the data they’ve been collecting as a hobby can be used for something scientific — it empowers them,” says Root.
Questions 27-33
Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet.
27 The definition of phenology
28 How Sparks first became aware of amateur records
29 How people reacted to their involvement in data collection
30 The necessity to encourage amateur data collection
31 A description of using amateur records to make predictions
32 Records of a competition providing clues for climate change
33 A description of a very old record compiled by generations of amateur naturalists
Questions 34-36
Complete the sentences below with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.
Write your answers in boxes 34-36 on your answer sheet.
34 Walter Coates’s records largely contain the information of ____.
35 Robert Marsham is famous for recording the ______ of animals and plants on his land.
36 According to some phenologists, global warming may cause the number of waterfowl in North America to drop significantly due to increased _______.
Questions 37-40
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.
Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
37 Why do a lot of scientists discredit the data collected by amateurs?
A Scientific method was not used in data collection.
B Amateur observers are not careful in recording their data.
C Amateur data is not reliable.
D Amateur data is produced by wrong candidates.
38 Mark Schwartz used the example of leaves to illustrate that?
A Amateur records can’t be used.
B Amateur records are always unsystematic.
C The color change of leaves is hard to observe.
D Valuable information is often precise.
39 How do the scientists suggest amateur data should be used?
A Using improved methods.
B Be more careful in observation.
C Use raw materials.
D Applying statistical techniques in data collection.
40 What’s the implication of phenology for ordinary people?
A It empowers the public.
B It promotes public relations.
C It warns people of animal infestation.
D It raises awareness about climate change in the public.
答案：
27.B 28.C 29.H 30.G 31.E 32D 33.A
34. beekeeping 35. life cycles 36. droughts
37.C 38.D 39.A 40.D
试题分析：
27. “phenology”明显是一个专业词汇，在文章中不会出现同义替换，且一个专业词汇的“definition”应该在第一次提到这个词汇的地方，所以可以回原文直接定位于段落B 第三行“…the timing of biological events, or phenology”，所以phenology 就是生物气候学，答案为B。
28. 利用人名细节词“Sparks”和反向思维词“first”很容易定位于段落C 第一句话“Sparks first became aware of the army of ‘closet phenologists’, as he describes them…”，所以答案为C。
29. 此题难度较高， 对应段落H 最后一句话“People are thrilled to think that the data they’ve been collecting as a hobby can be used for something scientific…”，原文“thrilled” 对应题目“reaction”，所以答案为H。
30. 此题难度也较高，对应段落G 最后一句话“It’s very difficult to collect data on a large geographical scale without enlisting an army of observers”，所以答案为G。
31. 利用反向思维词“using amateur records”和“predictions”来判断，原文对应信息应出现一些数据或未来的时间。该题对应段落E 中部“Terry Root, an ecologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor…” 之后的所有信息。“birdwatcher’s counts of waterfowl”对应“amateur records”，最后两句话对应“predictions”，所以答案为E。
32. 利用细节词“a competition”可以定位于段落D 最后一句话“The competition has taken place annually on the Tenana River…”，所以答案为D。
33. 利用反向思维词“a very old record”，可以判断原文对应信息中应该会出现时间，并讲到一个具体的“record”。对应信息为段落A 最后一句话“Successive Marshams continued compiling these notes for 211 years”。原文“successive Marshams”对应题目“generations of amateur naturalists”，原文“211 years”对应“very old”。所以答案为A。
Questions 34-36
解答：
34. 利用细节词“Walter Coates” 定位于段落A 第二行“The book’s yellowing pages contain beekeeping notes…by the late Walter Coates”，所以答案为beekeeping。
35. 利用细节词“Robert Marsham” 定位于段落A 第六行“Robert Marsham…began recording the life cycles of plants and animals on his estate”，所以答案为life cycles。
36. 利用细节词“global warming”和“waterfowl in the North America”定位于段落E倒数第四行“Her analysis shows that the increased droughts…could halve the breeding population…”，所以答案为droughts。
Questions 37-40
解答：
37. 利用细节信息“scientists discredit the data”定位于段落F 第一、二句话“A lot of scientists won’t touch them, they say they’re too full of problems”。原文“won’t touch them”对应题目“discredit”，选项C“not reliable”对应原文“too full of problems”，所以答案为C。
38. 利用细节词“Mark Schwartz”和“leaves”定位于第11 页段落F 第一行“We need to know pretty precisely what a person’s been observing— if they say ‘I noted when the leaves came out’, it might not be that useful”。破折号这里表示后半句是对前半句解释说明的例子，所以使用叶子的例子是为了说明观察要“precise”，对应选项D，所以答案为D。
39. 本题较难，没有明显可以用来定位的细节词，但是利用顺序原则可以定位于段落G 前半部分。选项B“be more careful”的信息原文没有提及，所以排除。选项C“using raw materials”则明显与原文内容相悖，因为amateur records 必须进行严格的“quality control”。选项D“applying statistical techniques in data collection”虽然对应原文G 段落第七、八行“Others suggest that the right statistics can iron out some of the problems with amateur data”，但是这只是众多“quality control”的方法其中之一(其他还有“interview”和“create standardized recording scheme”的方法)，所以过于片面，不如选项A“using improved methods”概括全面，所以答案为A。
40. 利用细节词“phenology” 定位于段落H 第一句话“phenology also helps to drive home messages about climate change”。原文“drive home messages about climate change” 对应选项D“awareness about climate change in the public”，所以答案为D。
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