IELTS JOURNAL 82 Summary, Note, Table, Flow-chart Completion Activity Sample Task Questions 9 – 13 Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet. Species Size Preferred climate Complementary species Start of active period Number of generations per year French
Spanish
South
African
ball roller 2.5 cm
1.25 cm cool
9 ……
12 ……
Spanish
13 ……
late spring
10 ……
1 – 2
11 ……
[Note: This is an extract from an Academic Reading passage on the subject of dung beetles. The text preceding this extract gave some background facts about dung beetles, and went on to describe a decision to introduce nonnative varieties to Australia.] Introducing dung
1
beetles into a pasture is a simple process: approximately 1,500
beetles are released, a handful at a time, into fresh cow pats
2
in the cow pasture. The
beetles immediately disappear beneath the pats digging and tunnelling and, if they
successfully adapt to their new environment, soon become a permanent, self-
sustaining part of the local ecology. In time they multiply and within three or four
years the benefits to the pasture are obvious.
Dung beetles work from the inside of the pat so they are sheltered from predators
such as birds and foxes. Most species burrow into the soil and bury dung in tunnels
directly underneath the pats, which are hollowed out from within. Some large species
originating from France excavate tunnels to a depth of approximately 30 cm below the
dung pat. These beetles make sausage-shaped brood chambers along the tunnels. The
shallowest tunnels belong to a much smaller Spanish species that buries dung in
chambers that hang like fruit from the branches of a pear tree. South African beetles
dig narrow tunnels of approximately 20 cm below the surface of the pat. Some
