LIVING BEINGS

Reading

We read about the contributions of women in the development of the sciences, and discover some of the difficulties they had to overcome.

Speaking

We speak about the different issues that will be learnt about throughout the unit.

Writing

We write a variety of different styles and types of text about a subject matter in the unit. By practising different styles of writing, we will improve the writing skills we need to do well in our studies.

The audios of each unit’s content are available at www.anayaeducacion.es

The opening pages of each unit 1

Living beings

Reading and listening

Lynn Margulis. An exceptional biologist If you hear the word ‘microorganism’, what do you think of? Lots of people only associate them with danger and illness, but for me they’re much more than that. They’re life itself! Let’s take bacteria as an example. They have existed for a very long time, they are incredibly varied and they have colonized all possible environments. I bet you won’t believe me if I tell you that I carry photos of bacteria in my purse, next to the photos of my children! My name is Lynn Margulis. I was born in 1938, in Chicago, in the USA. When I was only 16 I started university. I was fascinated by living beings and wanted to study Biology. When I graduated, I decided to become a teacher and help others to learn about the work that scientists do. As a scientific researcher, I dedicated a great part of my life to the study of microbes. I was even the author of a revolutionary theory: the theory of endosymbiosis. Also, together with my colleague Karlene V. Schwartz, I proposed a modification to the classification of living beings into the five kingdoms. Thanks to us, protozoa and unicellular and multicellular algae became known as Kingdom Protoctista. My friends have described me as a short, restless woman who is curious about everything, and I think that’s a very good summary! 1 Find words in the text that mean… a) A situation of risk b) Diverse c) Take control d) A small bag for money e) Not able to rest or relax 2 Lynn says that her friends describe her as short, restless and curious. What three words best describe you?

26 Speaking

3 Play a guessing game in small groups. Follow the instructions. Step 1: Take it in turns to think of a living being – but don’t tell anyone what it is! Step 2: Ask the person whose turn it is questions to discover which living being they’re thinking of. Step 3: Can you guess what it is? Now it’s your turn to think of a living being.

Is it a protozoa? No

4 Lynn Margulis once said ‘Life did not take over the world by combat, but by networking.’ What do you think she means?

Writing LANGUAGE BANKLANGUAGE BANKLANGUAGE BANKLANGUAGE BANKLANGUAGE BANKLANGUAGE BANKLANGUAGE BANK LANGUAGE BANKLANGUAGE BANK LANGUAGE BANKLANGUAGE BANK LANGUAGE BANK 27 5 You have been asked to write a short article about the work of microbiologists for your school newspaper. Do research and include the information below. ➜ What do microbiologists do? ➜ What qualifications do they have? ➜ Where do they work? ➜ What is a typical day like for a microbiologist? A newspaper article

Focus on English

Do you think Biology and Geology and English have anything in common? Discover how language, biology and geology are linked so you can learn them together.

Working with pictures

Develop your abilities to observe and interpret pictures.

The icons included with some activities indicate the keys to the project. Visual aids to support your understanding of the contents.

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

9

THE CONSERVATION OF ECOSYSTEMS

Working with pictures 1

Look at the photos and compare how resources from biodiversity are being used in each scene. What similarities and differences can you see?

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9.1 We use ecosystems

As consumers, we humans use resources from ecosystems to meet our needs: we breath air and drink water, we mine rocks, we cultivate and live off the land, and we generate energy from the environment. Above all we take advantage of the planet’s biodiversity.

Biodiversity as a resource

Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is the variety or richness of living beings on our planet.

Biodiversity is the Earth’s most valuable resource. It is essential for life to develop on the planet and for ecosystems to maintain their balance. But it also provides us with useful resources. For example: ➜ Food. We eat living beings and their produce.

Today, we grow the plants and rear the animals we need, but we still catch food, particularly in marine ecosystems, through fishing. ➜ Medicines. Many organisms contain or produce substances that we use to make medicines, like antibiotics. ➜ Raw materials. We get materials like wood and fibres from plants. We get leather and wool from animals. ➜ Energy. In some places, firewood is still the primary fuel and animals are the main source of power for transport or physical labour. ➜ Well-being. Biodiversity has aesthetic, cultural and educational value. Because of all this, biodiversity is considered to be an indicator of a country’s wealth.

Focus on English Over can be used with the meaning of higher than or above in position, number or authority. Therefore, overexploitation refers to exploiting a renewable resource to the point of using it up completely. There are many words that begin with the prefix over- such as overbooking, overcrowded, overdone or overpriced. What do they mean?

Understand, think, search...

1 Why is biodiversity considered to be an indicator of a country’s wealth? 2 Pencils in the middle. In groups, write a list of everything you see around you that comes from living beings. Could you live without these items?

5.2 Alternation of generations in seedless plants

Seedless plants, like mosses and ferns, have a life cycle in which two generations alternate: ➜ The sporophyte generation, which contains the sporangia, where spores form for asexual reproduction; ➜ The gametophyte generation, which contains the gametangia, where gametes form for sexual reproduction. In mosses, the part of the plant you can see is the gametophyte. After fertilisation, the sporophyte develops as a filament that ends in a capsule, the sporangium, which contains spores. In ferns, the part of the plant you can see is the sporophyte. This contains the sporangia (clustered together into sori), where spores form.

The life cycle of a moss

Male reproductive organ

2 The male gamete reaches the female gamete due to rainfall, and fertilises it to form the zygote.

Female reproductive organ Zygote

Unit 3

Visual arts CREATE A virtual herbarium. Herbaria are collections of dried plants that botanists use for study and research. You are going to prepare a herbarium without picking plants from their environment.

3 The zygote develops into the sporophyte. This grows a capsule inside which spores form.

Young sporophyte

Gametophyte

1 Male and female reproductive organs form in the gametophyte, and produce male and female gametes respectively.

Young gametophyte

Understand, think, search...

4 Why are mosses and ferns said to have a life cycle involving alternation of generations? 5 What is the gametophyte of seedless plants? And the sporophyte? What is the structure that produces spores?

Spores

4 The capsule on the sporophyte releases spores, which fall to the ground and germinate to form a gametophyte.

Mature sporophyte

6 Write a short explanation of how alternation of generations occurs in ferns. 7 Do some research to answer the following question: in mosses, how are male gametes dispersed to the female reproductive organ?

Create

In this section we create a crosscurricular project that joins Biology and Geology with other subjects. Have you ever thought that Biology and Geology could be joined with visual arts to improve your creative skills?

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Understand, think, search...

Activities that expand on the contents and inspire curiosity about scientific investigation.

SDG

PROJECT KEY

SDG Commitment

Discover the Sustainable Development Goals and be an active part of our commitment to make a more equal and liveable world.

Developing thinking

Work on strategies for thinking: reflect on the content you are learning, generate ideas, organise them, debate them, explain them…

Cooperative learning

Get involved in your learning and participate in the group’s learning; you will find that cooperating improves performance and harmony in the class.

Emotional education

Get to know yourself; identify the situations that bring up complicated emotions and manage them with constructive, self-affirming experiences.