Gold Dusters Reading Answers

Dec 31, 2022

Gold Dusters Reading Answers is an important topic taken from the Complete IELTS Bands 6.5-7.5 Student's Book with Answers. This Gold Dusters Reading Answers IELTS topic is about gold dusters being the Earth’s pollinators and they come in more than 200,000 shapes and sizes. There are 2 types of questions given in this Gold Dusters Reading Answers: Fill in the blanks with 2-3 words, and Match the heading. IELTS reading samples on Gold Dusters Reading Answers help the candidates to answer the questions with proper explanations. IELTS reading practice paper is an essential part of the candidate's need to secure a good IELTS score.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Gold Dusters Reading Answers

They are the Earth’s pollinators and they come in more than 200,000 shapes and sizes.

Row upon row, tomato plants stand in formation inside a greenhouse. To reproduce, most flowering plants depend on a third party to transfer pollen between their male and female parts. Some require extra encouragement to give up that golden dust. The tomato flower, for example, needs a violent shake, a vibration roughly equivalent to 30 times the pull of Earth’s gravity, explains Arizona entomologist Stephen Buchmann. Growers have tried numerous ways to rattle pollen from tomato blossoms. They have used shaking tables, air blowers and blasts of sound. But natural means seem to work better.
It is no surprise that nature’s design works best. What’s astonishing is the array of workers that do it: more than 200,000 individual animal species, by varying strategies, help the world's 240,000 species of flowering plants make more flowers. Flies and beetles are the original pollinators, going back to when flowering plants first appeared 130 million years ago. As for bees, scientists have identified some 20,000 distinct species so far. Hummingbirds, butterflies, moths, wasps and ants are also up to the job. Even non-flying mammals do their part: sugar-loving opossums, some rainforest monkeys, and lemurs in Madagascar, all with nimble hands that tear open flower stalks and furry coats to which pollen sticks. Most surprising, some lizards, such as geckos, lap up nectar and pollen and then transport the stuff on their faces and feet as they forage onward.
All that messy diversity, unfortunately, is not well suited to the monocrops and mega-yields of modern commercial farmers. Before farms got so big, says conservation biologist Claire Kremen of the University of California, Berkeley, ‘we didn’t have to manage pollinators. They were all around because of the diverse landscapes. Now you need to bring in an army to get pollination done. The European honeybee was first imported to the US some 400 years ago.
Now at least a hundred commercial crops rely almost entirely on managed honeybees, which beekeepers raise and rent out to tend to big farms. And although other species of bees are five to ten times more efficient, on a per-bee basis, at pollinating certain fruits, honeybees have bigger colonies, cover longer distances, and tolerate management and movement better than most insects. They're not picky - they’ll spend their time on almost any crop. It’s tricky to calculate what their work is truly worth; some economists put it at more than $200 billion globally a year.
Industrial-scale farming, however, may be wearing down the system. Honeybees have suffered diseases and parasite infestations for as long as they've been managed, but in 2006 came an extreme blow.
Around the world, bees began to disappear over the winter in massive numbers. Beekeepers would lift the lid of a hive and be amazed to find only the queen and a few stragglers, the worker bees gone.
In the US, a third to half of all hives crashed; some beekeepers reported colony losses near 90 percent. The mysterious culprit was named colony collapse disorder (CCD) and it remains an annual menace - and an enigma.
When it first hit, many people, from agronomists to the public, assumed that our slathering of chemicals on agricultural fields was to blame for the mystery. Indeed, says Jeff Pettis of the USDA Bee Research Laboratory, ‘we do find more disease in bees that have been exposed to pesticides, even at low levels.’ But it is likely that CCD involves multiple stressors. Poor nutrition and chemical exposure, for instance, might wear down a bee's immunities before a virus finishes the insect off. It’s hard to tease apart factors and outcomes, Pettis says. New studies reveal that fungicides - not previously thought toxic to bees - can interfere with microbes that break down pollen in the insects’ guts, affecting nutrient absorption and thus long-term health and longevity. Some findings pointed to viral and fungal pathogens working together. ‘I only wish we had a single agent causing all the declines,’ Pettis says, ’that would make our work much easier!
However, habitat loss and alteration, he says, are even more of a menace to pollinators than pathogens. Claire Kremen encourages farmers to cultivate the flora surrounding farmland to help solve habitat problems. ‘You can't move the farm,’ she says, ‘but you can diversify what grows in its vicinity: along roads, even in tractor yards.’ Planting hedgerows and patches of native flowers that bloom at different times and seeding fields with multiple plant species rather than monocrops 'not only is better for native pollinators, but it’s just better agriculture,’ she says. Pesticide-free wildflower havens, adds Buchmann, would also bolster populations of useful insects. Fortunately, too, ‘there are far more generalist plants than specialist plants, so there's a lot of redundancy in pollination,’ Buchmann says. ‘Even if one pollinator drops out, there are often pretty good surrogates left to do the job. The key to keeping our gardens growing strong, he says, is letting that diversity thrive.
Take away that variety, and we'll lose more than honey. ‘We wouldn't starve,’ says Kremen. ‘But what we eat, and even what we wear pollinators, after all, give us some of our cotton and flax - would be limited to crops whose pollen travels by other means. ‘In a sense,’ she says, ‘our lives would be dictated by the wind. It’s vital that we give pollinators more of what they need and less of what they don't, and ease the burden on managed bees by letting native animals do their part, say scientists.

[Adapted from National Geographic Magazine.]

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 15-21
The reading passage has seven sections, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
In boxes 15-21 on your answer sheet write A-G.

List of Headings

Looking for clues
Blaming the beekeepers
Solutions to a more troublesome issue
Discovering a new bee species
An impossible task for any human
The preferred pollinator
Plant features designed to suit the pollinator
Some obvious and less obvious pollen carriers
The undesirable alternative
An unexpected setback

Section A

Answer : v An impossible task for any human
Supporting Sentence: Growers have tried numerous ways to rattle pollen from tomato blossoms.
Keywords: Growers, numerous ways, tomato blossoms
Keyword Location: Paragraph A
Explanation: According to paragraph E, it is vital to focus just on signals originating from the brain regions that regulate speech. However, true mind reading necessitates intercepting those impulses before they reach the motor cortex.

Section B

Answer : viii Some obvious and less obvious pollen carriers
Supporting Sentence: What’s astonishing is the array of workers that do it: more than 200,000 individual animal species, by varying strategies, help the world's 240,000 species of flowering plants make more flowers
Keywords: individual animal species, world's 240,000 species of flowering plants
Keyword Location: Paragraph B
Explanation: According to paragraph B, what is really amazing is the diversity of workers: more than 200,000 unique animal species use various tactics to help the world's 240,000 blooming plant species produce more blossoms.

Section C

Answer : vi The preferred pollinator
Supporting Sentence: Now at least a hundred commercial crops rely almost entirely on managed honeybees, which beekeepers raise and rent out to tend to big farms.
Keywords: honey bees, beekeepers
Keyword Location: Paragraph C
Explanation: According to paragraph C states that at least a hundred commercial crops are now almost totally dependent on controlled honeybees, which beekeepers grow and rent out to large farms.

Section D

Answer: x An unexpected setback
Supporting Sentence: Honeybees have suffered diseases and parasite infestations for as long as they've been managed, but in 2006 came an extreme blow.
Keywords: Honeybees, suffered diseases and parasite infestations
Keyword Location: Paragraph D
Explanation: According to paragraph D However, industrial-scale farming may be depleting the system. Honeybees have been plagued by illnesses and parasite infestations for as long as they have been handled, but an acute blow struck in 2006.

Section E

Answer : i Looking for clues
Supporting Sentence: When it first hit, many people, from agronomists to the public, assumed that our slathering of chemicals on agricultural fields was to blame for the mystery.
Keywords: agronomists to the public, slathering of chemicals
Keyword Location: Paragraph E
Explanation: According to paragraph D Many individuals, from agronomists to the general public, felt that the mystery was caused by our slathering of pesticides on agricultural fields.

Section F

Answer : iii Solutions to a more troublesome issue
Supporting Sentence: habitat loss and alteration, he says, are even more of a menace to pollinators than pathogens.
Keywords: pollinators, pathogens
Keyword Location: Paragraph F
Explanation: According to paragraph D Many individuals, from agronomists to the general public, felt that the mystery was caused by our slathering of pesticides on agricultural fields. Hence option iii is the correct answer.

Section G

Answer : ix The undesirable alternative
Supporting Sentence: Take away that variety, and we'll lose more than honey.
Keywords: variety, honey
Keyword Location: Paragraph
Explanation: According to paragraph G When we lose that variety, we will lose more than honey. 'We wouldn't go hungry,' Kremen adds. 'However, what we eat, and even what we wear - after all, pollinators provide part of our cotton and flax - would be confined to crops whose pollen moves by other routes.

Questions 22-25

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MOKE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Both ..................... were the first creatures to pollinate the world's plants.

Answer : flies and beetles
Supporting Sentence: Flies and beetles are the original pollinators, going back to when flowering plants first appeared 130 million years ago.
Keywords: original pollinators, flowering plants
Keyword Location: Paragraph B
Explanation: According to paragraph B Flies and beetles were the first pollinators, dating back to the appearance of flowering plants 130 million years ago.

Monkeys transport pollen on their .....................

Answer : furry coats
Supporting Sentence: nimble hands that tear open flower stalks and furry coats to which pollen sticks.
Keywords: non-flying animals, open flower stalks
Keyword Location: Paragraph B
Explanation: According to paragraph B Even non-flying animals contribute: sugar-loving opossums, certain rainforest monkeys, and Madagascar lemurs, all of which have quick hands that tear open flower stems and hairy coats on which pollen adheres.

Honeybees are favoured pollinators among bee species partly because they travel .....................

Answer : longer distances
Supporting Sentence: honeybees have bigger colonies, cover longer distances, and tolerate management and movement better than most insects.
Keywords: bigger colonies, cover longer distances, and tolerate management
Keyword Location: Paragraph C
Explanation: Although other kinds of bees are five to ten times more efficient at pollinating specific fruits per bee. The honeybees have larger colonies, traverse greater distances, and endure management and travel better than other insects, according to paragraph C.

A feature of CCD is often the loss of all the .....................

Answer : worker bees
Supporting Sentence: Beekeepers would lift the lid of a hive and be amazed to find only the queen and a few stragglers, the worker bees gone.
Keywords: Beekeepers, few stragglers
Keyword Location: Paragraph D
Explanation: According to paragraph D, beekeepers would remove the lid of a hive and be startled to discover just the queen and a few stray worker bees.

Questions 26-27

Choose TWO letters, A-E.

Which TWO methods of combating the problems caused by CCD and habitat loss are mentioned in the article?

In boxes 26 & 27 on your answer sheet write Two letters (A-E).

using more imported pest controllers
removing microbes from bees’ stomachs
cultivating a wide range of flowering plants
increasing the size of many farms
placing less reliance on honeybees

Answer 26: C. cultivating a wide range of flowering plants
Supporting Sentence: Claire Kremen encourages farmers to cultivate the flora surrounding farmland to help solve habitat problems.
Keywords: encourages farmers to cultivate the flora
Keyword Location: Paragraph F
Explanation: According to paragraph D Claire Kremen encourages farmers to nurture the flora. It is surrounded by cropland to aid in the resolution of habitat issues.

Answer 27: E. placing less reliance on honeybees
Supporting Sentence: It’s vital that we give pollinators more of what they need and less of what they don't, and ease the burden on managed bees by letting native animals do their part, say scientists.
Keywords: ease the burden on managed bees
Keyword Location: Paragraph G
Explanation: According to paragraph G Scientists believe it's critical that we offer pollinators more of the things they want and need less of what we don't, and that we alleviate the strain on managed bees by allowing natural species to help.

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