Ocean Plant Life in Decline Reading Answers

Dec 15, 2022

Ocean Plant Life in Decline Reading Answers examines the candidate’s understanding capacity through passages and questions. There are different types of questions in the IELTS topic: Ocean Plant Life in Decline Reading Answers. This is an IELTS Academic reading topic. In this IELTS reading passage - Ocean Plant Life in Decline Reading Answers, there are three question types: Matching headings, Sentence completion, and Summary Completion. Candidates need to read the passage and then answer the following questions as per the instructions. Ocean Plant Life in Decline Reading Answers is about plant life in the ocean which is declining day by day. Candidates get a wide range of topics in IELTS reading practice papers.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Ocean Plant Life in Decline Reading Answers

Scientists have discovered plant life covering the surface of the world’s oceans is disappearing at a dangerous rate. This plant life called phytoplankton is a vital resource that helps absorb the worst of the ‘greenhouse gases’ involved in global warming. Satellites and ships at sea have confirmed the diminishing productivity of the microscopic plants, which oceanographers say is most striking in the waters of the North Pacific – ranging as far up as the high Arctic. “Whether the lost productivity of the phytoplankton is directly due to increased ocean temperatures that have been recorded for at least the past 20 years remains part of an extremely complex puzzle”, says Watson W. Gregg, a NASA biologist at the Goddard Space Flight Center in the USA, but it surely offers a fresh clue to the controversy over climate change. According to Gregg, the greatest loss of phytoplankton has occurred where ocean temperatures have risen most significantly between the early 1980s and the late 1990s. In the North Atlantic summertime, sea surface temperatures rose about 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit during that period, while in the North Pacific the ocean’s surface temperatures rose about 0.7 of a degree.
While the link between ocean temperatures and the productivity of plankton is striking, other factors can also affect the health of the plants. They need iron as nourishment, for example, and much of it reaches them via powerful winds that sweep iron-containing dust across the oceans from continental deserts. When those winds diminish or fail, plankton can suffer. According to Gregg and his colleagues, there have been small but measurable decreases in the amount of iron deposited over the oceans in recent years.
The significant decline in plankton productivity has a direct effect on the world's carbon cycle. Normally, the ocean plants take up about half of all the carbon dioxide in the world’s environment because they use the carbon, along with sunlight, for growth, and release oxygen into the atmosphere in a process known as photosynthesis. Primary production of plankton in the North Pacific has decreased by more than 9 percent during the past 20 years, and by nearly 7 percent in the North Atlantic, Gregg and his colleagues determined from their satellite observations and shipboard surveys. Studies combining all the major ocean basins of the world has revealed the decline in plankton productivity to be more than 6 percent.
The plankton of the seas are a major way in which the extra carbon dioxide emitted in the combustion of fossil fuels is eliminated. Whether caused by currently rising global temperatures or not, the loss of natural plankton productivity in the oceans also means the loss of an important factor in removing much of the principal greenhouse gas that has caused the world’s climate to warm for the past century or more. “Our combined research shows that ocean primary productivity is declining, and it may be the result of climate changes such as increased temperatures and decreased iron deposits into parts of the oceans. This has major implications for the global carbon cycle” said Gregg.
At the same time, Stanford University scientists using two other NASA satellites and one flown by the Defense Department have observed dramatic new changes in the vast ice sheets along the west coast of Antarctica. These changes, in turn, are having a major impact on phytoplankton there. They report that a monster chunk of the Ross Ice Shelf – an iceberg almost 20 miles wide and 124 miles long – has broken off the west face of the shelf and is burying a vast ocean area of phytoplankton that is the base of the food web in an area exceptionally rich in plant and animal marine life.
Although sea surface temperatures around Western Antarctica are remaining stable, the loss of plankton is proving catastrophic to all the higher life forms that depend on the planet masses, say Stanford biological oceanographers Arrigo and van Dijken. Icebergs in Antarctica are designated by letters and numbers for aerial surveys across millions of square miles of the southern ocean, and this berg is known as C-19. “We estimate from satellite observations that C-19 in the Ross Sea has covered 90 percent of all the phytoplankton there” said Arrigo.
Huge as it is, the C-19 iceberg is only the second-largest recorded in the Ross Sea region. An even larger one, dubbed B-15, broke off, or ‘calved’ in 2001. Although it also blotted out a large area of floating phytoplankton on the sea surface, it only wiped out about 40 percent of the microscopic plants. Approximately 25 percent of the world’s populations of emperor penguins and 30 percent of the Adelie penguins nest in colonies in this area. This amounts to hundreds of thousands of Adelie and emperor penguins all endangered by the huge iceberg, which has been stuck against the coast ever since it broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf last year. Whales, seals and the millions of shrimp-like sea creatures called krill are also threatened by the loss of many square miles of phytoplankton.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

The passage has seven paragraphs labeled A- G; which paragraph contains the following information-

Q1. The role of Plankton in dealing with Carbon Dioxide emitted from vehicles?

Answer: D
Supporting sentence: The plankton of the seas are a major way in which the extra carbon dioxide emitted in the combustion of fossil fuels is eliminated.
Keyword: Plankton, Carbon Dioxide, Vehicles.
Keyword Location: Paragraph D- Line 1
Explanation: The author of the passage mentions that Planktons are a major way in reducing greenhouse gas. It is clearly mentioned in section D that Planktons play a very important role in the removal of excess carbon dioxide by absorbing them. Hence, paragraph D is the correct answer.

Q2. What is the effect on land and marine creatures when Ice-Berg breaks off?

Answer: G
Supporting sentence: Approximately 25 percent of the world’s populations of emperor penguins and 30 percent of the Adelie penguins nest in colonies in this area.
Keyword: Animals affected, Iceberg, breakoff.
Keyword Location: Paragraph G, 4^th sentence
Explanation: The paragraph states that the breaking of the iceberg took a toll on land and marine creatures. The author says that hundreds and thousands of emperor penguins are endangered by the Iceberg stuck at the coast since it broke off from Ross Ice Shelf last year. Not only this, the destruction caused to the phytoplankton has led to the threatening of the lives of mammals and creatures like Whales, Seals, and krill. Hence, paragraph G is the correct answer.

Q3. What is the impact of higher temperature upon Ocean?

Answer: A
Supporting sentence: According to Gregg, the greatest loss of phytoplankton has occurred where ocean temperatures have risen most significantly between the early 1980s and the late 1990s.
Keyword: Ocean, High Temperature.
Keyword Location: Paragraph A, 2^nd last line
Explanation: The author in the first paragraph mentions that the temperature of the ocean is rising since the early 1980s. This has led to the depletion of marine life and phytoplankton. Hence, paragraph A is the correct answer.

Q4. What is the system used in naming Ice-Bergs?

Answer: F
Supporting sentence: Icebergs in Antarctica are designated by letters and numbers for aerial surveys across millions of square miles of the southern ocean, and this berg is known as C-19.
Keyword: Iceberg, naming, letters.
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, 2^nd sentence
Explanation: We can see that Paragraph F clearly denotes how the icebergs are named and designated by Alphabets and numbers for their survey and study. The process for naming the icebergs is provided in this passage. Hence, F is the correct answer.

Q5. What is the importance of Phytoplankton in the food chain?

Answer: E
Supporting sentence: vast ocean area of phytoplankton that is the base of the food web in an area exceptionally rich in plant and animal marine life.
Keyword: Food Web, Marine.
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, last line
Explanation: The last sentence of Paragraph E states that phytoplanktons are the base of the food web. They are rich in plants and animals marine life. This shows their importance in the food chain. Hence, E is the correct answer.

Complete the Sentences below-

Q6. Much needed iron for plant life is transported to the ocean by________?

Answer: Powerful winds
Supporting sentence: They need iron as nourishment, for example, and much of it reaches them via powerful winds that sweep iron-containing dust across the oceans from continental deserts.
Keyword: Deserts, Winds, Iron.
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, 2^nd sentence
Explanation: Paragraph B mentions how the powerful winds from the continental deserts provide iron to Marine plants. The nourishment reaches the plants via winds. Hence, powerful winds is the correct answer.

Q7. An increase in greenhouse gases is due to a decrease in ______?

Answer: Plankton Productivity
Supporting sentence: loss of natural plankton productivity in the oceans means the loss of an important factor in removal of the principal greenhouse gas.
Keyword: Greenhouse Gas, Removal.
Keyword Location: Paragraph D, 2^nd sentence
Explanation: Paragraph D explains how depletion in natural Plankton has affected the removal of principal greenhouse gases. This means if planktons are lesser, the greenhouse gasses increases. Hence, plankton productivity is the correct answer.

Q8. Phytoplankton forms the ______ of the food web?

Answer: Base
Supporting sentence: vast ocean area of phytoplankton that is the base of the food web in an area exceptionally rich in plant and animal marine life.
Keyword: Food web, Phytoplankton.
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, last sentence
Explanation: Paragraph E states that phytoplankton is the food web in areas rich in marine life in the ocean. They are the base of the chain. Hence, the base is the correct answer.

Q9. The technical term used when a piece of ice detached from the main block is_______?

Answer: Calved
Supporting sentence: Iceberg dubbed or broke off is termed as calved
Keyword: Calved, Iceberg, Detached.
Keyword Location: Paragraph G, line 1
Explanation: Paragraph G explains and denotes that a broken iceberg is also termed as Calved. Hence, calved is the correct answer.

Complete the summary of the paragraph-

Q10. A decline in plant life located in the world's ocean has been validated by _____?

Answer: Satellites and ships
Supporting sentence: Satellites and ships have confirmed the diminishing productivity of microscopic plants.
Keyword: Validated, decline, plant-life
Keyword Location: Paragraph A; Line 3-4
Explanation: Line 4 of the paragraph clearly mentions how the Satellites and ships have helped in monitoring the decline in Plant life of the ocean. Hence, they noticed and located that microscopic plants are decreasing. This means that they are diminishing productivity.

Q11. The most obvious decline in plant life has been in the North Pacific. A rise in ocean temperatures in the early 1980s and late 1990s led to a decline in ______?

Answer: Phytoplankton
Supporting sentence: Scientists have discovered the plant life covering the surface of the world's ocean is disappearing at a dangerous rate. This plant life is called Phytoplankton.
Keyword: Plant Life, Decline, Marine life.
Keyword Location: Paragraph A; line 1
Explanation: The explanation to the question has been given in paragraph A as to how the rise in ocean temperature has led to declines in marine plant life. With the increase in temperature since 1980, the rate of disappearance of Phytoplankton has increased.

Q12. In addition to higher ocean temperatures, deficiencies in ________ can also lead to decline in plankton’s numbers.

Answer: Iron
Supporting sentence: Other factors can also affect the health of plants, like iron nourishment.
Keyword: Ocean Temperature, Deficiencies, Decline.
Keyword Location: Paragraph B
Explanation: Paragraph B’s second line explains how a deficiency in the iron content in the ocean can affect marine plant life. This makes Iron the correct answer.

Q13. This in turn impacts upon the world’s ______.

Answer: Carbon Cycle
Supporting sentence: Significant decline in plankton productivity has a direct impact on the world's carbon cycle.
Keyword: Carbon Cycle, Decline, Impact.
Keyword Location: Paragraph C; Line 2
Explanation: The explanation of the question is given in paragraph C. It states how the planktons help absorb half of the carbon dioxide of the world. hence, the decline in their productivity has a direct impact on the world's carbon cycle. This makes carbon cycle the correct answer.

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