Seed Hunting Reading Answers

Nov 25, 2022

Seed Hunting Reading Answers has 13 questions to be answered in 20 minutes. The Development of Travel Under the Ocean Reading Answers consists of three types of questions including choosing the correct paragraph, and true/false/not given. Candidates are required to answer and choose the correct paragraph with relevance from the passage. For true/false/not given, candidates are required to answer questions with relevance from the passage by identifying keywords. Candidates must read the IELTS reading passage, identify keywords, and recognize synonyms to answer the question. In the IELTS Reading Section, the candidates are presented with different question styles with specific instructions. It is important that candidates abide by the word limit as well as answer accurately for what is asked.

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Reading Passage Question

With a quarter of the world’s plants set to vanish within the next 50 years, Dough Alexander reports on the scientists working against the clock to preserve the Earth’s botanical heritage. They travel the four comers of the globe, scouring jungles, forests, and savannas. But they’re not looking for ancient artifacts, lost treasure, or undiscovered tombs. Just pods. It may lack the romantic allure of archaeology or the whiff of danger that accompanies going after a big game, but seed hunting is an increasingly serious business. Some seek seeds for profit—hunters in the employ of biotechnology firms, pharmaceutical companies, and private corporations on the lookout for species that will yield the drugs or crops of the future. Others collect to conserve, working to halt the sad slide into extinction, facing so many plant species.
Among the pioneers of this botanical treasure hunt was John Tradescant, an English royal gardener who brought back plants and seeds from his journeys abroad in the early 1600s. Later, the English botanist Sir Joseph Banks who was the first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and traveled with Captain James Cook on his voyages near the end of the 18th century—was so driven to expand his collections that he sent botanists around the world at his own expense.
Those heady days of exploration and discovery may be over, but they have been replaced by a pressing need to preserve our natural history for the future. This modem mission drives hunters such as Dr. Michiel van Slageren, a good-natured Dutchman who often sports a wide-brimmed hat in the field—he could easily be mistaken for the cinematic hero Indiana Jones. He and three other seed hunters work at the Millennium Seed Bank, an 80 million [pounds sterling] international conservation project that aims to protect the world’s most endangered wild plant species.
The group’s headquarters are in a modem glass-and-concrete structure on a 200-hectare Estate at Wakehurst Place in the West Sussex countryside. Within its underground vaults are 260 million dried seeds from 122 countries, all stored at -20 Celsius to survive for centuries. Among the 5100 species represented are virtually all of Britain’s 1,400 native seed-bearing plants, the most complete such collection of any country’s flora.
Overseen by the Royal botanic gardens, the Millennium Seed Bank is the world’s largest wild-plant depository. It aims to collect 24,000 species by 2010. The reason is simple: thanks to humanity’s efforts, an estimated 25 percent of the world’s plants are on the verge of extinction and may vanish within 50 years. We’re currently responsible for habitat destruction on an unprecedented scale, and during the past 400 years, plant species extinction rates have been about 70 times greater than those indicated by the geological record as being ’normal’. Experts predict that during the next 50 years, further one billion hectares of wilderness will be converted to farmland in developing countries alone.
The implications of this loss are enormous. Besides providing staple food crops, plants are sources of many machines and the principal supply of fuel and building materials in many parts of the world. They also protect soil and help regulate the climate. Yet, across the globe, plant species are being driven to extinction before their potential benefits are discovered.
The World Conservation Union has listed 5,714 threatened species is sure to be much higher. In the UK alone, 300 wild plant species are classified as endangered. The Millennium Seed Bank aims to ensure that even if a plant becomes extinct in the wild and it won’t be lost forever.
Stored seeds can be used to help restore damaged or destroyed environment or in scientific research to find new benefits for society- in medicine, agriculture, or local industry- that would otherwise be lost.
Seed banks are an insurance policy to protect the world’s plant heritage for the future, explains Dr. Paul Smith, another Kew seed hunter. “Seed conservation techniques were originally developed by farmers,” he says. “Storage is the basis what we do, conserving seeds until you can use them just as in farming,” Smith says there’s no reason why any plant species should become extinct, given today’s technology. But he admits that the biggest challenge is finding, naming and categorizing all the world’s plants. And someone has to gather these seeds before it’s too late. “There aren’t a lot of people out there doing this,” he says” The key is to know the flora from a particular area, and that knowledge takes years to acquire.”
There are about 1,470 seedbanks scattered around the globe, with a combined total of 5.4 million samples, of which perhaps two million are distinct non-duplicates. Most preserve genetic material for agriculture use in order to ensure crop diversity; others aim to conserve wild species, although only 15 percent of all banked plants are wild.
Imperial College, London, examined crop collections from 151 countries and found that while the number of plant samples had increased in two-thirds of the countries, the budget had been cut in a quarter and remained static in another 35 percent. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research has since set up the Global Conservation Trust, which aims to raise the US $260 million to protect seed banks in perpetuity.

Solution and Explanation

Seed Hunting Reading Answers

Questions 1-6

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage -

TRUE - if the statement is true,
FALSE - if the statement is false,
NOT GIVEN - if the information is not given in the passage

The purpose of collecting seeds now is different from the past
The millennium seed bank is the earliest seed bank.
One of the major threats for plant species extinction is farmland expansion into wildness.
The approach that scientists apply to store seeds is similar to that used by farmers.
Technological development is the only hope to save plant species.
The works of seed conservation are often limited by financial problems.

Question 1.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: Others collect to conserve, working to halt the sad slide into extinction, facing so many plant species.
Keywords: Extinction, Plant species, and Conserve.
Keyword Location: Section A, Line 9.
Explanation: Yes, the above statement is true as the main aim of collecting seed is to protect it from extinction.

Question 2.

Answer: Not given.
Explanation: The only information written in the passage about The millennium seed bank is that it aims to protect endangered wild plant species.

Question 3.

Answer: False.
Supporting Sentence:Experts predict that during the next 50 years, further one billion hectares of wilderness will be converted to farmland in developing countries alone.
Keywords: Wilderness, and farmland.
Keyword Location: Section E, Line 7.
Explanation: Human expansion is the cause of the destruction of natural habitats. According to the experts, in the next 50 years, one billion hectares of wildland or natural habitat will be converted into farmlands.

Question 4.

Answer: True.
Supporting Sentence: scientific research to find new benefits for society- in medicine, agriculture, or local industry- that would otherwise be lost.
Keywords: Conservation, and Farmers.
Keyword Location: Section H, Line 2.
Explanation: According to Dr. Paul Smith, he says that storing seed is an old-school technique of the farmers. As the farmers used to store seeds of the crop for farming.

Question 5.

Answer: False.
Supporting Sentence:The reason is simple: thanks to humanity’s efforts, an estimated 25 percent of the world’s plants are on the verge of extinction and may vanish within 50 years.
Keywords: Extinction, and Humanity.
Keyword Location: Section E, Line 2.
Explanation: It is clearly mentioned in the passage that the expansion of human activity and technological advancement is the cause of the extinction of flora from the planet. Around 25% of the flora are on the edge of extinction in the next 50 years.

Question 6.

Answer: True.
Supporting Sentence: There are about 1,470 seed banks scattered around the globe, with a combined total of 5.4 million samples,
Keywords: Banks, and Funds.
Keyword Location: Section J, Line 1.
Explanation: It has been often observed that the task of seed conservation does not receive a good of funds to carry over the activity. The banks are not able to provide adequate funds to the people to continue the work of seed conservation.

Questions 7-11

Complete the following summary of the paragraph of the passage.

Some people collect seeds for the purpose of protecting certain species from 7. …………..; others collect seeds for their ability to produce 8. ………… They are called seed hunters. The 9. ………….. of them included both gardeners and botanists, such as 10. ……………..., who financially supported collectors out of his own pocket. The seeds collected are usually stored in seed banks, one of which is the famous millennium seed bank, where seeds are all stored in the 11. …………….. at a low temperature.

Question 7.

Answer: Extinction.
Supporting Sentence: As some people collect plant seeds to make a profit for their firms, but some collect seeds to protect them from extinction. ‘Others collect to conserve, working to halt the sad slide into extinction facing so many plant species.’ (Line 8-9)
Keywords: Conserve, Extinction, and Plant species.
Keyword Location: Section A, Line 8.
Explanation: It has been seen that some people who belong to the industry of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and private companies used seeds to make a profit. But some conservationists protect these seeds from extinction to protect biodiversity.

Question 8.

Answer: Drugs, crops.
Supporting Sentence: ‘Lookout for species that will yield the drugs or crops of the future.’
Keywords: Drugs, Crops, and Species.
Keyword Location: Section A, Line 8.
Explanation: The private firms use these seeds to make drugs, medicines, or crops which will give profit in the future.

Question 9.

Answer: Pioneers.
Supporting Sentence:Some famous and important personality has brought back seeds from other parts of the world while traveling. ‘Among the pioneers of this botanical treasure hunt was John Tradescant…’ (line 8)
Keywords: Pioneers, and Botanical treasure.
Keyword Location: Section B, Line 1.
Explanation: There are some famous persons who brought back seeds from other countries for the collection of different plant species' seeds.

Question 10.

Answer: John Tradescant.
Supporting Sentence: ‘John Tradescant, an English royal gardener who brought back plants and seeds from his journeys abroad.’
Keywords: Gardener, and Seeds.
Keyword Location: Section B, Line 2)
Explanation: John Tradescant, a gardener has brought back plants and seeds with himself while travelling around the world to collect various plant species.

Question 11.

Answer: Underground vaults.
Supporting Sentence: The collected seeds were used to store in underground vaults. ‘Within its underground vaults are 260 million dried seeds from 122 countries, all stored at -20 Celsius to survive for centuries.’ (Line 2)
Keywords: Dried seeds, and Underground Vaults.
Keyword Location: Section D, Line 2)
Explanation: The collected seeds from different countries have been stored in underground vaults so that they could survive for many centuries. They were kept at -20 Celsius at underground vaults.

Questions 12-13

Choose the correct letter, A-E.
Write your answers in boxes 12,13 on your answer sheet.
Which two of the following are provided by plants to the human?

Food
Fuels
Clothes
Energy
Commercial products

Question 12

Answer: Food
Supporting Sentence: Besides providing staple food crops, plants are sources of many machines and the principal supply of fuel and building materials in many parts of the world.
Keywords: food crops, machines
Keyword Location: Section F, Line 1-2
Explanation: The plant species provide so many useful materials to humankind. It gives us food, wood, raw material, and fuel to carry out day-to-day activities.

Question 13

Answer: Fuels
Supporting Sentence: The plants provide humans with food as well as fuel and material. ‘Besides providing staple food crops, plants are a source of many machines and the principal supply of fuel and building materials in many parts of the world.’ ( Line 1-2)
Keywords: Staple food, Machines, and Fuel.
Keyword Location: Section F, Line 2.
Explanation: The plant species provide so many useful materials to humankind. It gives us food, wood, raw material, and fuel to carry out day-to-day activities.

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