Joy English · Nivel C1 · Ciencia y naturalezajoy-english.com

Una entrevista con una ecóloga de restauración

Nombre:Fecha:

Una ecóloga de restauración explica por qué devolver la vida a una marisma drenada supuso quitar cosas en lugar de plantar.

Audio y corrección de respuestas: https://joy-english.com/es/listening/wetland-restoration-interview

Actitud, opinión e inferencia

Escucha y elige la mejor respuesta. Algunas respuestas no se dicen de forma directa.

What misunderstanding does Marisol correct at the start?
- a) That marshes cannot be restored at all
- b) That restoration takes only a few months
- c) That restoration consists mainly of planting
- d) That farmers always oppose such projects
Why did plants reappear once the water returned?
- a) Seeds that had been dormant in the soil began to grow
- b) Volunteers planted them from a nearby marsh
- c) Birds carried the seeds from other countries
- d) The farmers sowed them along the stream
What went wrong because of the farmland upstream?
- a) The water became too salty for any plants
- b) The farmers blocked the stream completely
- c) Soil washed away and buried the seeds
- d) Fertiliser helped a few aggressive reeds crowd out other plants
Why did most farmers agree to the grass strips?
- a) They were paid a large sum of money
- b) They found the strips also protected their own soil
- c) They were required to do so by law
- d) They wanted to attract more birds
What is Marisol's view of bird counts as a measure of success?
- a) They are the only reliable measure
- b) They are less important than the number of visitors
- c) They are useful but can give a misleading impression
- d) They are impossible to carry out accurately
What does Marisol imply about the flood two winters ago?
- a) It persuaded doubters more effectively than written evidence
- b) It destroyed much of the work already done
- c) It was caused by the restoration itself
- d) It made the village decide to leave
Why does Marisol mention the walking path?
- a) It brought in money to pay for the work
- b) It replaced a road that had been closed
- c) It allowed scientists to count plants more easily
- d) It made local people feel the project belonged to them
What does Marisol regret about the project?
- a) Not planting more trees in the first year
- b) Not collecting local people's knowledge earlier
- c) Not measuring the number of birds each week
- d) Not asking the farmers to leave larger strips

Escucha los detalles

Escucha otra vez y escribe la palabra o el número que falta. Puedes escribir los números con palabras o con cifras.

Marisol has worked on the marsh for ___ years.
Almost no planting took place during the first ___ years.
The number of bird species has risen from nineteen to ___.
The river flooded ___ winters ago.
Families can now come and watch ___ from the walking path.
Farmers agreed to leave a strip of rough ___ along the stream banks.

Respuestas

Actitud, opinión e inferencia

c) That restoration consists mainly of plantingDice que en los primeros cuatro años apenas se plantó nada; sobre todo se retiró el drenaje.
a) Seeds that had been dormant in the soil began to growDice que las semillas llevaban décadas latentes y brotaron cuando el suelo volvió a estar húmedo.
d) Fertiliser helped a few aggressive reeds crowd out other plantsEl fertilizante favoreció a los carrizos agresivos, que desplazaron a otras especies.
b) They found the strips also protected their own soilDice que nadie fue obligado y que la mayoría aceptó cuando vio que la franja reducía la pérdida de suelo en sus propios campos.
c) They are useful but can give a misleading impressionDice que el aumento de especies es real, pero que las aves llegan volando de otros sitios, así que pueden inducir a error.
a) It persuaded doubters more effectively than written evidenceEl pueblo se mantuvo seco, lo que hizo más por convencer a los escépticos que cualquier informe.
d) It made local people feel the project belonged to themCuando las familias pudieron ver garzas, el proyecto pasó a ser de las familias y no de ella.
b) Not collecting local people's knowledge earlierDice que recopilaron datos sobre las plantas pero casi ninguno sobre lo que recordaba la gente del lugar, y que se perdió parte del conocimiento.

Escucha los detalles

eleven / 11El presentador dice que ella ha dedicado once años al proyecto.
four / 4Dice que en los primeros cuatro años apenas se plantó nada.
forty-three / forty three / 43Dice que las especies de aves han pasado de diecinueve a cuarenta y tres.
two / 2Dice que hace dos inviernos las fuertes lluvias hicieron que el río se desbordara.
heronsDice que las familias pueden venir a ver las garzas por sí mismas.
grassLa franja era de hierba áspera a lo largo de las orillas del arroyo.

Transcripción

Presenter: My guest today is Marisol Teixeira, a restoration ecologist who has spent eleven years bringing a drained river marsh back to life. Marisol, when people hear the word restoration, they picture planting. Is that the whole story?

Marisol: Far from it. In fact, our first four years involved hardly any planting at all. What we did was remove things. We blocked the drainage ditches and let the water return. Seeds had been lying dormant in the soil for decades, and once the ground was wet again, plants that nobody had seen since my grandmother's time simply reappeared.

Presenter: That sounds almost too easy.

Marisol: It would have been, had the water been clean. But the farmland upstream was washing fertiliser into the marsh, and that favoured a few aggressive reeds, which crowded out everything else. So we negotiated with the farmers to leave a strip of rough grass along the stream banks. Nobody was forced, and most agreed once they saw that the strip also reduced soil loss from their own fields.

Presenter: How do you know the project has worked? What counts as success?

Marisol: That's the hardest question, and I'd distrust anyone who gives a quick answer. We count bird species, which have risen from nineteen to forty-three, but birds can be misleading, because they fly in from elsewhere. I'm more reassured by the insects and the water quality, which respond to what's happening on the spot. And honestly, the real test is whether it still works after a flood.

Presenter: And has it been tested?

Marisol: Two winters ago, heavy rain pushed the river over its banks. The marsh absorbed so much of the water that the village downstream stayed dry, which, frankly, did more to win over the sceptics than any report I could have written.

Presenter: Were there people who opposed it?

Marisol: Plenty, at first. Some saw it as land going to waste. What changed minds wasn't an argument. It was the walking path. Once families could come and watch herons for themselves, the project stopped being mine and became theirs.

Presenter: If you could do it again, what would you change?

Marisol: I'd have started recording people's memories sooner. We kept careful data on plants, but almost none on what local people remembered of the old marsh, and some of the best guidance came from an elderly neighbour who recalled where the water used to pool. A great deal of knowledge was lost simply because we didn't think to ask.