Landscapes descriptions. Descripción de paisajes naturales

Comment the following pictures of natural landscapes or biomes (from b to e). You have right here an example of a description.

Comenta las siguientes fotografías de paisajes -en inglés o castellano-. Tienes un ejemplo debajo.

a) In this picture you can see a natural landscape or biome. It is a rainforest or jungle.

In the centre of the image there is a huge waterfall and a lake, and all the soil is covered with vegatation.
The trees are really tall. Trees in rainforest could be as tall as skyscrapers. Trunks must reach very high in order to get some light in the highest layer of the forest.
On the lowest layers there are other kind of plants, that barely need sunlight, as ferns or lianas.
The climate in the tropical rainforest is always warm and humid. It is an area with heavy and constant rainfalls. You can find rainforest in areas with an equatorian or tropical climate, as Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Cameroon, Indonesia…
Rainforest are vital for the natural biodiversity in the planet. Eventhough they represent only around 6% of the Earth’s surface, they provide more than 50% of the natural species in the planet.
Indiscriminate logging, fires and deforestation are the main threats in these vital areas.

a) En esta fotografía se puede contemplar un paisaje o medio natural. Se trata de una selva.
En el centro de la imagen puede reconocerse una cascada y un lago, y todo el suelo está cubierto de vegetación. Los árboles son realmente altos. Los árboles de la selva pueden ser casi tan altos como rascacielos. Los troncos de los árboles deben crecer mucho para alcanzar la luz solar en las capas más altas de la vegetación. En las capas más bajas pueden encontrarse otras especies de plantas que apenas necesitan luz solar como lianas o helechos.
El clima de la selva es siempre cálido y húmedo. Es un área con frecuentes y abundantes lluvias. Se pueden encontrar selvas en zonas con clima ecuatorial o tropical húmedo, como Brasil, Colombia, Indonesia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Congo….
Las selvas son muy importantes para la biodiversidad del planeta. Aunque apenas representan el 6% de la superficie terrestre, en su interior viven más del 50% de las especies naturales del planeta.
La tala indiscriminada, los incendios y la deforestación constituyen las principales amenazas de estas importantes áreas.

b)

c)

d)

How to comment a graph

Commenting a graph or chart could be a great exercise to develop our English skills and, at the same time show and put into practice our knowledge in a certain field.
Charts or graphs help us to display a great amount of information in a visual and graphical way, so we can get an idea of a complex process and visualize and compare trends easily.

As, you might have seen in class, we have to distinguish into four different parts or phases of a graph’s commentary:

  1. Introduction.
  2. Description.
  3. Analysis.
  4. Conclusion.



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Biomes, part 2. Mediterranean environment.

Los siguientes 3 posts corresponden al contenido de los medios naturales (Biomes) en inglés. Es recomendable leerlos para el martes de la semana próxima. Saludos!

The Mediterranean environment is basically found around the Mediterranean Sea, but also in some places of the Earth with a temperate but not very humid climate, as Caifornia in the U.S.A. or the eastern coast of Australia. Its location is between 35º and 45º North/South of latitude, mainly in western coasts.

in the Mediterranean climate, summers are hot, winters are mild, with average temperatures usually between 5 and 10ºC, and precipitation is moderate (400-800 mm/year). Drought in summer is probably the main feature of this climate. According to that, plants should be able to grow despite the heat and drought during the summer. Trunks, roots and leaves are adapted to store water during the summer. Roots dig usually very deep in the underground, trunks often have a thick bark (corteza) in order to store moisture, and leaves are waxy (resinosas) to prevent moisture loss.

Trees are widely spaced. Mediterranean environment does not conform often a thick forest, but a sparse woodland. Olm oaks, cork oaks and pines are the main kinds of trees in the Mediterranean woodland. Bushes and shrubs are also very common, as thyme, rosemary, rockrose, lavender,…

When woodland disappear, natural environments transforms into garriga or maquis, a shrubland without trees. Along the rivers is often found the bosque-galería (riverside forest), with decidious trees such as Poplar, quejigo or elm. The Dehesa is a special landscape, because it’s a environment converted by men. In the Dehesa you can find grasses where cattle graze (pigs, sheeps,…) and very spaced trees (cork oak and olm oak), with economical uses.

Fire and desertification are the principal threats or dangers of this environment. Besides, some non-endemic species as Eucalyptus are spreading against the original trees of this environment. Eucalyptus are originary from Australia and it has been planted by man, due to its quick growth and because it’s very productive for paper industry.

Bosque Galería

Biomes, part 1

EARTH’S BIOMES

Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as natural areas with similar conditions on the Earth (climate, vegetation, soil, wildlife…) and are often referred to as ecosystems. Biomes are defined by factors such as vegetation and species of flora or plants (forest, woodland, savanna… and trees and shrubs as oaks, cork trees or rosemary,…), wildlife and climate.

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Biomes, part 3

Warm Climate Environments

Warm climates are located basically between 35 º N/S and the Equator. Their average temperature is above 20ºC, and they don’t have any month with temperatures below 18ºC. Eventhough, precipitation is very dfiferente in each warm climate. Deserts, savannas and rainforests are the principal environments related with these climates.

Deserts are located around 35 and 25 º N/S, especially next to western coasts affected by cold sea Streams and in areas with high pressures (anticiclones) almost all throurgh the year. In deserts precipitation is scarce, usually it rains less than 200 mm/per year. In the driest area in the world, the Atacama Desert in the Chilean Coast, it haven’t rain in years. Temperatures are high all year round, but with great differences between night and day. At night they can reach as low as -20 ºC. On the other hand, temperatures can reach more than 40ºC during the day. Temperate and cold deserts, usually located deep inland in higher latitudes, as in the Gobi desert in China, or Arizona in the USA, can have cold winters.

The flora is very scarce. Vegetation is mainly made up by cactus or nopales, that can store moisture due to its needles and its thick skin. More vegetation can be found in the oasis, areas with water in the middle of the desert, where palmtrees grow. In the fauna, reptils, insects and birds of prey are the most usual species.

Savannahs prevail in the area between 10 and 25º N/S. These are very often areas with a dry tropical climate, with warm temperatures all the year through and with moderate precipitation (between 500 and 1.000 mm/year). There is a dry season, with drought, that lasts more than 6 months, and a humid season of 3 or 4 months, where most of the rain falls. In the savannahs, grasses, that change its colour depending on the season, dominate the soil and are vital for the grazing of the mammals, as zebras or deers. Trees are very scattered in the savannah, and they prevent moisture loss, as baobab or acacia. A very similar environment is known as Pampa in South America, or Steppe in Asia.

Rainforest are typical from a Humid tropical climate or a Equatorial Climate. They are usually located between 20 ºN/S and the Equator. The temperature is warm all through the year, and precipitation is regular and abundant, with more than 2.000 mm/year in the equatorial climate, and not so abundant and more irregular in the Humid tropical climate.

Vegetation is very thick and assorted in a rainforest, with decoidious and evergreen trees, lichens, bushes, lianas, etc. Vegeatation is distributed in stories, according to the sun that each type of plant need (some trees need long hours of sun, so they reach hundred of meters; some bushes are adapted to the lack of light, so they can grow near the soil…). Teak and mahogany are some of the most famous trees of the rainforest.

 

Sobre el control de la natalidad

Como ya sabéis, determinados países tuvieron que imponer hace años medidas para frenar el crecimiento demográfico, con el fin de evitar una superpoblación, que pudiera provocar enormes hambrunas o crisis de todo tipo.

Este vídeo explora más de cerca cómo fue creciendo la población y cómo fueron las medidas sobre el control de la demografía que se establecieron en China e India. (Personalmente, desconocía las llevadas a cabo en India …).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFeWbFQb54k&NR=1]

Ejercicio de repaso para Navidades: Realiza un resumen del contenido del video. ¿Cuál es la problemática principal de la que trata el video? ¿Qué medidas se desarrollaron en China e India para frenar el crecimiento demográfico? ¿Por qué tuvieron que desarrollarse estas medidas? ¿Tuvieron éxito?

Países en vías de desaparición

No es broma. En este artículo de The Economist (en inglés, pero muy accesible), se analiza el desarrollo demográfico de varios países y la fecha en la que llegarían a quedarse sin población de continuar con sus tasas de fecundida actuales. Entre las causas de este descenso en las tasas de fecundidad el artículo destaca la «huelga de matrimonio» de muchas mujeres de Asia, que prefieren vivir solteras al «yugo matrimonial», pero además, existen otras razones para el proceso. ¿Podrías apuntar alguna?

7 billion

La semana pasada alcanzamos, según las estimaciones de la ONU, los 7.000 millones de habitantes en el planeta. Este vídeo de National Geographic es una formidable introducción al tema de Población y Demografía que empezamos a ver ahora.

Mira el vídeo y contesta a las preguntas: ¿Cuántos habitantes había en el siglo XIX en el mundo? ¿Y en 1930? ¿Y en 1987? ¿Cuál es la estimación de población para 2045? ¿A qué se debe este crecimiento tan repentino? ¿En qué época ha sido el crecimiento demográfico más vertiginoso? ¿Se estima que desde el 2000 hasta el 2045 se ralentizará o se acelerará el crecimiento demográfico? ¿Por qué? ¿Cuál es la esperanza de vida media en el 2010? ¿Ha aumentado o descendido en los últimos años? ¿Por qué? ¿Qué es una «megaciudad»?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sc4HxPxNrZ0]