TASK 9: JIGSAW SUMMARISING

What do a Vietnamese pheasant, an Iraqi lizard, hundreds of Indonesian butterflies and a tiny beetle in an Essex compost heap have in common? They are all species that are 'new to seience', that is, first scientifically described in the past few years. The work of describing new species, and revising the names of existing species, is done by taxonomists, an unfashionable and dwindling group of scientists most of whom work in the developed world. Britain used to be a major contributor but as government funding here has been reduced, most of it now takes place in Europe, America and Japan, where governments still support taxonomic study.

The science of taxonomy was started in the late eighteenth century by Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus. With a small number of similarly minded scientists he pioneered a standard system, using two Latin names denoting 'genus' and 'species', that is still in use today. Every species of plant or animal 'known to science' has a two-part Latin name, such as Homo sapiens, the Latin name for the human species. A species is an actually or potentially successful breeding population. The importance of the taxonomists' work, as the basis of modern biology, cannot be overestimated. WIthout an animal or plant having a universally agreed identity, no two scientísts can be sure they are looking at the same species.

Scientific nomenclature is based on extensive, preserved collections with which newly found specimens can be compared. These museum collections, especially the tropical ones, are mostly in Western Europe; in Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Many European naturalists travelled widely in the tropics, collected large numbers of specimens, and brought them back to their own national collections. Our own Natural History Museum is one of the most important. It houses hundreds of thousands of specimens of unique taxonomic value from birds' eggs to tarantulas and from lemmings to bees.

In Britain the discovery of a species 'new to science' is a rare event; a cause for celebration among naturalists. This is why the tiny species of 'feather-wing beetle' from Essex is of interest. Each year perhaps three small moths (Microlepidoptera) and a handful of other insects are described from Britain, but for tropical countries, like Indonesia or Papua New Guinea, the task of collecting and naming the myriad species is not far advanced. It is an urgent task. A recent expedition to the island of Sulewesi produced several hundred new moths and butterflies alone. There are very few countries outside northern Europe where even a rudimentary species list for the main groups of insects could be prepared. Even the much less diverse birds, amphibians and reptiles are not fully known. Both the Vietnamese pheasant and the Iraqi lizard were 'new to science'; how many more animals large and small await first sighting in the deserts of the Middle East or the forests of Vietnam?

(J. E. Milner, 'Why it is absolutely essential to carry on naming names', The Independent, 1,8,88.)

 

Here students work in small groups. Each group is to extract the main idea from a section of the text below and summarise it in one sentence. The groups should then reform so that in each new group there is one member for each section of the text. The summarised main ideas should then be arranged and/or rewritten to form a coherent piece of discourse. The fact that this task is done as a jigsaw exercise means that the students will need to have summarised each section clearly in order for the whole to make sense. It should also draw attention to factors such as the necessity for correct cohesion, reference, grammar etc.

Photocopy the text and cut it into four. Be sure to cut off the text source. Divide the class into four groups, each having a section of the text to summarise in one sentence. The class should then regroup so that there is one person from each original group in each new group. These final groups then arrange the summaries into a coherent order, checking for any necessary changes in cohesion, grammar etc.