# Trees in trouble: answers and explanations

The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, Test 5, Reading Passage 1

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, Test 5, Reading Passage 1. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | vi | They provide shelter for many animals ... massive crops of fruit, flowers and foliage that sustain much of the animal life in the forest. |
| 2 | x | To achieve giant stature, a tree needs three things |
| 3 | ii | an aggressive non-native shrub, "Lantana camara", is invading the floor of many forests. ... gamba grass from Africa is overrunning native savannah woodlands. |
| 4 | ix | tree growth there declines markedly in warmer years. |
| 5 | iv | this might trigger a destabilisation of the climate |
| 6 | i | the mortality rate for the biggest trees had tripled in small patches of rainforest surrounded by pasture land. |
| 7 | vii | Particular enemies to large trees are insects and disease. |
| 8 | North America | The mightiest are native to North America |
| 9 | fires | The grass grows up to four metres tall and burns fiercely, creating super-hot fires that cause catastrophic tree mortality. |
| 10 | carbon | forests would release some of their stored carbon into the atmosphere |
| 11 | winds | when winds blow across the surrounding cleared land, there is nothing to stop their acceleration. |
| 12 | Drought | death rates will double for smaller trees but will increase 4.5 times for bigger trees. |
| 13 | beetle | increasingly mild winters are causing massive outbreaks of bark beetle. |

## Why these answers are right

**1. vi.** Paragraph A explains that big trees give shelter to many animals and produce huge crops of fruit, flowers and leaves that feed much of the forest's animal life. Its focus is the benefit to wildlife, so heading vi fits.

**2. x.** Paragraph B says only some species can grow really big and then lists the three things a tree needs to reach giant size: a good seedling site, good growing conditions, and a long life with low adult mortality. These are factors that let trees grow tall, so heading x matches.

**3. ii.** Paragraph C gives two examples of other plants damaging big trees: lantana, a shrub so thick that young trees cannot take root in India, and gamba grass, which fuels very hot fires in Australia. Both are plants causing harm, so the heading is ii.

The why and the trap for questions 4 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/trees-in-trouble/answers).

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