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Ecology Writing Guide |
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Appropriate vocabulary
For essays and reports, you are usually required to write in a formal, academic style. This doesn't mean write in a style that is dry, boring and difficult to understand, but rather use elegant vocabulary that is appropriate for both the audience and genre. Compare the two examples below.
| Informal | Formal |
In land ecosystems, dung beetles (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) play a central role in getting stuff that would’ve been locked up in dead things (Petersen and Luxton 1982). Dung beetles are kind of important in the first stage of rotting as they bust up and munch on natural stuff, tearing apart big chunks of poo, and spreading it left to right and up and down (Bustamante-Sanchez et al. 2004). | In terrestrial ecosystems, dung beetles (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) play a central role in the recycling of nutrients that would otherwise be locked in dead organic matter (Petersen and Luxton 1982). Dung beetles are particularly important in the first stage of decomposition as they fragment and consume organic matter, dispersing large quantities of dung, both horizontally and vertically (Bustamante-Sanchez et al. 2004). |
Stavert, J. R., Gaskett, A. C, Scott, D.J. & Beggs, J.R. (2014). Dung beetles in an avian-dominated island ecosystem: feeding and trophic ecology. Oecologia, 176, 259-271.
| « Tense | Nominalisation » |
