Population Movements and Genetics - IELTS Reading Answers With Explanations

Preparing for the IELTS Reading exam can feel overwhelming at times, especially when you are about to crack passages like “Population Movements and Genetics.” This text has previously appeared in an IELTS test and challenges you with its blend of context, words, and tricky question types! 

If you are someone aiming for a band  8 or higher, this article of ours will help you understand the passage more deeply and approach each question type with a proper strategy.

In this blog, we break down the “Population Movements and Genetics” IELTS Reading passage and let you access its answers with explanations given to enhance your accuracy!

Types of Questions in “Population Movements and Genetics” IELTS Reading Passage 

The types of questions found in this “Population Movements and Genetics” passage are:

• IELTS Matching headings 
• IELTS Reading Matching Features 
• IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Questions  

IELTS Reading Passage - Population Movements and Genetics 

Complete the questions and read the answer key with explanations of “Population Movements and Genetics.” Ideally, you should not spend more than 20 minutes on this passage.

A Study of the origins and distribution of human populations used to be based on archaeological and fossil evidence. A number of techniques developed since the 1950s, however, have placed the study of these subjects on a sounder and more objective footing. The best information on early population movements is now being obtained from the 'archaeology of the living body', the clues to be found in genetic material.

B Recent work on the problem of when people first entered the Americas is an example of the value of these new techniques. North-east Asia and Siberia have long been accepted as the launching ground for the first human colonisers of the New World’. But was there one major wave of migration across the Bering Strait into the Americas, or several? And when did this event, or events, take place? In recent years, new clues have come from research into genetics, including the distribution of genetic markers in modern Native Americans^{1 2}.

C An important project, led by the biological anthropologist Robert Williams, focused on the variants (called Gm allotypes) of one particular protein -immunoglobin G - found in the fluid portion of human blood. All proteins 'drift', or produce variants, over the generations, and members of an interbreeding human population will share a set of such variants. Thus, by comparing the Gm allotypes of two different populations (e.g. two Indian tribes), one can establish their genetic 'distance', which itself can be calibrated to give an indication of the length of time since these populations last interbred.

D Williams and his colleagues sampled the blood of over 5,000 American Indians in western North America during a twenty-year period. They found that their Gm allotypes could be divided into two groups, one of which also corresponded to the genetic typing of Central and South American Indians. Other tests showed that the Inuit (or Eskimo) and Aleut³ formed a third group. From this evidence it was deduced that there had been three major waves of migration across the Bering Strait. The first, Paleo-lndian, wave more than 15,000 years ago was ancestral to all Central and South American Indians. The second wave, about 14,000-12,000 years ago, brought Na-Dene hunters, ancestors of the Navajo and Apache (who only migrated south from Canada about 600 or 700 years ago). The third wave, perhaps 10,000 or 9,000 years ago, saw the migration from North-east Asia of groups ancestral to the modern Eskimo and Aleut.

E How far does other research support these conclusions? Geneticist Douglas Wallace has studied mitochondrial DNA⁴ in blood samples from three widely separated Native American groups: Pima-Papago Indians in Arizona, Maya Indians on the Yucatán peninsula, Mexico, and Ticuna Indians in the Upper Amazon region of Brazil. As would have been predicted by Robert Williams's work, all three groups appear to be descended from the same ancestral (Paleo-lndian) population.

F There are two other kinds of research that have thrown some light on the origins of the Native American population; they involve the study of teeth and of languages. The biological anthropologist Christy Turner is an expert in the analysis of changing physical characteristics in human teeth. He argues that tooth crowns and roots⁵ have a high genetic component, minimally affected by environmental and other factors. Studies carried out by Turner of many thousands of New and Old World specimens, both ancient and modern, suggest that the majority of prehistoric Americans are linked to Northern Asian populations by crown and root traits such as incisor⁶ shoveling (a scooping out on one or both surfaces of the tooth), single-rooted upper first premolars⁶ and triple-rooted lower first molars⁶.

According to Turner, this ties in with the idea of a single Paleo-lndian migration out of North Asia, which he sets at before 14,000 years ago by calibrating rates of dental micro-evolution. Tooth analyses also suggest that there were two later migrations of Na-Denes and Eskimo-Aleut.

G The linguist Joseph Greenberg has, since the 1950s, argued that all Native American languages belong to a single 'Amerind' family, except for Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut - a view that gives credence to the idea of three main migrations. Greenberg is in a minority among fellow linguists, most of whom favour the notion of a great many waves of migration to account for the more than 1,000 languages spoken at one time by American Indians. But there is no doubt that the new genetic and dental evidence provides strong backing for Greenberg's view. Dates given for the migrations should nevertheless be treated with caution, except where supported by hard archaeological evidence.

1. New World: the American continent, os opposed to the so-colled Old World of Europe, Asia and Africa
2. modem Native American: an American descended from the groups that were native to America
3. Inuit and Aleut: two of the ethnic groups native to the northern regions of North America (i.e. northern Canada ond Greenland)
4. DNA: the substance in which genetic information is stored
5. crown/root: parts of the tooth 
6. incisor/premolar/molar: kinds of teeth

Questions 

Questions 1-6

Reading Passage has seven sections, A-G.

Choose the correct headings for sections A-F from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

Population Movements and Genetics IELTS Reading Answers With Explanations

Check out the ‘Population Movements and Genetics’ IELTS Reading answers with their location and explanations!

Tips for Answering Question Types in ‘Population Movements and Genetics’ IELTS Reading Answers

First of all, let us start with IELTS exam preparation tips for band score of 8+ for each question type. It is in the ‘Population Movements and Genetics’ Reading passage. 

IELTS Matching Features

• First reading the features will give you an idea of the types of information that you are looking for in the passage.
• Then, reading the passage quickly will give you a general understanding of the content of the passage.
• Matching the features to the people, places, or things as you keep reading the passage and looking for the required information will help you match it exactly to the perfect feature.
• Finally, check your answers once you finish matching all of the features. Make sure to double-check your answers to confirm that they are correct.

Matching Headings

• Skim through the given headings and the text to get a general idea of what each paragraph is about. 
• Each heading represents the main idea of a paragraph or section, so understanding this will help you match the headings more effectively.
• Focus on the first and last sentences of each paragraph. Because, they often contain the main idea of the paragraph, which can help you identify the perfect heading.
• Pay attention to keywords or certain phrases in the heading and find them or related synonyms in the paragraph. 
• Matching these perfectly can guide you to the right heading.
• Don’t get confused with the details. The heading will usually summarize the overall idea of the paragraph, not the specifics. 
• Focus on the broader theme or concept. If you’re unsure, eliminate headings that clearly don’t fit the section. This helps you narrow down choices and increase your chances of selecting the correct heading.

IELTS Multiple Choice Question 

• The multiple choice question is one of the trickiest types of questions in the IELTS reading test, which requires you to select the correct answer out of the 3-4 possible choices. 
• The MCQ type of questions will be in the form of a question & answer type. These answers appear in chronological order according to the passage.
• Read the question first, not the options and underline the key words in the question.
• Try to predict the answer before looking at choices and scan for synonyms, not exact words.
• Read 2 to 3 lines before and after the keyword and eliminate extreme options. 
• Do not use outside knowledge and choose answers fully supported by the text.

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