CELPIP Reading Part 3 Practice Test: Managing Pests In Museum Collections

Paragraph A

Integrated pest management in museums aims to prevent and detect damage while minimizing routine pesticide use. Insects may consume wool, feathers, paper, wood, or dried plant material, while rodents contaminate and gnaw collections. Finding one adult insect does not automatically mean an object is actively infested; the insect may have entered from outdoors or emerged elsewhere. Identification and location matter. Programs combine building maintenance, housekeeping, food control, inspection, and targeted treatment. The objective is to interrupt access, food, and reproduction before widespread damage occurs rather than to spray every storage room on a fixed calendar.

Paragraph B

Each trap receives a location and date so captures can be mapped over time. Counts are influenced by trap type, placement, temperature, and the period left open, making raw totals from different protocols difficult to compare. Larvae often cause collection damage even when traps mainly catch mobile adults. Staff inspect objects for fresh frass, webbing, cast skins, holes, and living stages. A rising cluster near one cabinet is more informative than the same number scattered across an entire building. Trap maps also reveal seasonal entry near windows or loading docks, helping teams schedule repairs before the next predictable period of insect activity.

Paragraph C

Door seals, screens, repaired leaks, clean storage, and restrictions on food reduce entry and resources. Incoming loans, packing material, and new acquisitions are isolated and examined before entering collection rooms. If treatment is necessary, freezing, controlled heat, low oxygen, or another method is selected according to the object's materials and pest life stage. A temperature safe for one material can damage another, and eggs may require a different exposure from adults. Treatment plans therefore follow object testing and species knowledge rather than a universal recipe. Quarantine space must remain separate and inspectable; placing incoming boxes beside permanent collections defeats the barrier even when those boxes are labelled.

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Response thresholds reflect the pest and location. A single clothes-moth capture near wool may justify rapid investigation, while occasional outdoor flies near an entrance may not threaten collections. Records connect captures, object examinations, building repairs, and treatments so staff can test whether an action worked. Concealing pest evidence delays help and can permit movement between institutions. Success is not zero insects everywhere, an unrealistic target in occupied buildings. It is early detection, protection of vulnerable material, declining harmful populations, and correction of the route or condition that supported them. Staff training encourages prompt reporting without blame, since concealed sightings allow a local problem to spread before a collection specialist can investigate.

Paragraph E

Not given in any of the above paragraphs.