Fossil evidence indicates that the blompus--an extremely large, carnivorous land mammal--inhabited the continent of Pentagoria for tens of thousands of years until its sudden decline and ultimate extinction about twelve thousand years ago. Scientists have determined that the extinction coincided with a period of significant climate change and with the arrival of the first humans. Some scholars theorize that the climate change so altered the distribution of plants and animals in the environment that the food chain upon which the blompus depended as irretrievable disrupted. Others contend that predation by humans is the more plausible explanation for the rapid population decline.
Write a response in which you discuss specific evidence that could be used to decide between the proposed explanations above.
This passage offers two alternate explanations for the disappearance of an ancient mammal, without suggesting which is more likely. The first explanation is that climate change disrupted the food chain, and the blompus was a casualty of this disruption. The second proposed explanation is that humans hunted the blompus into extinction. To decide between the proposed explanations, the fossil evidence could be studied to determine whether the blompus has survived previous periods of climatic change, whether humans hunted the blompus, and whether the extinction of the blompus corresponds geographically to the spread of humans across the continent.
The first evidence that could be considered to determine which explanation is more likely is whether the blompus has survived previous climate change. The Earth’s climate has changed periodically over time, passing through ice ages and warmer periods. These climate changes do cause extinctions of some species. If in the tens of thousands of years during which the blompus inhabited Pentagoria the climate has been stable, up until a sudden change coinciding with the blompus’s sudden decline, this would support the theory that climate change is the culprit. On the other hand, if the blompus has weathered substantial stages of cooling and warming in the past, this would suggest something else may be the cause of the extinction, such as human activity.
Secondly, the fossil record should be examined to find whether there is evidence that humans hunted this mammal. For example, if blompus bones are found in caves where the first humans on Pentagoria lived, or blompus skeletons are discovered with spearheads embedded in them, this would show that humans were indeed predators of the blompus, and could have contributed to its extinction. However, if no evidence is found showing that humans preyed on the blompus, this would weaken the argument that human predation caused the blompus’s extinction, and bolster the theory that climate change was the cause.
Third, the extinction of the blompus across Pentagoria should be compared to the spread of humans across the continent to help determine which is more likely. Presumably, climate change would occur across the entire continent at the same rate. If climate change caused the blompus extinction, scientists could expect to find that fossilized blompus skeletons disappear from the fossil record around the same time everywhere in the continent. On the other hand, humans arrive in a continent at one place and penetrate into the rest of the continent over time. If human arrival caused the blompus extinction, then the disappearance of the blompus from the fossil record in any given location in Pentagoria should correspond to the appearance of the human presence at that location.
In conclusion, more evidence is needed to determine which explanation is more plausible. Both climate change and human predation are known to cause animals to go extinct. To understand which caused the blompus extinction in Pentagoria twelve thousand years ago, scientists should consider whether the blompus managed to adapt in previous periods of climate change, whether humans hunted the blompus, and the chronology of blompus extinction and human spread across Pentagoria.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-01-07 | dawesignupjunk | 55 | view |
- Studying foodways--what foods people eat and how they produce, acquire, prepare, and consume them--is the best way to gain deep understanding of a culture.Write an essay in which you take a position on the statement above. In developing and supporting you 79
- Fossil evidence indicates that the blompus--an extremely large, carnivorous land mammal--inhabited the continent of Pentagoria for tens of thousands of years until its sudden decline and ultimate extinction about twelve thousand years ago. Scientists have 55
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 20 15
No. of Words: 512 350
No. of Characters: 2714 1500
No. of Different Words: 202 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.757 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.301 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.635 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 236 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 164 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 97 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 72 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 25.6 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 11.762 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.65 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.395 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.562 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.145 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, however, if, may, second, secondly, so, then, third, for example, in conclusion, such as, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 23.0 19.6327345309 117% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 14.0 12.9520958084 108% => OK
Conjunction : 11.0 11.1786427146 98% => OK
Relative clauses : 18.0 13.6137724551 132% => OK
Pronoun: 21.0 28.8173652695 73% => OK
Preposition: 72.0 55.5748502994 130% => OK
Nominalization: 29.0 16.3942115768 177% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2804.0 2260.96107784 124% => OK
No of words: 512.0 441.139720559 116% => OK
Chars per words: 5.4765625 5.12650576532 107% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.75682846001 4.56307096286 104% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.77088281879 2.78398813304 100% => OK
Unique words: 210.0 204.123752495 103% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.41015625 0.468620217663 88% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 853.2 705.55239521 121% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 4.96107784431 121% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.76447105788 80% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 6.0 1.67365269461 358% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 7.0 4.22255489022 166% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 20.0 19.7664670659 101% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 22.8473053892 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 77.3301202637 57.8364921388 134% => OK
Chars per sentence: 140.2 119.503703932 117% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.6 23.324526521 110% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.95 5.70786347227 104% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 5.25449101796 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 8.20758483034 85% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 6.88822355289 44% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 10.0 4.67664670659 214% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.205589340182 0.218282227539 94% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0697200767496 0.0743258471296 94% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0599384155475 0.0701772020484 85% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.135574953862 0.128457276422 106% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0342308010451 0.0628817314937 54% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.2 14.3799401198 120% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 37.64 48.3550499002 78% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 14.2 12.197005988 116% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.8 12.5979740519 117% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.24 8.32208582834 99% => OK
difficult_words: 109.0 98.500998004 111% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 12.3882235529 89% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.1389221557 108% => OK
text_standard: 15.0 11.9071856287 126% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.