The cane toad is a large (1.8 kg) amphibian species native to Central and South America. It was deliberately introduced to Australia in 1935 with the expectation that it would protect farmers' crops by eating harmful insects. Unfortunately, the toad multiplied rapidly, and a large cane toad population now threatens small native animals that are not pests. Several measures have been proposed to stop the spread of the cane toad in Australia.
One way to prevent the spread of the toad would be to build a national fence. A fence that blocks the advance of the toads will prevent them from moving into those parts of Australia that they have not yet colonized. This approach has been used before: a national fence was erected in the early part of the twentieth century to prevent the spread of rabbits, another animal species that was introduced in Australia from abroad and had a harmful impact on its native ecosystems.
Second, the toads could be captured and destroyed by volunteers. Cane toads can easily be caught in simple traps and can even be captured by hand. Young toads and cane toad eggs are even easier to gather and destroy, since they are restricted to the water. If the Australian government were to organize a campaign among Australian citizens to join forces to destroy the toads, the collective effort might stop the toad from spreading.
Third, researchers are developing a disease-causing virus to control the cane toad populations. This virus will be specially designed: although it will be able to infect a number of reptile and amphibian species, it will not harm most of the infected species; it will specifically harm only the cane toads. The virus will control the population of cane toads by preventing them from maturing and reproducing.
The article states ways to stop the cane toads in Australia by providing three different ways to do it. However, the professor explains that it won't be as simple to destroy as the author mentioned. The speaker refutes each of the author's claims.
First, the reading claims that one way to prevent the spread of the toads could be to construct a national fence because it would block the passage of the toad from one part to Australia to the other parts are not colonized yet. Moreover, a fence with similar purpose was made to stop rabbit’s population centuries ago, so it should work in the toad’s populations as well. The professor refutes this point by saying that young toads travel from rivers and streams, so a national fence won't stop the increases of toad's populations. He states that it would take just few cane toads to establish a population in the other size of the fence.
Second, the article posits that volunteers can help to destroy and capture toads. Moreover, the author describes that using traps or catching eggs could be methods to destroy the population of toad. However, the professor says that even though the information provided by the author is true, untrained volunteers would destroy the national toads because it is difficult to tell apart from the cane toads. Thus, this way could let a decrease in the authentic fauna, the Australian frog, which is endangered.
Third, the article says that it could be created a disease-causing virus to control the toad populations. However, this virus could affect other species of amphibians and reptiles, but it won't be harmful, only in cane toads. The professor opposes this point by explaining that this method could affect South America species. We also learn that if a pet's collector brought an infected species to America, it would contaminate the rest of the species there, which would cause the extinction of the toads in South America.
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because it would block the passage of the toad from one part to Australia to the other parts are not colonized yet.
because it would block the passage of the toad from one part to Australia to the other parts which are not colonized yet.
the article says that it could be created a disease-causing virus to control the toad populations
the article says that it could create a disease-causing virus to control the toad populations
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 24 in 30
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 2 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 15 12
No. of Words: 328 250
No. of Characters: 1565 1200
No. of Different Words: 153 150
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.256 4.2
Average Word Length: 4.771 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.483 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 104 80
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 83 60
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 48 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 35 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 21.867 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.778 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.733 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.356 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.562 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.118 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 4