Sea otters are a small mammal that lives in the waters along North America's west coast from California to Alaska. A few years ago some of the sea otter populations off of the Alaskan coast started to decline rapidly and raised several concerns because of their important role in the coastal ecosystem. Experts began investigating and came up with two possible explanations. One explanation was environmental pollution and the second was attacks by predators.
At first it seemed as if the pollution was the most likely cause for the population decline. One reason pollution was more likely was because of the known pollution sources along the Alaskan coast such as oil rigs. Also water samples taken in the area showed increased levels of chemicals that could decrease the otters' immune systems and indirectly result in their deaths.
Another thing that pointed to pollution as the culprit was the decline of other sea mammals such as seals in the same areas. This indicated that whatever was affecting the otters was also affecting the other sea mammals. Environmental pollution usually affects an entire ecosystem instead of just one species. Only predators that occurred in a large area, such as orcas (a large predatory whale), could cause the same effect, but they usually hunt larger prey.
Finally, scientists believed the pollution hypothesis would also explain the uneven pattern of otter decline. In some Alaskan locations the otter population declined greatly while other populations remained stable. Some experts suggested this could be explained by ocean currents, or other environmental factor, might have created uneven concentrations of pollutants along the coast
The reading and the lecture are both about the decline in sea otter populations. While the reading’s author states that pollution is a cause of their populations declining, the lecturer suggests that the greatest factor is predation. The lecturer casts doubts on the main points made in the reading by providing three reasons.
First of all, according to the reading, higher levels of pollutants in water samples support the pollution theory. However, the lecturer disputes this by explaining that if sea otters had been killed by pollutants in water, their remains would appear on shores, which indicates predators ate the sea otters.
Secondly, the reading states that populations of other small sea animals have been hurt by pollution. Nevertheless, the lecturer refutes this argument. He argues that because the whale population decreased, nearby orcas had to eat otters instead.
Finally, the reading claims that pollutant concentration can explain the uneven pattern of diminishing sea otter populations. On the other hand, the lecturer believes that this uneven population decline corresponds with the prevalence of orcas in different areas. He thinks that the otter population declines more in places with orcas, and less in those inaccessible to orcas.
In conclusion, although the reading and the lecture both concern hypotheses about diminishing sea otter populations, the three main points made in the reading are effectively challenged by the lecturer.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-02-13 | zaid | 73 | view |
| 2022-12-06 | Naveena0 | 73 | view |
| 2022-12-06 | Vincent Samuel | 80 | view |
| 2022-12-06 | Naveena0 | 71 | view |
| 2022-11-16 | rpinisetti8 | 80 | view |
- Sea otters are a small mammal that lives in the waters along North America s west coast from California to Alaska A few years ago some of the sea otter populations off of the Alaskan coast started to decline rapidly and raised several concerns because of 85
- Some people like doing work by hand Others prefer using machines Which do you prefer Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer 70
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of living in a large city versus living in a small town Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer 73
- What do you believe is the most important problem facing the world today Why is it the most important Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer 3
- Some people trust their first impressions about a person s character because they believe these judgments are generally correct Other people do not judge a person s character quickly because they believe first impressions are often wrong Compare these two 35
Transition Words or Phrases used:
finally, first, however, if, nevertheless, second, secondly, so, while, in conclusion, first of all, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 6.0 10.4613686534 57% => More to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 3.0 7.30242825607 41% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 9.0 12.0772626932 75% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 16.0 22.412803532 71% => OK
Preposition: 30.0 30.3222958057 99% => OK
Nominalization: 10.0 5.01324503311 199% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1254.0 1373.03311258 91% => OK
No of words: 226.0 270.72406181 83% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.54867256637 5.08290768461 109% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.87727950738 4.04702891845 96% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.83029547578 2.5805825403 110% => OK
Unique words: 124.0 145.348785872 85% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.548672566372 0.540411800872 102% => OK
syllable_count: 376.2 419.366225166 90% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.55342163355 109% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 3.25607064018 92% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.23620309051 109% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 1.25165562914 160% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.51434878587 66% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 12.0 13.0662251656 92% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 21.2450331126 85% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 42.7473196041 49.2860985944 87% => OK
Chars per sentence: 104.5 110.228320801 95% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.8333333333 21.698381199 87% => OK
Discourse Markers: 9.83333333333 7.06452816374 139% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 4.19205298013 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 4.45695364238 112% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 4.27373068433 70% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.185139222687 0.272083759551 68% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0755352872239 0.0996497079465 76% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0533780841891 0.0662205650399 81% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.112631246988 0.162205337803 69% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0208619009225 0.0443174109184 47% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.1 13.3589403974 106% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 44.75 53.8541721854 83% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 11.0289183223 104% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.91 12.2367328918 122% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.35 8.42419426049 111% => OK
difficult_words: 69.0 63.6247240618 108% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 10.7273730684 98% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 10.498013245 88% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 85.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 25.5 Out of 30
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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.