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 lecture are both about the decline in the population of Sea otters. The author of the reading feels that environmental pollution, as well as predators, are the reasons for the decline in the sea otters. The lecturer challenges the claim by the author. He is of the opinion that predation is mostly the cause of such reduction. The lecturer cast doubt on the main point made in the reading by providing three reasons.
To begin with, the author argues that pollution was the most likely reason for the decline in the population of sea otters; However, This argument is challenged by the lecturer; he claims that there is a lack of dead sea otters in the Alaska beaches.
Secondly, the reading states that the second reason for the decline in the population of sea otters was predators. Predators hunted sea otters. Howbeit, the lecturer, refutes the claim by mentioning that Sea otters preferred to hunt whales, but whales were disappeared in the particular area due to hunting by humans. Thus sea otters have to change their diet, and changes in diet could be the reason for a decline in the population of otters.
Finally, The author posits that in some locations of Alaska, otter population declined while other populations remained stable. He believes that ocean currents or other environmental factors might have created an uneven concentration of pollutants along the coast. Nevertheless, the lecturer believes that predation is most likely the reason for such an irregular pattern. In some locations, it could be the reason that otters did not change their diet.
- Some people say that the Internet provides people with a lot of valuable information. Others think access to much information creates problems. Which view do you agree with? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 76
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- “The best way for a society to prepare its young people for leadership in government, industry, or other fields is by instilling in them a sense of cooperation, not competition.”Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or di 16
- n the 1950s Torreya taxifoha, a type of evergreen tree once very common in the state of Florida, started to die out. No one is sure exactly what caused the decline, but chances are good that if nothing is done, Torreya will soon become extinct. Experts ar 80
- Altruism 3
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 220, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...sons for the decline in the sea otters. The lecturer challenges the claim by the au...
^^^
Line 13, column 319, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Thus,
...rticular area due to hunting by humans. Thus sea otters have to change their diet, a...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, finally, however, nevertheless, second, secondly, so, thus, well, while, as well as, to begin with
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 12.0 10.4613686534 115% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 3.0 5.04856512141 59% => OK
Conjunction : 4.0 7.30242825607 55% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 10.0 12.0772626932 83% => OK
Pronoun: 17.0 22.412803532 76% => OK
Preposition: 34.0 30.3222958057 112% => OK
Nominalization: 12.0 5.01324503311 239% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1344.0 1373.03311258 98% => OK
No of words: 265.0 270.72406181 98% => OK
Chars per words: 5.07169811321 5.08290768461 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.03470204552 4.04702891845 100% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.65767559853 2.5805825403 103% => OK
Unique words: 132.0 145.348785872 91% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.498113207547 0.540411800872 92% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 408.6 419.366225166 97% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 3.25607064018 154% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.23620309051 109% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.51434878587 132% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 2.5761589404 78% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 14.0 13.0662251656 107% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 21.2450331126 85% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 52.9406675979 49.2860985944 107% => OK
Chars per sentence: 96.0 110.228320801 87% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.9285714286 21.698381199 87% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.35714285714 7.06452816374 104% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.27373068433 164% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.216453247489 0.272083759551 80% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0826283467635 0.0996497079465 83% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.061880854397 0.0662205650399 93% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.144977201318 0.162205337803 89% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.039805921547 0.0443174109184 90% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.9 13.3589403974 89% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 61.67 53.8541721854 115% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.1 11.0289183223 83% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.13 12.2367328918 99% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.34 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 64.0 63.6247240618 101% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 10.7273730684 75% => 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: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 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.