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.
Both the reading passage and listening lecture discuss the declining population of Sea otters which are a small mammal that lives along North America's west coast from California to Alaska. Former gives reasons for the declining and the latter challenges the reasoning of the reading passage.
First of all, the reading passage states that the major reason for the declining of the sea otter population near the Alaskan coast was due to pollution, claiming that pollution is due to the oil rigs which release chemical pollutants into the water. In contrast, the lecture claims that the decline of the population is most probably due to predation, since there are no dead sea otters that are appearing on the coastline. Further stating if the cause was pollution there should be dead sea otters on the shore and since there is no such phenomenon the cause must be predation, where the predators eat the sea otters so that there are no dead sea otters appearing on the cost of Alaska.
Second of all, the paragraph states that predation might not be a major reason for the decline of the sea otter population, since the orcas prefer to hunt larger prey. On the other hand, the professor claims that orcas are lead to a change of their diet as even though they prefer whales since they are unavailable near the location of decline, the orcas had to commit to hunting sea otters as there are no whales to be hunted as these whales are being hunted by humans.
Finally, the summary given states that another reason for the decline could be ocean currents which lead to uneven concentration of pollutants along the coast. However, the lecture states that predation is the major reason for the decline since even in the rocky locations where the ocean currents are stable there is a decline in the population of sea otters and claims that it is not due to the uneven concentration of the pollutants
| 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 |
- The following opinion was provided in a letter to the editor of a national aeronautics magazine Manned space flight is costly and dangerous Moreover the recent success of a series of unmanned space probes and satellites has demonstrated that a great deal 60
- Manned space flight is costly and dangerous Moreover the recent success of a series of unmanned space probes and satellites has demonstrated that a great deal of useful information can be gathered without the costs and risks associated with sending men an 16
- The following is a letter that recently appeared in the Oak City Gazette a local newspaper The primary function of the Committee for a Better Oak City is to advise the city government on how to make the best use of the city s limited budget However at som 58
- As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take In 58
- The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take In developing and sup 50
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 394, Rule ID: PROGRESSIVE_VERBS[1]
Message: This verb is normally not used in the progressive form. Try a simple form instead.
...since there are no dead sea otters that are appearing on the coastline. Further stating if th...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 426, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Further,
...rs that are appearing on the coastline. Further stating if the cause was pollution ther...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
finally, first, however, if, second, so, in contrast, first of all, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 23.0 10.4613686534 220% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 4.0 5.04856512141 79% => OK
Conjunction : 4.0 7.30242825607 55% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 16.0 12.0772626932 132% => OK
Pronoun: 16.0 22.412803532 71% => OK
Preposition: 43.0 30.3222958057 142% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 5.01324503311 299% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1571.0 1373.03311258 114% => OK
No of words: 329.0 270.72406181 122% => OK
Chars per words: 4.77507598784 5.08290768461 94% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.25891501996 4.04702891845 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.4141929352 2.5805825403 94% => OK
Unique words: 136.0 145.348785872 94% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.413373860182 0.540411800872 76% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 494.1 419.366225166 118% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 0.0 3.25607064018 0% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 1.25165562914 160% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 2.5761589404 155% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 9.0 13.0662251656 69% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 36.0 21.2450331126 169% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 62.4068688844 49.2860985944 127% => OK
Chars per sentence: 174.555555556 110.228320801 158% => OK
Words per sentence: 36.5555555556 21.698381199 168% => OK
Discourse Markers: 9.44444444444 7.06452816374 134% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 4.33554083885 69% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 2.0 4.45695364238 45% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.294062022417 0.272083759551 108% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.150750473163 0.0996497079465 151% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.124893192524 0.0662205650399 189% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.203235573252 0.162205337803 125% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.104527166883 0.0443174109184 236% => More connections among paragraphs wanted.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 19.4 13.3589403974 145% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 43.4 53.8541721854 81% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 16.2 11.0289183223 147% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.04 12.2367328918 90% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.35 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 61.0 63.6247240618 96% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 10.7273730684 131% => OK
gunning_fog: 16.4 10.498013245 156% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Rates: 71.6666666667 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 21.5 Out of 30
---------------------
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.