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 o

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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.

Essay topics in audio

Both the reading passage and the lecture discusses about the explanations for the declined population of sea otters. In the reading passage, the author mentions that environmental pollution would decline the number of sea otters; however, in the lecture, the lecturer argues that the decline of the sea otter population is due to the attacks by predators.

First, in the reading, the author mentions that because of the know pollution sources along the Alaskan coast, the population is decreased. However, in the lecture, the lecturer argues that left of dead sea otters along the coast is not due to the fact that otters are dead but due to the reason that their predators ate all of those right away. In other words, since the predators have eaten otters after they hunt otters and this led the result that dead sea otters are seldom found.

Secondly, the reading passage also notes that since other sea mammals are dead, the reason of the decline should be environmental pollution because it usually affects an entire ecosystem. However, in the lecture, the lecturer argues that decline of other sea mammal populations, such as orcas, are also due to the attacks of predators. This is because their predators used to live on whales before, however, human hunters hunted a myriad of whales, and they lost their main source for food. Therefore, they changed their prey to smaller mammals which were mentioned in the reading passage.

Third, although the reading passage says that the pollution hypotheses would explain the uneven pattern of otter decline, the lecturer contradicts the claim of the reading passage and argues that the uneven pattern of decline also so can explicated by the attacks of predators. The lecturer suggests that in the location where orcas, the predator of sea otters, flourish , the population of sea otters is not large. However, in other areas that orcas cannot inhabit, the population of sea otters is more stable. This indicates that the uneven pattern of decline can be regarded as the result of the predators, not due to the environmental pollution.

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Both the reading passage and the lecture discusses about the explanations
Both the reading passage and the lecture discuss about the explanations

because of the know pollution sources
because of the known pollution sources

However, in the lecture, the lecturer argues that left of dead sea otters along the coast is not due to the fact
However, the lecturer argues that the dead sea otters left along the coast are not due to the fact

since the predators have eaten otters after they hunt otters
Description: 'they' refers to what? Be sensitive to use pronouns.

However, in the lecture, the lecturer argues that decline of other sea mammal populations, such as orcas, are also due to the attacks
However, the lecturer argues that the declines of other sea mammal populations, such as orcas, are also due to the attacks

a myriad of whales, and they lost their main source for food.
a myriad of whales who lost their main source for food.

in other areas that orcas cannot inhabit,
in other areas where orcas cannot inhabit,

flaws:
No. of Grammatical Errors: 7 2

No. of Words: 346 250
Around 250 words wanted. Don't duplicate content like: in the lecture, the lecturer...

Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 20 in 30
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 7 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 13 12
No. of Words: 346 250
No. of Characters: 1694 1200
No. of Different Words: 135 150
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.313 4.2
Average Word Length: 4.896 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.396 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 131 80
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 95 60
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 46 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 31 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 26.615 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.836 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.769 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.443 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.611 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.149 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 4