▶ Your Answer :
The reading passage claims that the reason of the declining of the sea otter is has to do with the pollution. But, the lecturer contradicts the idea and claims that the predation theory is more reasonable.
First, the writer asserts that the pollution theory can explain why it has happened along the Alaskan coast. The water samples from the site proved the increaced level of industrial chemical pollution which occurs the decreasing of the number of the sea otters. However, the lecturer claims that the predation theory makes more sense about it. The polluted water may kill not only the otters but also other animals. The predators can diminish the number of otters immediately.
Next, in the reading passage, the declining of the other sea animals which live along the coast explain that the factor of the declining the otters affects other sea mammals too. Thus, it means that the pollution theory is right. In contrast, the professor points out that the whales have changed their hunting habits to survive. The environmental change urge the large predators to change their preys from big animals to small mammals such as seals, sealion, and sea otters.
Last, the writer suggests that the pollution hypothesis can explain the reason of the unbalanced patern of otter decline. The difference of sea currents is the reason of the uneven patterns. But, in the lecture, this can be explain by the predation theory as well. The preference of the predator about the location is the reason of the differences. The rocky location which the predators are not living still have lots of the otters. |