The article states that environmental pollution is the main reason of declining the population of sea otters and provides three reasons of support. The lecture, on the other hand, not only does refute the article’s assessments, but also it vehemently asserts that predators attack play an important role in the reduction of sea otter population on account of the reasons which will be widely elaborated hereunder. First, the article states that sources of pollutions such as oil rigs and other chemical substances along the Alaskan coast may pose a major threat to the sea otters’ existence. In contrast, the lecture refutes this point by stating that there is not solid evidence that prove the relation between sea otters death and chemical infection in this area. It adds that since any …show more content…
It attributes this comprehensive reduction to the pollution rather than predators. On the other hand, the lecture counters to this point by stating that human hunters cause the diet of large predators such as orcas to change. Orcas used to hunt large preys such as whales, but human hunting make the whales migrate to other locations, As a result of this, recently sea mammals like seals and sea lions are prone to be hunted by orcas and that’s why the population of other species has declined in this area. Third, the reading avers that uneven pattern of sea otters population is a clear evidence of pollution effect on their lives. However, the lecture supports a contradictory view as compared to that presented in the reading; it contends that the reduction has taken place in especial locations. Orcas are large predators so they cannot access to the locations where are shallow and rocky. Also, the reduction is tangible in deep locations, not the shallow ones. Hence, it is more probable that the reduction may be caused by large predators, instead of
In a documentary film directed by Bill Wisenski, “Threatened: The Controversial Struggle of the Southern Sea Otter,” it reveals some of the reasons why the California sea otter population is declining. In addition, it shows the controversy surrounding the “No Otter Zone”. Furthermore, it ensures why the California sea otter population is important to the marine ecosystem. In the film, sea otter populations are endangered because of the significant impact by some human factors. In the 1700’s and 1800’s, fur traders hunted sea otter population to near extinction. Besides this, threatened events such as shipping and drilling oil across the Pacific and along coastal areas; the California sea otters is vulnerable to oil contamination. As a result,
The study conducted by Weisle, Nagaswami, and Peterson is displayed about river otters and how they are different in structure from other marine mammals. River otters must depend on their thick layer of hair for survival. River otters are semi-aquatic mammals, which are considered to have denser fur than any other mammals. It’s thick, sleek coat, which keeps it dry and warm, is made up of two types of hair. The longer outer hairs are water repellent as known as guard hairs, and the other is underhair. The guard hairs could provide some protection for the more delicate underhairs. The three authors of this article, “River otter hair structure facilitates interlocking to impede penetration of water and allow,” addresses a question upon why the
The lecture explained how the population of sea otters declined, due to the environmental pollution. First, the oil rigs along the Alaskan coat serve as an indication to pollution. This directly refutes the reading passage which states that predation was most likely the reason, since the bodies of the dead sea otters didn't wash on the shores.Secondly, the passage mention that the water samples that were extracted from the sea revealed the presence of chemicals. Again, this contradicts with the lecture which claims that the whales which the otters consume were not available anymore. Which had forced the sea otters to change their diet to include small sea animals. Thirdly, the lecture mentions that the decrease in sea otters population was
The conditions that the captured killer whales are forced to live in are not acceptable replacements for the wildlife habitats that they have been ripped from. All the enclosures that the orcas are kept in do not provide an adequate amount of space that the animal requires. The size of an orca in relation to the size of the tanks they are forced to live in is comparable to the
The area of research that I have selected is the effects of overfishing in the Sea Otter ecosystem off the coast of California. The effects caused by the fishing pressure on the ecosystem will have different outcomes, depending on the strength and the types of relationships of the organisms present. (4) Red Abalone populations have declined drastically, to the point of the abalone fishery collapse. Several factors have led up to the collapse including Withering Syndrome, where the organism loses the ability to attach itself to rocks, making it more susceptible to predation, or the organism can eventually wither and starve to death. Sea Urchins and Red Abalone are a part of the same ecosystem, and are competitors of each other.(5) Both organisms graze on macroalgae and are a primary food source for Sea Otters. Sea Otters occurred from the North Pacific Rim down to Baja California, Mexico, but now only occur in small isolated patches (9) It is understood that Sea Otter presence can characterize community structure, where they can control and determine the size of Sea Urchin and Red Abalone populations. In the absence of Sea Otters, “Urchin Barrens” are created from the overgrazing of macroalgae by Sea Urchin. In these areas the ecosystem have changed dramatically, due to the overfishing, or in this case the over hunting, of Sea Otters causing a trophic cascade.(7)In some areas, Sea Otters have been reintroduced, in other areas they were never removed, and in others they
The lecture talks about the cause of the decline of sea otters and attributed that to the predidation. However, the reading claims that the decline of the sea otters is because of the pollution.
The reading passage tries to give some reasons to show that the number of sea otters, a small mammal living along the western coast of North America, has significantly declined because of the environmental pollution. On the other hand, the professor on the lecture looks at this concept through a different lens and believes that attacking by the predators like orca are possible for this problem.
I believe that underwater noise has an effect on marine animals such as whales. Using information from the passages I will prove my point. Their numbers are declining rapidly and I believe that underwater noise has some involvement in the rapid decrease in their population numbers. The information given within the two passages will help prove my point.
Subtopic 3: What impact does taking wild orcas from the wild into captivity have on wild orca populations?
In the listening passage, professor focuses on 1 effect of rapidely declining of sea otters in Alaska coast in North America has more affect. In the reading passage, 2 causes of this event are presented. One of them is pollotion that is made by chemical factories and also attacing predators such as seals, sea lions, and orca. The professor emphasis that attaching prdators has more effection on declining sea lion rather than pollotion. She has some reasons for supporting his oponion. First one is that there are a few chemical factories and also the amount of their pollotion is low therefore, pollotion has weak affect on death of sea otters. Second one is that the predator animals disappear due to their changing diet. Third one is that in some
Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are marine mammals capable of spending their entire lives in water. Being carnivorous in nature, they feed on sea urchins, crabs, fishes, mussels and clams. They are referred to as keystone species due to their profound impact on marine ecology. The interaction between sea otters, sea urchins and kelp forests has been studied as a model of the impact of predator-prey interaction on community ecology. Sea otters are keystone predators, whose presence has a far-reaching influence on the marine food web by affecting the population of sea urchins in particular, and kelp forests & other marine organisms in general. There has been a steep decline in sea otter populations due to water pollution and exploitation for
SInce the dawn of time humans have been constantly evolving and at the same time ravaging the earth. The Otters know this, which is why the Otters see the humans as a great threat, but on the other side
In our modern society, technology is all around us, but most people fail to acknowledge the many negative ways it impacts our lives. Many science fiction novels such as Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, provide insight and warnings to future generations through their predictions and themes. In the book Fahrenheit 451, the author shows the horrible effects of television and electronics on people's lives. In that society, people are forbidden to read books, which results in no one having meaningful conversation with one another, and all everyone wants to do is watch their television, preventing them from real human interactions. The main character, Guy Montag, slowly rethinks his outlook on his society and begins to realize the ignorance
whom thou still hast send” (5.8.12-15) . Macduff completely threw Macbeth down, his over confidence and ambition was tricked. Macbeth believed that anyone not born of woman he should not fear but was proven wrong with Macduff’s statement saying he was ripped from the womb rather than born. Macbeth fell, he was stuck in this cycle of violent acts that were all led by his ambition.
The speaker cast doubts on the idea that pollution is the my cause for otter popullation decline. According to the Speaker, instead of pollutions but over hunting of whales could be the main cause for the otters incidence decline would predatation. Therefore the speaker asserts that decrease in the otter population could be linked to new a new predator in its habitat: orcas in search for new preys to replace the shrinking population of their natural preys, the whales.