The zebra mussel, a freshwater shellfish native to Eastern Europe, has long been spreading out from its original habitats and has now reached parts of North America. There are reasons to believe that this invasion cannot be stopped and that it poses a ser

Essay topics:

The zebra mussel, a freshwater shellfish native to Eastern Europe, has long been spreading out from its original habitats and has now reached parts of North America. There are reasons to believe that this invasion cannot be stopped and that it poses a serious threat to freshwater fish populations in all of North America.

First, the history of the zebra mussel's spread suggests that the invasion might be unstoppable. It is a prime example of an invasion made possible by human transportation. From the zebra mussel's original habitats in Eastern Europe, ships helped spread it out along new canals built to connect Europe's waterways. The mussel can attach itself to a ship's bottom or can survive in the water - called "ballast water" - that the ship needs to take on to properly balance its cargo. By the early nineteenth century, the mussel had spread to the whole of Europe. It was later carried to the east coast of North America in the ballast water of ships traveling from Europe. The way ships have spread the zebra mussel in the past strongly suggests that the species will soon colonize all of North America.

Moreover, once zebra mussels are carried to a new habitat, they can dominate it. They are a hardy species that does well under a variety of conditions, and they have a high rate of reproduction. Most important, however, zebra mussels often have no predators in their new habitats, and species without natural predators are likely to dominate their habitats.

Finally, zebra mussels are likely to cause a decline in the overall fish population in habitats where they become dominant. The mussels are plankton eaters, which means that they compete for food with many freshwater fish species.

The reading and the lecture have conflicting notions about whether or not zebra mussel invasion can be prevented. The writer of the article strongly postulates that this freshwater shellfish which is originated from Eastern Europe are now invading some places in North America. On the other hand, the listening portion adamantly delineates this issue by owing to the fact that this shellfish can't affect deleteriously for several compelling points.

To begin with, the author of the excerpt argues that diffusion of the zebra mussel couldn't be restricted because human beings are responsible for this collateral damage. The article mentions that big boats assisted by spreading these fishes along canals that reached to the Europe's waterways. The specific argument is challenged by the speaker. She claims that in the past people aren't considerably sagacious to stop the diffusion of the shellfish. Additionally, she says that if the ballast water is replaced by the sea-water this invasion can be worked out for the prevention of the zebra mussels.

On top of that, the professor asserts that people are now switching their diet from the previous ones to zebra mussels as there are abundant in numbers in the ocean. She elaborates on this by bringing up the point that ocean vessels are now started to catch these fishes and birds are keeping them in their diet list.

However, the author rebuts these claims by mentioning these creatures are dominant in numbers as they didn't even attack by the predators.

Finally, the writer posits that the fish population is reducing in a significant amount cause their primary meal is plankton which is also eaten by freshwater fishes. In contrast, the speaker's position is that the bottom fishes of the ocean get much of their nutrients from taking these shellfish as their meal.

Votes
Average: 8 (1 vote)
Essay Categories

Comments

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 60, Rule ID: WHETHER[7]
Message: Perhaps you can shorten this phrase to just 'whether'. It is correct though if you mean 'regardless of whether'.
Suggestion: whether
... lecture have conflicting notions about whether or not zebra mussel invasion can be prevented....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 393, Rule ID: CANT[1]
Message: Did you mean 'can't' or 'cannot'?
Suggestion: can't; cannot
...y owing to the fact that this shellfish cant affect deleteriously for several compel...
^^^^
Line 5, column 84, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: couldn't
...gues that diffusion of the zebra mussel couldnt be restricted because human beings are ...
^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 381, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: aren't
...ker. She claims that in the past people arent considerably sagacious to stop the diff...
^^^^^
Line 11, column 103, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: didn't
...eatures are dominant in numbers as they didnt even attack by the predators. Fin...
^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, finally, however, if, so, in contrast, to begin with, on the other hand, on top of that

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 17.0 10.4613686534 163% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 3.0 7.30242825607 41% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 14.0 12.0772626932 116% => OK
Pronoun: 33.0 22.412803532 147% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 41.0 30.3222958057 135% => OK
Nominalization: 5.0 5.01324503311 100% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1543.0 1373.03311258 112% => OK
No of words: 298.0 270.72406181 110% => OK
Chars per words: 5.17785234899 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.15483772266 4.04702891845 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.58945840023 2.5805825403 100% => OK
Unique words: 170.0 145.348785872 117% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.570469798658 0.540411800872 106% => OK
syllable_count: 460.8 419.366225166 110% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 3.25607064018 92% => OK
Article: 10.0 8.23620309051 121% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 2.5761589404 155% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 13.0 13.0662251656 99% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 21.2450331126 104% => OK
Sentence length SD: 32.9805393578 49.2860985944 67% => OK
Chars per sentence: 118.692307692 110.228320801 108% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.9230769231 21.698381199 106% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.53846153846 7.06452816374 107% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 5.0 4.19205298013 119% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 4.33554083885 138% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 4.45695364238 90% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 4.27373068433 70% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.24078099256 0.272083759551 88% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0769870108979 0.0996497079465 77% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0636730129167 0.0662205650399 96% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.11199813331 0.162205337803 69% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0900698802388 0.0443174109184 203% => More connections among paragraphs wanted.

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.4 13.3589403974 108% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 57.61 53.8541721854 107% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 11.0289183223 97% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.06 12.2367328918 107% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.5 8.42419426049 113% => OK
difficult_words: 90.0 63.6247240618 141% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.5 10.7273730684 107% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 10.498013245 103% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.2008830022 98% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Rates: 80.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 24.0 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.