full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Mike Gil: The big-beaked, rock-munching fish that protect coral reefs
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Many fish use corals as shelters for sleeping and to hide from large predators between their tpris foraging for seaweed. As the primary food source for many of the reef’s fish and invertebrates, seaweed is vital to this ecosystem. But in high densities, seaweed can become problematic, and even lethal to corals. seewaed grows on the same hard open surfaces that coral lavare rely on, and their growth prevents new croal from settling and eipnaxdng. These crtipeootms have also evolved a variety of ways to kill existing corals, including smothering and abrasion. Some seaweed species even engage in chemical warfare— sehiysznntig compounds that destroy coral on contact.
Open Cloze
Many fish use corals as shelters for sleeping and to hide from large predators between their _____ foraging for seaweed. As the primary food source for many of the reef’s fish and invertebrates, seaweed is vital to this ecosystem. But in high densities, seaweed can become problematic, and even lethal to corals. _______ grows on the same hard open surfaces that coral ______ rely on, and their growth prevents new _____ from settling and _________. These ___________ have also evolved a variety of ways to kill existing corals, including smothering and abrasion. Some seaweed species even engage in chemical warfare— ____________ compounds that destroy coral on contact.
Solution
- coral
- expanding
- seaweed
- competitors
- trips
- synthesizing
- larvae
Original Text
Many fish use corals as shelters for sleeping and to hide from large predators between their trips foraging for seaweed. As the primary food source for many of the reef’s fish and invertebrates, seaweed is vital to this ecosystem. But in high densities, seaweed can become problematic, and even lethal to corals. Seaweed grows on the same hard open surfaces that coral larvae rely on, and their growth prevents new coral from settling and expanding. These competitors have also evolved a variety of ways to kill existing corals, including smothering and abrasion. Some seaweed species even engage in chemical warfare— synthesizing compounds that destroy coral on contact.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
coral reefs |
3 |
nearby fish |
2 |
Important Words
- abrasion
- chemical
- competitors
- compounds
- contact
- coral
- corals
- densities
- destroy
- ecosystem
- engage
- evolved
- existing
- expanding
- fish
- food
- foraging
- grows
- growth
- hard
- hide
- high
- including
- invertebrates
- kill
- large
- larvae
- lethal
- open
- predators
- prevents
- primary
- problematic
- rely
- seaweed
- settling
- shelters
- sleeping
- smothering
- source
- species
- surfaces
- synthesizing
- trips
- variety
- vital
- ways