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

  1. coral
  2. expanding
  3. seaweed
  4. competitors
  5. trips
  6. synthesizing
  7. 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

  1. abrasion
  2. chemical
  3. competitors
  4. compounds
  5. contact
  6. coral
  7. corals
  8. densities
  9. destroy
  10. ecosystem
  11. engage
  12. evolved
  13. existing
  14. expanding
  15. fish
  16. food
  17. foraging
  18. grows
  19. growth
  20. hard
  21. hide
  22. high
  23. including
  24. invertebrates
  25. kill
  26. large
  27. larvae
  28. lethal
  29. open
  30. predators
  31. prevents
  32. primary
  33. problematic
  34. rely
  35. seaweed
  36. settling
  37. shelters
  38. sleeping
  39. smothering
  40. source
  41. species
  42. surfaces
  43. synthesizing
  44. trips
  45. variety
  46. vital
  47. ways