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In this line of Both the reading and the lecture are about the main reason of sea otter decline in waters along the western coast of North America from California to Alaska. In this line of thought, the reading passage asserts that environmental pollution is the main cause for sea otter declination. The professor, on the other hand, refutes this claim, stating that the predation theory is more plausible for the decline. She, moreover, denies all of the three reasons stated by the text.
First of all, the author brings up the idea that because of the existence of any known environment polluting sources such as oil rigs in that area, the pollution theory is more likely to be the main reason of the declination. However, the lecturer posits this claim by saying that no one has ever seen dead sea otter in off-shore area. In fact, the reason is that they are killed by predators.
Secondly, the writer holds the view that since other mammals' populations were declined in that area like seals and sea lions, pollution can be the cause of this great decline in different species. The speaker, in contrast, avers that orcas used to prey on whales as their main food, but because of the disappearance of whales by human hunters in the area, these animals prefer to hunt smaller mammals such as sea lions, seals, and sea otters instead. Therefore, the reason of decline in the population of a variety of mammals in that area can be the predation of them by orcas.
Thirdly, the essay claims that due to the fact that factories, as the main factor in producing and spreading pollution into the environment, are scattered unevenly throughout the area, which leads to uneven decline in the population of sea otters. Conversely, the professor refutes this point by stating that sea otters are not accessible to orcas evenly in area. Indeed, the location in which sea otters live is effective in being hunted by orcas. Since orcas are large animals, they cannot live in shallow and rocky locations of the coastal area, where the decline is not great.