Numerical answer
Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be arranged in a logical sequence to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the sentence that does not fit and enter its number as the answer.
1. Coral reefs build their calcium carbonate skeletons through a process that is highly sensitive to the surrounding water's temperature and acidity.
2. Rising ocean temperatures have already triggered repeated mass bleaching events, in which corals expel the symbiotic algae that supply most of their energy.
3. Many coastal communities depend on reef fisheries for a significant share of their protein intake and household income.
4. Without their algae, bleached corals can survive only briefly before starving unless conditions return to normal quickly enough.
5. Repeated bleaching events, occurring faster than reefs can recover between them, have pushed many reef systems toward long-term collapse.
1. Coral reefs build their calcium carbonate skeletons through a process that is highly sensitive to the surrounding water's temperature and acidity.
2. Rising ocean temperatures have already triggered repeated mass bleaching events, in which corals expel the symbiotic algae that supply most of their energy.
3. Many coastal communities depend on reef fisheries for a significant share of their protein intake and household income.
4. Without their algae, bleached corals can survive only briefly before starving unless conditions return to normal quickly enough.
5. Repeated bleaching events, occurring faster than reefs can recover between them, have pushed many reef systems toward long-term collapse.
Show answer and solution
Answer: 3
Sentences 1, 2, 4, and 5 trace a single causal chain: the sensitivity of coral skeleton formation (1), the resulting bleaching from warming (2), the physiological consequence of bleaching (4), and the cumulative long-term effect of repeated bleaching (5). Sentence 3 shifts to an unrelated concern, human economic dependence on reef fisheries, which, while a real consequence of reef decline, does not belong in this specific sequence describing the biological mechanism of bleaching and collapse, making it the odd one out.
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