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La prolifération des méduses diminue au fur et à mesure que l'eau refroidit.

La prolifération des méduses diminue au fur et à mesure que l'eau refroidit.
The proliferation of jellyfish decreases as the water cools down.
From Lesson 452:Formal causes (en raison de, compte tenu de)·French

Questions & Answers about La prolifération des méduses diminue au fur et à mesure que l'eau refroidit.

What exactly does au fur et à mesure que mean, and how is it different from just using quand or pendant que?
Au fur et à mesure que means "as" or "gradually as". It specifically highlights that two actions are progressing at the same time and at the same pace. Quand (when) or pendant que (while) just say two things happen simultaneously, without that strong sense of gradual, linked progression.
Since this lesson is about en raison de and compte tenu de, could we rewrite this sentence to express the cause using one of those phrases?
Yes! You could say La prolifération des méduses diminue en raison du refroidissement de l'eau (The proliferation of jellyfish decreases due to the cooling of the water). The original sentence uses au fur et à mesure que to focus on the gradual timing, whereas using en raison de changes the structure to focus strictly on the objective cause.
Does refroidit always mean "cools down" by itself, or can you use a reflexive pronoun like se refroidit?
The verb refroidir can be used on its own (intransitively) to mean "to cool down," as it is here. You can also use the reflexive se refroidir, which means the exact same thing in this context. It can also be used transitively to mean "to make something cold" (for example, Le vent refroidit l'eau).
Why is it des méduses instead of de méduses? Isn't prolifération an expression of quantity?
Even though a "proliferation" implies a large amount, la prolifération acts as a standard abstract noun here, not a set quantity phrase like beaucoup de or un groupe de. Because we are talking about jellyfish in general, we use the definite article les, which combines with the preposition de to become des (de + les = des).

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