在线英语听力室

科学美国人60秒 SSS Arctic Pollinator Faces Uncertain Future

时间：2017-03-06 03:05:10

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

（单词翻译）

 

The Greenland High Arctic is a bare, sparse1 place. Rather than tall trees, it has tundra2—ground hugging vegetation—and rugged3, Lord-of-the-Rings-style vistas4. "Well I don't know, it's not exactly New Zealand, but kind of similar landscape."

Mikko Tiusanen, an ecologist at Helsinki University in Finland. "The winter season is like six, seven months. So everything basically happens during the short summer season." Including the white-yellow bloom of mountain avens, a hardy5 arctic shrub6. "Even though it's small it can be over 100 yrs old. It's pretty good at surviving harsh conditions." 

Tiusanen and his colleagues set out to census7 which of the many local insects visit mountain avens by summer, and help with pollination8. So they planted 2100 sticky flower lookalikes, as traps, and identified stuck visitors by their DNA9. 

Two-thirds of all local insect species visited. But it was one particular fly, a relative of the humble10 housefly, that showed up most often in those spots where the tundra shrubs11 had successfully set seed. Meaning more flies appeared to be a good thing for the avens. The study appears in the Proceedings12 of the Royal Society: B. [Mikko Tiusanen et al, One fly to rule them all—muscid flies are the key pollinators in the Arctic]

Here's the bad news: a 2013 study found that the Arctic flowering season is shortening. The numbers of fly pollinators is down, as is the the number of visits by these fly pollinators. Which could be bad for mountain avens—and beyond. "One could expect that also the other pollinators and flower visitors visiting the mountain avens could get more uncommon13 and even become extinct in the long run." Meaning "shoo fly" could spell trouble for the life of the tundra.

—Christopher Intagliata

[The above text is a transcript14 of this podcast.]


分享到：


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 sparse SFjzG     
adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的
参考例句：
  • The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区，那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
  • The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。
2 tundra dmtwW     
n.苔原，冻土地带
参考例句：
  • The arctic tundra is at the top of the world around the North Pole.北极冻原是指北极点周边的地区，是世界最高的地方。
  • There is a large amount of methane gas under the Siberian tundra.西伯利亚的冻土地带之下有大量的甲烷气体。
3 rugged yXVxX     
adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的
参考例句：
  • Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
  • The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。
4 vistas cec5d496e70afb756a935bba3530d3e8     
长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景
参考例句：
  • This new job could open up whole new vistas for her. 这项新工作可能给她开辟全新的前景。
  • The picture is small but It'shows broad vistas. 画幅虽然不大，所表现的天地却十分广阔。
5 hardy EenxM     
adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的
参考例句：
  • The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
  • He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。
6 shrub 7ysw5     
n.灌木，灌木丛
参考例句：
  • There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。
  • Moving a shrub is best done in early spring.移植灌木最好是在初春的时候。
7 census arnz5     
n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查
参考例句：
  • A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
  • The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。
8 pollination FOGxH     
n.授粉
参考例句：
  • The flowers get pollination by insects.这些花通过昆虫授粉。
  • Without sufficient pollination,the growth of the corn is stunted.没有得到充足的授粉，谷物的长势就会受阻。
9 DNA 4u3z1l     
(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸
参考例句：
  • DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
  • Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
10 humble ddjzU     
adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低
参考例句：
  • In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
  • Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。
11 shrubs b480276f8eea44e011d42320b17c3619     
灌木( shrub的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
  • These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。
12 proceedings Wk2zvX     
n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报
参考例句：
  • He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
  • to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼
13 uncommon AlPwO     
adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的
参考例句：
  • Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
  • Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。
14 transcript JgpzUp     
n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书
参考例句：
  • A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
  • They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交，仅供参考，部分栏目没有内容，如果您有更合适的内容，欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。