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科学美国人60秒 SSS Widening the Suez Canal Ushers In Underwater Invaders

时间:2017-03-15 05:19:00

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The Mediterranean1 Sea is home to some 17,000 native species. But it's also home to a growing number of non-native species: 756 at last count. 756 may not sound like a lot, compared to 17,000. 

"But this is not arithmetic." Bella Galil, a naturalist2 at Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies in Tel Aviv. "Those invasive species have a large population, and they rend3 apart the native food web. They disturb an already stressed community." 

The invaders4 she's talking about are central casting for an underwater horror movie. Take the nomadic5 jellyfish, in huge swarms6 60 miles long, which sent hundreds of people to Turkish hospitals a few summers back. Or a type of pufferfish, extremely poisonous, that occasionally gets fished out, and lands at fish markets by mistake.

Galil says these bad guys, and many others, have invaded the Mediterranean through the ever-widening Suez Canal. As the canal grows, so do the number of non-native species. And it's a dilemma7 that's not easily addressed. "It's a Humpty-Dumpty sort of problem. Once it's broke it's broke. We cannot re-engineer it. It's too complex for us." Galil and her team outline the scope of the problem in the journal Management of Biological Invasions. [Bella Galil et al., The enlargement of the Suez Canal—Erythraean introductions and management challenges]

Installing locks or salinity8 barriers could help block future invasions, she says—those methods have worked in other canals. But that's an engineering and governance issue. "As biologists we've raised our voices. The community is aware of it. The problem is to go beyond this. And to go beyond this we need to go into the regional bureaucracy and the industry." It'll undoubtedly9 cost money, too. One motivating factor for taking action: Mediterranean beaches are big business. And swarms of jellyfish can quickly drive away the customers.  

—Christopher Intagliata


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1 Mediterranean ezuzT     
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的
参考例句:
  • The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
  • Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。
2 naturalist QFKxZ     
n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)
参考例句:
  • He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业,同时是个博物学爱好者。
  • The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。
3 rend 3Blzj     
vt.把…撕开,割裂;把…揪下来,强行夺取
参考例句:
  • Her scrams would rend the heart of any man.她的喊叫声会撕碎任何人的心。
  • Will they rend the child from his mother?他们会不会把这个孩子从他的母亲身边夺走呢?
4 invaders 5f4b502b53eb551c767b8cce3965af9f     
入侵者,侵略者,侵入物( invader的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
  • The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。
5 nomadic 0H5xx     
adj.流浪的;游牧的
参考例句:
  • This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
  • The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。
6 swarms 73349eba464af74f8ce6c65b07a6114c     
蜂群,一大群( swarm的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • They came to town in swarms. 他们蜂拥来到城里。
  • On June the first there were swarms of children playing in the park. 6月1日那一天,这个公园里有一群群的孩子玩耍。
7 dilemma Vlzzf     
n.困境,进退两难的局面
参考例句:
  • I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
  • He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。
8 salinity uYvx9     
n.盐分;咸度;盐浓度;咸性
参考例句:
  • In the sea water sampled the salinity is two parts per thousand.在取样的海水中,盐度为千分之二。
  • In many sedimentary basins the salinity of the formation water increases with depth or compaction.在许多沉积盆地中,地层水的含盐量随深度或压实作用而增高。
9 undoubtedly Mfjz6l     
adv.确实地,无疑地
参考例句:
  • It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
  • He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

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