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科学美国人60秒 SSS 植物在全球生物量中占统治地位

时间:2019-09-29 02:33:48

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Hi, I'm Scientific American podcast editor Steve Mirsky. And here's a short piece from the August 2018 issue of the magazine, in the section called Advances: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Science, Technology and Medicine.

大家好,我是《科学美国人》播客编辑史蒂夫·米尔斯基。下面是收录在本杂志2018年8月刊“进展:科学、技术和医学前沿快报”版块中的一篇短文。

Taking Stock of Life by Andrea Thompson

《盘点生命》 作者:安德里亚·汤普森

Plants rule the planet—at least in terms of sheer mass. Many tallies1 of Earth's life use biodiversity as a measurement and simply count the number of species. A new census2, based on biomass, compiled data from hundreds of studies to determine which kingdoms, classes and species carry the most global heft. The results show that plants (primarily those on land) account for 80 percent of the total biomass, with bacteria across all ecosystems3 a distant second at 15 percent. The findings were published in May in the Proceedings4 of the National Academy of Sciences.

植物统治着地球——至少从质量方面来说是如此。许多地球生命的记录用生物多样性作为度量,并简单地计算物种数量。一项以生物量为基础的新普查汇集了数百项研究的数据,目的是确定哪种生物界、纲目和物种的全球分量最大。结果显示,植物(主要是陆地植物)占总生物量的80%,而所有生态系统中的细菌以15%的占比排在第二位,远远落后于植物。这项研究发表在《美国国家科学院学报》五月刊上。

Higher-resolution satellite data and improvements in genomic sequencing have made such measurements possible by yielding more accurate estimates, but the uncertainty5 is still high for hard-to-count life-forms such as microbes and insects. Antarctic krill, a type of small crustacean6, have a total biomass comparable to that of humans. We makes up only a 100th of a percent of the total, but it still dwarfs7 that of all wild mammals. Livestock8 also dominate: chickens, for example, account for three times the biomass of wild birds. The study estimates that humans have decreased the biomass of wild mammals sixfold and plants twofold through actions such as hunting and deforestation.

卫星数据分辨率的提高以及基因组测序技术的改进,通过产生更精确的估计使这种测量成为可能,但是对于微生物和昆虫这种难以统计的生命形态来说,不确定性仍然很高。南极虾是一种小型甲壳动物,其总生物量与人类相当。我们人类只占总生物量的0.01%,但这一比例依然令野生哺乳动物的总量相形见绌。牲畜的比重也处于主导地位:举例来说,鸡类在生物总量中的占比是野生鸟类的三倍。这项研究估计,捕猎和砍伐树木等人类行为,使野生哺乳动物的生物量减少了6倍,植物减少了2倍。

That was Taking Stock of Life by Andrea Thompson.

以上是安德里亚·汤普森发表的文章《盘点生命》。


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1 tallies 547fbe9290a52799d002f777ef8d5cec     
n.账( tally的名词复数 );符合;(计数的)签;标签v.计算,清点( tally的第三人称单数 );加标签(或标记)于;(使)符合;(使)吻合
参考例句:
  • Cash on hand tallies with the figure in the accounts. 现款跟账上的数目没有出入。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He tallies his own marks. 他把自己的得分记了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 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。
3 ecosystems 94cb0e40a815bea1157ac8aab9a5380d     
n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样,从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句
4 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
5 uncertainty NlFwK     
n.易变,靠不住,不确知,不确定的事物
参考例句:
  • Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
  • After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后,压力开始产生影响了。
6 crustacean Mnrzu     
n.甲壳动物;adj.甲壳纲的
参考例句:
  • Seafood is a valuable lobster crustacean section.名贵海珍品龙虾属甲壳科。
  • The illustrious Cuvier did not perceive that a barnacle was a crustacean.大名鼎鼎的居维叶也未看出藤壶是一种甲壳动物。
7 dwarfs a9ddd2c1a88a74fc7bd6a9a0d16c2817     
n.侏儒,矮子(dwarf的复数形式)vt.(使)显得矮小(dwarf的第三人称单数形式)
参考例句:
  • Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句
8 livestock c0Wx1     
n.家畜,牲畜
参考例句:
  • Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
  • The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

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