在线英语听力室

科学美国人60秒 SSS 大型哺乳动物消失会导致无脊椎动物减少

时间:2020-12-08 03:06:06

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)

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是杰森·古德曼。

Large mammals can be lost from a particular place, from being hunted or by the destruction of their habitat. And the loss of these big animals can greatly affect the rest of the ecosystem1. Take elephants: They can leave deep footprints in soil. After it rains, each footprint becomes a tiny pond, which becomes a home to a variety of invertebrates2. No elephants means no homes for those critters. So while it's well known that the loss of large mammals can mean bad news, just how pervasive3 those impacts can be still remains4 unclear.

大型哺乳动物可能会因为被猎杀或栖息地遭破坏而从特定的地方消失。大型动物的减少会极大地影响生态系统的其他部分。以大象为例:它们能在土壤中留下深深的足印。下雨后,每个足印都会形成一个小池塘,成为各种无脊椎动物的家园。没有大象,这些生物就会失去家园。因此,虽然众所周知大型哺乳动物减少可能是件坏事,但其影响的普遍程度仍不得而知。

"I spent a lot of time when I was there in these heavily hunted forests. And in these pristine5 forests — well, relatively6 pristine forests — they were hunted, they were pretty protected, remember. Just walking around, I was noticing that there's a visual difference in the amount of understory vegetation in these areas where the elephants and other large animals like forest buffalo7 are hunted out. There was a lot more vegetation in the understory, compared to deep within the park, where it was more protected and remote. It was a lot easier to walk around."

“我花了很多时间待在被大量捕猎的森林里。在原始森林里,实际上是相对原始的森林里,人们在捕猎受到了很好的保护。在森林里四处走动时我注意到,在大象和森林水牛等大型动物被猎杀的地区,林下植被的数量存在视觉差异。这些地区的林下植被比公园深处的多得多,而公园深处的受保护程度更高,也更偏僻。在这里四处走动要容易得多。”

Rice University biologist Therese Lamperty, who conducted fieldwork in Gabon in West Central Africa.

赖斯大学的生物学家特雷斯·兰佩蒂说到,他在位于非洲中西部的加蓬进行了实地调查。

"If overhunting is allowing this vegetation to be released from herbivory and trampling8, I was imagining that would probably do a lot to the understory environment and the microclimates invertebrates are exposed to."

“如果过度捕猎让林下植被免于被吃掉和被踩踏,我想这可能会对林下环境和无脊椎动物所处接触的小气候产生很大影响。”

So Lamperty and her team compared the understory vegetation and biodiversity within hunted and protected areas in northeastern Gabon. They discovered that areas with fewer larger mammals indeed had a thicker understory, as Lamperty suspected. And there were fewer termites10—which is not good.

因此,兰佩蒂及其团队比较了加蓬东北部狩猎区和保护区内的林下植被和生物多样性。他们发现,大型哺乳动物较少的地区确实有较厚的林下植被,这与兰佩蒂所猜想的一样。而且白蚁数量更少,这可不是件好事。

Termites help decompose11 plants and, as a result, are vital for storing carbon underground. They are also food for a variety of predators12. The researchers suspect that the lack of elephant dung and trampled13 brush removed two important sources of nutrition for the social insects. And that led to a huge decline in termite9 populations, down by more than 99 percent.

白蚁有助于分解植物,因此对地下碳储存至关重要。而且许多动物以白蚁为食。研究人员猜测,大象排便和遭踩踏灌木的减少,会导致这种群居昆虫缺乏两种重要的营养来源。这会导致白蚁数量大幅下降,降幅达99%以上。

The results are in the journal Biological Conservation.

这项研究结果发表在《生物保护》期刊 上。

But with termites gone, other organisms picked up the slack.

但白蚁消失后,其它生物体会填补它们的空缺。

"The termites and invertebrates on the forest floor that we had been sampling were contributing less to decomposition14 in the hunted forest. But the overall rate didn't change, so maybe fungus15 or something else is able to pick up the slack."

“我们在捕猎森林中采样的地表白蚁和无脊椎动物,它们的分解作用正在减少。但整体效率没有变化,因此真菌等生物体也许可以弥补这一空缺。”

In other words, while the community of organisms that break down dead plants is different in hunted versus16 intact ecosystems17, the overall work that they do remained fairly constant. According to Lamperty, that means that these ecosystems are equipped to deal with these human-caused changes, at least to a point.

换言之,虽然分解死亡植物的有机体群落在捕猎生态系统和完整生态系统中的效率不同,但它们的整体工作仍然相当稳定。兰佩蒂表示,这意味着这些生态系统至少在一定程度上具备处理这些人为变化的能力。

"Invertebrates contribute a lot to nutrient18 cycling, so that's going to influence how healthy a forest is and its own regeneration processes, which means how much carbon it can store. So that directly affects climate change."

“无脊椎动物对养分循环有很大贡献,因此这会影响森林及其自身再生过程的健康程度,而这会决定森林的碳储存量。所以这会直接对气候变化产生影响。”

Our planet has been losing large mammals for a long time, and if current trends continue, some researchers believe the largest terrestrial mammal in 200 years could well be the domestic cow. And we need to understand what that world might look like.

长期以来,我们的地球一直在失去大型哺乳动物,如果目前的趋势继续下去,一些研究人员认为200年后最大的陆生哺乳动物很可能就是家畜。我们需要了解这个世界会变成什么样子。

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是杰森·古德曼。


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 ecosystem Wq4xz     
n.生态系统
参考例句:
  • This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
  • We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。
2 invertebrates 7e45dc289993d00de9b9f14a70e51319     
n.无脊椎动物( invertebrate的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Insects and worms are all invertebrates. 昆虫和蠕虫都是无脊椎动物。 来自辞典例句
  • In the earthworm and many other invertebrates, these excretory structures are called nephridia. 在蚯蚓和许多其它无脊椎动物中,这些排泄结构称为肾管。 来自辞典例句
3 pervasive T3zzH     
adj.普遍的;遍布的,(到处)弥漫的;渗透性的
参考例句:
  • It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
  • The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的,并且难以估算。
4 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
5 pristine 5BQyC     
adj.原来的,古时的,原始的,纯净的,无垢的
参考例句:
  • He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
  • He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。
6 relatively bkqzS3     
adv.比较...地,相对地
参考例句:
  • The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
  • The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
7 buffalo 1Sby4     
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛
参考例句:
  • Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
  • The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。
8 trampling 7aa68e356548d4d30fa83dc97298265a     
踩( trample的现在分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯
参考例句:
  • Diplomats denounced the leaders for trampling their citizens' civil rights. 外交官谴责这些领导人践踏其公民的公民权。
  • They don't want people trampling the grass, pitching tents or building fires. 他们不希望人们踩踏草坪、支帐篷或生火。
9 termite npTwE     
n.白蚁
参考例句:
  • The termite control was also probed into further in this text.本文还进一步探讨了白蚁的防治方法。
  • Termite often destroys wood.白蚁经常破坏树木。
10 termites 8ee357110f82dc8b267190e430924662     
n.白蚁( termite的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Termites are principally tropical in distribution. 白蚁主要分布在热带地区。 来自辞典例句
  • This spray will exterminate the termites. 这种喷剂能消灭白蚁。 来自辞典例句
11 decompose knPzS     
vi.分解;vt.(使)腐败,(使)腐烂
参考例句:
  • The eggs began to decompose after a day in the sun.鸡蛋在太阳下放了一天后开始变坏。
  • Most animals decompose very quickly after death.大多数动物死后很快腐烂。
12 predators 48b965855934a5395e409c1112d94f63     
n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 );奴役他人者(尤指在财务或性关系方面)
参考例句:
  • birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
  • The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 trampled 8c4f546db10d3d9e64a5bba8494912e6     
踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯
参考例句:
  • He gripped his brother's arm lest he be trampled by the mob. 他紧抓着他兄弟的胳膊,怕他让暴民踩着。
  • People were trampled underfoot in the rush for the exit. 有人在拼命涌向出口时被踩在脚下。
14 decomposition AnFzT     
n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃
参考例句:
  • It is said that the magnetite was formed by a chemical process called thermal decomposition. 据说这枚陨星是在热分解的化学过程中形成的。
  • The dehydration process leads to fairly extensive decomposition of the product. 脱水过程会导致产物相当程度的分解。
15 fungus gzRyI     
n.真菌,真菌类植物
参考例句:
  • Mushrooms are a type of fungus.蘑菇是一种真菌。
  • This fungus can just be detected by the unaided eye.这种真菌只用肉眼就能检查出。
16 versus wi7wU     
prep.以…为对手,对;与…相比之下
参考例句:
  • The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
  • The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。
17 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
18 nutrient 3vpye     
adj.营养的,滋养的;n.营养物,营养品
参考例句:
  • Magnesium is the nutrient element in plant growth.镁是植物生长的营养要素。
  • The roots transmit moisture and nutrient to the trunk and branches.根将水分和养料输送到干和枝。

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。