地球的后人类气候下，这些物种将能繁衍生息

地球的后人类气候下，这些物种将能繁衍生息

By now you would have read all about how climate change is going to be very, very bad for the world and every species on it.

到目前为止，你应该已经读了很多关于气候变化将如何对每个物种造成不利影响的文章。

But it turns out there's one family of creatures that might thrive as temperatures go up and the oceans acidify - squids.

但事实证明，随着气温上升和海洋酸化，有一类生物可能会更加茁壮——鱿鱼。

New research has found the cephalopods might one day rule the oceans - completely at odds with what scientists expected.

最新研究发现，头足类动物可能有一天会统治海洋——这与科学家们的预期完全不符。

"Their blood is highly sensitive to changes in acidity, so we expected that future ocean acidification would negatively affect their aerobic performance," said Blake Spady of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Queensland.

昆士兰詹姆斯库克大学—ARC珊瑚礁研究卓越中心的布莱克·斯帕蒂说:“海洋生物的血液对酸度变化非常敏感，所以我们预计未来的海洋酸化将对它们的有氧性能会产生负面影响。”

They already "live on the edge of their environmental oxygen limitations due to their energy-taxing swimming technique", so were expected to struggle as climate change messed up their ocean habitat.

“由于游这项技能本身需要消耗大量能量，海洋生物其实已经生活在环境缺氧的边缘”，因此，随着气候变化对生活环境的影响，它们将面临更艰难的生存环境。

The ocean absorbs much of the carbon (CO2) humans pump into the atmosphere, which is good for curbing the greenhouse effect but bad for most creatures who have to live in it. When carbon dissolves in the ocean it forms carbonic acid, making it harder for aquatic creatures to breathe and build shells.

海洋吸收了人类向大气中排放的大量二氧化碳，这有利于抑制温室效应，但对大多数必须生活在其中的生物却不利。当碳在海洋中溶解时，会形成碳酸，使水生生物难以呼吸和生成外壳。

But when researchers simulated the kinds of conditions expected at the end of this century under current global warming predictions, they got a surprise. The two species they tested - two-toned pygmy squid and bigfin reef squid - did just fine.

但当研究人员模拟了在当前全球变暖环境下，预计本世纪末会出现的各种情况时，他们惊喜的发现，他们测试的两个物种——双色侏儒鱿鱼和大鳍礁鱿鱼——表现得很好。

"We found that these two species of tropical squid are unaffected in their aerobic performance and recovery after exhaustive exercise by the highest projected end-of-century CO2 levels," said Dr Spady.

Spady博士说:“我们发现，这两种热带鱿鱼的有氧运动能力和运动后的恢复，不受高二氧化碳的影响。”

Photo: Getty

And if squids are unaffected but other species - both predator and prey - struggle, that's good news. For squids, anyway.

如果鱿鱼不受影响，这是个好消息，虽然其他物种——包括捕食者和猎物——都在挣扎。不管怎样，至少对鱿鱼来说是好的。

"We think that squid have a high capacity to adapt to environmental changes due to their short lifespans, fast growth rates, large populations, and high rate of population increase," said Dr Spady.

Spady博士说:“我们认为鱿鱼寿命短、生长速度快、数量多、数量增长快，因此它们有很强的适应环境变化的能力。”

Scientists began noticing squids and other cephalopod species, such as octopuses, seemed to be doing better than other species in adapting to climate change.

科学家们开始注意鱿鱼和其他头足类动物，比如章鱼，在适应气候变化方面似乎也比其他物种做得更好。

Dr Spady is now wondering what other species might have something to gain from climate change.

Spady博士想知道是否有其他物种从气候变化中得到了什么。

"We are likely to see certain species as being well-suited to succeed in our rapidly changing oceans, and these species of squid may be among them."

“我们很可能会看到，某些物种非常适合在瞬息万变的海洋中取得成功，这些鱿鱼可能就是其中之一。”

"The thing that is emerging with most certainty is that it's going to be a very different world," he said.

他说:“现在最确定的是，这将是一个完全不同的世界。”

The research was published in journal Conservation Physiology.

这项研究发表在《保护生理学》杂志上。