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到2100年,几乎所有的珊瑚礁栖息地都将消失

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2020年02月20日

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Almost All Coral Reef Habitats Could Be Gone By 2100

到2100年,几乎所有的珊瑚礁栖息地都将消失

As our planet warms, thousands of species will struggle to adapt, becoming confined to smaller spaces or dying out altogether. One group of life on Earth already feeling the heat, and projected to decline severely in the years to come, is corals. New research, presented at the 2020 Ocean Sciences Meeting, predicts that coral reef habitats may have disappeared almost entirely by 2100.

当我们的星球变暖时,成千上万的物种将挣扎着适应,被限制在更小的空间里,或者完全灭绝。地球上的一群生物已经感受到了高温,预计在未来几年里将会严重衰退,它们就是珊瑚。在2020年海洋科学会议上提出的一项新研究预测,到2100年,珊瑚礁栖息地可能几乎完全消失。

The key contributors, the researchers say, are warming waters and ocean acidification, both the result of human-driven climate change. The team believes that in the next two decades, we could lose between 70 and 90 percent of the world’s coral reefs, an alarming statistic.

研究人员说,造成这种现象的主要原因是海水变暖和海洋酸化,这两者都是人类活动导致的气候变化。研究小组认为,在未来20年里,我们可能会失去世界上70%到90%的珊瑚礁,这是一个令人担忧的统计数字。

到2100年,几乎所有的珊瑚礁栖息地都将消失

Corals are teeny marine creatures belonging to the same phylum as anemones and jellyfish. Some corals produce calcium carbonate, forming a hard, protective outer skeleton in which to live – this is what creates the stunning coral reefs we see in tropical oceans. Vast numbers of identical coral polyps can be found together, and most species form a symbiotic relationship with algae that provide them with important nutrients. Coral reefs provide food and homes for an enormous array of life; without these underwater rainforests, many reef-dwelling species could disappear.

珊瑚是微小的海洋生物,与海葵和水母属于同一门。一些珊瑚会产生碳酸钙,形成坚硬的、保护性的外骨架来生存——这就是我们在热带海洋中看到的美丽珊瑚礁的形成原因。大量相同的珊瑚虫可以在一起找到,大多数种类与藻类形成共生关系,为它们提供重要的营养。珊瑚礁为大量的生命提供食物和家园;如果没有这些水下雨林,许多居住在珊瑚礁的物种可能会消失。

The team behind the new research wanted to determine where coral restoration projects could have the most success. Restoration involves growing corals in a lab and then transplanting them into the ocean where they can grow and thrive. Adding fresh young corals to a struggling reef can help it recover to its original state.

开展这项新研究的团队想要确定珊瑚修复项目在哪些地方最成功。修复包括在实验室中培育珊瑚,然后将它们移植到海洋中,在那里它们可以生长和茁壮成长。在挣扎的珊瑚礁中加入新鲜的年轻珊瑚可以帮助它恢复到原来的状态。

However, when the researchers tried to map where best to focus these efforts, they reached a depressing conclusion. By the end of the century, close to zero suitable coral habitats will be left for conservationists to restore.

然而,当研究人员试图找出这些努力的最佳方向时,他们得出了一个令人沮丧的结论。到本世纪末,几乎没有合适的珊瑚栖息地留给自然资源保护主义者去恢复。

By 2100, it's looking quite grim, said Renee Setter, a biogeographer at the University of Hawaii Manoa, in a statement. Her team found that by 2045, most parts of the ocean where reefs dwell won’t be suitable for coral restoration. By 2100, only a handful of locations will be viable options, including pockets of Baja California and the Red Sea.

“到2100年,形势看起来相当严峻,”夏威夷马诺阿大学(University of Hawaii Manoa)的生物地理学家蕾妮·塞特(Renee Setter)在一份声明中说。她的团队发现,到2045年,海洋中大部分珊瑚礁栖息的地方将不适合珊瑚恢复。到2100年,只有少数几个地方将成为可行的选择,包括下加利福尼亚和红海。

Trying to clean up the beaches is great and trying to combat pollution is fantastic. We need to continue those efforts,” Setter added. “But at the end of the day, fighting climate change is really what we need to be advocating for in order to protect corals and avoid compounded stressors.

“清理海滩很棒,治理污染也很棒。我们需要继续这些努力。“但归根结底,为了保护珊瑚,避免多重压力,应对气候变化才是我们真正需要提倡的。”

When the water surrounding a reef heats up, the corals become stressed and eject their symbiotic algae, which removes their color and makes them much more susceptible to death. This process is known as bleaching and can turn entire communities of pink and orange corals a ghostly white.

当珊瑚礁周围的海水温度升高时,珊瑚就会感到压力,并排出它们的共生藻类,这会使它们失去颜色,使它们更容易死亡。这个过程被称为漂白,可以把整个社区的粉红色和橙色的珊瑚变成幽灵般的白色。

While many factors affect the health of corals, the researchers believe that increasing acidity and temperature are the biggest contributors to their demise. They note that pollution has already impacted most reefs around the world, so it won’t have such a significant impact in future when compared to the effects of global warming, which is projected to get worse.

虽然有很多因素会影响珊瑚的健康,但研究人员认为,不断增加的酸度和温度是造成珊瑚死亡的最大因素。他们指出,污染已经影响了世界上大多数的珊瑚礁,因此,与全球变暖的影响相比,污染在未来不会有如此重大的影响,而全球变暖的影响预计会变得更糟。

To mitigate climate change, we must drastically reduce the amount of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide that we pump into the atmosphere. Otherwise, iconic aspects of the natural world, such as vibrant coral reefs and their inhabitants, will be lost forever.

为了减缓气候变化,我们必须大幅减少向大气中排放的二氧化碳等温室气体。否则,自然界的标志性部分,如生机勃勃的珊瑚礁和它们的居民,将永远消失。


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