VOA常速英語之蜜蜂化石能揭示氣候變化
VOA常速英語之蜜蜂化石能揭示氣候變化
VOA常速英語之蜜蜂化石能揭示氣候變化
For millennia, natural tar that seeped from theground in what is now southern California trappedlarge and small animals, preserving their fossils andproviding scientists with a trove of specimenssuitable for study.
Anna Holden, a researcher at the Page Museum in Los Angeles, is analyzing fossilized bees tolearn about the ancient environment.
數(shù)千年前，從地面滲透出的天然瀝青將南加州的大型和小型動物困住,經(jīng)過時(shí)間的洗禮將它們保存在化石當(dāng)中,而現(xiàn)在則成了科學(xué)家們研究的標(biāo)本。
洛杉磯佩琪博物館研究員安娜·霍爾頓通過分析蜜蜂化石了解古代的環(huán)境。
In trying to reconstruct what the climate and local habitat were like, this bee offered kind ofunprecedented information."
By exposing the fossils to a micro CT scanner, scientists discovered that the bee's habitat waswarmer than expected. Which let them to conclude that at the end of the Ice Age, about11,500 years ago, this area was not covered with snow and ice, as previously thought.
在試圖重建當(dāng)?shù)貧夂蚣皸⒌氐臉用矔r(shí),這種蜜蜂提供了前所未有的信息。”
經(jīng)過微型CT掃描儀對化石進(jìn)行分析,科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)蜜蜂的棲息地比預(yù)期所想更為溫暖。這讓他們得出結(jié)論,在冰河時(shí)代末期,大約11500年前,這個地區(qū)并沒有如之前的結(jié)論那樣被冰雪覆蓋。
Holden said unlike that of the large mammals that came to La Brea from South America oracross the land bridge now covered by the Bering Strait-allows the collection of detailedinformation about their immediate environment.
霍爾頓表示不像從南美來到那種拉布雷亞的大型哺乳動物,或穿過現(xiàn)在白令海峽覆蓋的大陸橋，可以收集關(guān)于它們直接環(huán)境的詳細(xì)信息。
“Insects have very specific life cycles, so they're just really good palaeoecological indicators.Inother words,they're just very specific in their behavior, their habitats.”
“昆蟲有非常特定的生命周期,所以它們是很好的原生態(tài)的指引者。換句話說,他們有著自己獨(dú)特的行為,棲息地。”
Holden said whoever collected the specimens in the 1970s did a good job of keeping records.Comparing that data with current findings can reveal something about our future.
霍爾頓表示在20世紀(jì)70年代收集標(biāo)本的人保存記錄工作做的很好。這些數(shù)據(jù)和當(dāng)前的結(jié)果比較可以為我們的揭示未來。
“Understanding past climate change is understanding current climate change.Climate change isa big issue right now and insects are often really good indicators.”
“理解過去的氣候變化就是理解當(dāng)前的氣候變化。現(xiàn)在氣候變化成了大問題和昆蟲通常很好的指標(biāo)”。
Holden said her work may help today's farmers fight the problem of collapsing beepopulations, by switching over to bee species better adapted for the changing climate.
霍爾頓表示她的工作可以通過轉(zhuǎn)換到更好適應(yīng)氣候變化的蜜蜂物種幫助現(xiàn)今的農(nóng)民解決蜜蜂種群消亡的問題。