英語聽力文摘681 氣候變暖可能有助于企鵝生存

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It’s time to go again to the A Moment of Science mailbag. A listener writes:

Dear A Moment of Science,

I know that climate change is making life difficult for polar bears and other cold climate creatures. But is it possible that some animals actually benefit from climate change?

Penguins And Climate Change

Actually, yes. In fact, one study found that for a colony of Adélie penguins on Beaufort Island south of New Zealand, climate change has been a boon. Over the past sixty years, as temperatures have risen and glaciers retreated on the island, the bird colony increased by eighty-four percent, from 35,000 breeding pairs to 64,000 breeding pairs. Why? Because the glaciers’ retreat has revealed more bare ground where the penguins like to nest.

Now, it’s important to note that this may be an isolated and relatively rare case. Some studies have shown that other colonies of Adélie penguins have shrunk over the past few decades. And other animals, most famously polar bears, are definitely in decline due to a loss of sea ice in the Arctic.

Studying Species

But the study does suggest that the effects of climate change vary depending on geography and the species in question. What causes one species to fade may help another thrive. Overall, though, many scientists believe that the many negatives of climate change outweigh the few potential benefits.

又到了“科學(xué)一刻”的信箱時間。一位聽眾來信寫到：親愛的“科學(xué)一刻”欄目，我了解氣候變化正給北極熊及其他寒帶生物的生活造成困難。但是有沒有可能，有些動物事實上正從中受益呢?

企鵝與氣候變化

事實上，正是如此。一份研究顯示，對位于新西蘭南部博福特島上的一個阿德利企鵝的種群而言，氣候的變化已為它們帶來好消息。在過去的六十年間，隨著氣溫上升及大陸冰川后撤，這個鳥類種群的繁殖數(shù)目由35,000對增長到64,000對。原因何在?因為冰川的溶解反而為企鵝提供了更多賴以筑巢的裸露地表。

目前，更重要的是應(yīng)該注意到這或許只是一個孤立并相對罕見的案例。部分研究表明，其他種群的阿德利企鵝數(shù)目已在過往幾十年間銳減。而其他動物，包括最為出名的北極熊在內(nèi)，已明顯由于極地海洋冰川減少而數(shù)目下降。

物種研究

然而，這份研究的確顯示，氣候變化的影響將視乎研究對象的地理位置及種類而有所不同，造成一個物種消退的原因可能幫助另一物種繁衍。不過總的來說，許多科學(xué)家相信，氣候變化的負(fù)面影響將遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過其潛在的好處。