海龜喜歡聞臟塑料的味道

海龜喜歡聞臟塑料的味道

Previously, it was thought the turtles were attracted to plastic waste because they mistook it for prey, confusing things like plastic bags for jellyfish.

以前，人們認為海龜會被塑料垃圾吸引，是因為它們誤以為塑料垃圾是它們的獵物，把塑料袋之類的東西當成水母。

But new research from the US, released today, suggests there may be a different reason for it.

但今天公布的一項來自美國的新研究表明，可能有別的原因。

As the plastic spends time in the ocean, microbes, algae, plants and small animals accumulate on its surface.

當塑料在海洋中停留時，微生物、藻類、植物和小動物在其表面聚集。

Instead of just visually mistaking it for prey, the researchers think that smell of the plastic is also tricking the turtles.

研究人員認為，塑料不僅僅在視覺上被誤認為是獵物，塑料的氣味也在欺騙海龜。

"We found that loggerhead sea turtles respond to odors from biofouled plastics in the same way they respond to food odorants, suggesting that turtles may be attracted to plastic debris not only by the way it looks, but by the way it smells," says researcher Joseph Pfaller from the University of Florida.

佛羅里達大學的研究員約瑟夫·普法勒(Joseph Pfaller)說：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)紅海龜對生物污染塑料氣味的反應方式，與它們對食物氣味的反應方式相同，這表明海龜可能不僅會被塑料碎片的外觀所吸引，而且會被塑料碎片的氣味所吸引。”。

"This 'olfactory trap' might help explain why sea turtles ingest and become entangled in plastic so frequently."

“這種‘嗅覺陷阱’可能有助于解釋，為什么海龜會如此頻繁地吞食和纏入塑料垃圾中。”

Fifteen young, captive-reared loggerhead turtles were used in the research.

研究中使用了15只幼小的圈養(yǎng)紅海龜。

Different scents were pumped into the testing area and the researchers found the turtles would react to the smell of their food in the same way as the fouled plastic, lifting their heads out of the water and sniffing the air for longer than the control odors.

研究人員將不同的氣味注入測試區(qū)域，發(fā)現(xiàn)海龜對食物氣味的反應方式與污染的塑料一樣，它們將頭部抬出水面，在空氣中嗅探的時間比對照組更長。

Mr Pfaller says they were surprised by the results, expecting the turtles to react more to their food - which they're used to - than the biofouled plastic.

普法勒表示，他們對這一結(jié)果感到驚訝，他們預計海龜對食物的反應會比生物塑料對食物的反應更強烈——這是他們習慣的做法。

"The plastic problem in the ocean is more complex than plastic bags that look like jellyfish or the errant straw stuck in a turtle's nose," he says.

他說：“海洋中的塑料問題，比看起來像水母的塑料袋或卡在海龜鼻子里的吸管要復雜得多。”。

More studies are needed to help figure out what it is about the plastics that's making them so alluring for turtles, Mr Pfaller says, such as which chemicals are coming from the plastic.

普法勒表示，還需要更多的研究來幫助弄清楚，是什么使塑料對海龜如此具有吸引力，比如哪些化學物質(zhì)來自塑料。

The research was published in the journal Current Biology today.

這項研究發(fā)表在今天的《當代生物學》雜志上。