海底森林也受气候威胁?
Beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean, where the cold California current sweeps down from British Columbia, lies a hidden forest of once-astonishing beauty.
在太平洋的海面下,冰冷的加利福利亚洋流从英属哥伦比亚群岛涌流而下,这里藏着一片曾经美丽绝伦的森林。
Known as “the sequoias of the sea” for their rich biodiversity and carbon storing prowess, the kelp forests of Northern California were home to hundreds of marine species, including whales, seals, octopuses and sharks -- until recently.
北加州的海藻林因其丰富的生物多样性和碳储存能力而被称为“海洋中的红杉”,直到最近,这里还是数百种海洋物种的家园,包括鲸鱼、海豹、章鱼和鲨鱼。
Now they’re the scene of a plague, an invasion and a mass deforestation.
现在,这里成了瘟疫、入侵和大规模森林毁坏的地方。
A marine heat wave in 2013 set in motion a series of events that would ravage the forest and destroy the habitat for much of that sea life.
2013年的海洋热浪引发了一系列事件,破坏了这片森林,也破坏了这处大部分海洋生物的栖息地。
First, warm waters are thought to have helped spread a disease that devastated the population of huge sunflower starfish that lived among the kelp.
首先,温暖的海水被认为助长了一种疾病的传播,这种疾病摧毁了生活在海带中的巨型向日葵海星的种群。
Then, without this voracious predator to control their numbers, purple sea urchins spread unchecked, feasting on the kelp forest and leaving behind a barren moonscape.
然后,没有了这种贪婪的捕食者来控制它们的数量,紫色海胆肆无忌惮地蔓延,以海藻森林为食,留下一片贫瘠的月球表面。
Just 5% of the kelp forest remains.
如今仅有5%的海藻森林残存。
The drama unfolding along this coast is what experts are calling a “climate-driven catastrophe” -- one example of how global warming is threatening not only the health of the ocean and the marine life within it but its ability to absorb carbon and help regulate climate change.
这片海岸正在上演的大戏被专家们称为“气候驱动的灾难”——这是一个例子,说明全球变暖不仅威胁着海洋和海洋生物的健康,还威胁着海洋吸收碳和帮助调节气候变化的能力。
The loss is so alarming, it’s mobilized a coalition of researchers, non-profits, urchin divers and others in a desperate race to protect the last remaining kelp forests and rebalance the ecosystem before it’s too late.
海藻的流失是如此令人担忧,它动员了一个由研究人员、非营利组织、海胆潜水员和其他人员组成的联盟,在一场绝望的竞赛中保护最后剩下的海藻森林,并在一切为时已晚之前尝试重新平衡生态系统。
问题
文中提到对海藻林造成危害的哪种生物?