Seasick Seas
－－by Josie Glausiusz
Trouble is brewing[1] beneath the waves. Biologists report that marine diseases are on the rise, and the ocean's inhabitants---fish, mammals, plants, and invertebrates alike---are suffering.
Nobody knows the exact cause of the ocean epidemics, but human activity undoubtedly plays a role. Untreated sewage is thought to feed outbreaks of toxic algae, such as the fish-killing Pfiesteria. Industrial runoff may be responsible for the rash of tumors seen in fish around coastal cities. Canine distemper virus from domesticated dogs apparently killed a significant fraction of seal populations in Antarctica and Siberia. Marine diseases are best documented among commercially important species. Viruses from cultured shrimp in the Pacific severely diminished wild stocks near Mexico. "Our fish populations are being seriously affected. The trends are very striking," says aquatic ecologist JoAnn Burkholder of North Carolina State University.
JoAnn Burkholder這樣說。 By far the most dramatic[2] crisis is the pandemic[3] of coral bleaching. According to marine ecologist James Porter of the University of Georgia in Athens, 70 percent of the coral reefs in the Indian Ocean have whitened and died in the past two years. Reefs are rich stores of biodiversity and sensitive measures of environmental health. Elevated sea temperatures trigger the bleaching, which makes Porter suspicious about the timing[4]. "Nothing like this has occurred within the last half-century," he says. "The most viable hypothesis to explain coral bleaching is global warming.
海洋母親生病了
"滾滾波濤之下不安在滋生。生物學(xué)家警告：海洋疾病目前呈上升趨勢，大海居民——魚類、哺乳類、植物以及無脊椎動(dòng)物等等——正在遭受疾病的侵?jǐn)_。
無人知道海洋疫疾的根源在哪兒，但是有一點(diǎn)是毫無疑問的：人類的行為是引發(fā)這場疾病的原因。未經(jīng)過處理的污水被排入大海，據(jù)說這導(dǎo)致含毒藻類——如能毒殺魚類的Pfiesteria——在海底瘋長。沿海城市發(fā)現(xiàn)了長著瘤胞的魚，排入海洋的工業(yè)廢料自然難逃其責(zé)。生活在南極洲和西伯利亞的海豹很大一部分顯然由于感染上家犬的犬齒熱病毒而紛紛倒斃。許多經(jīng)濟(jì)價(jià)值很高的物種也逃脫不了海洋疾病的肆虐。在太平洋人工培植的蝦類感染上病毒，使臨近墨西哥的野生蝦類數(shù)量急劇下降?！棒~類資源受到嚴(yán)重影響，這種趨勢是驚人的?！泵绹笨_來納州大學(xué)的海洋生態(tài)學(xué)者
目前最驚人的危機(jī)還是來自于全國流行的珊瑚礁泛白事件。據(jù)雅典喬治亞州大學(xué)的海洋生態(tài)學(xué)家James Porter所提供的數(shù)據(jù)：近兩年內(nèi)，印度洋中70%的珊瑚礁都因泛白而死亡。珊瑚礁是生物多樣性的豐富寶藏，也是生態(tài)健康的敏感測量儀。海洋溫度升高引發(fā)了珊瑚礁泛白死亡，面對(duì)這種適時(shí)性James Porter不禁疑慮叢生：“這種現(xiàn)象在過去的半個(gè)世紀(jì)里從未發(fā)生過，”James Porter說，“對(duì)于珊瑚礁泛白現(xiàn)象最能說得過去的解釋只能是全球變暖?！?BR> 注釋：
1． brew：醞釀，行將發(fā)生。比如：There's a gale brewing in the west. 西邊的天空一場暴風(fēng)正在醞釀之中。
2． dramatic：本文中指“驟然而驚人的”，比如：the most dramatic scientific adventures of this century本世紀(jì)最為驚心動(dòng)魄的科學(xué)探險(xiǎn)。
3． pandemic：（流行全國或全世界的）傳染病。
4． timing：同步適時(shí)性