绿海龟因把塑料误当成食物而濒临死亡

绿海龟因把塑料误当成食物而濒临死亡

Plastic pollution is having a huge economic impact on society, but for sea creatures, the devastating effects are much worse than a hit to their wallets — it’s a loss of life.

塑料污染正在对社会产生巨大的经济影响，但是对海洋生物来说，破坏性的影响比对他们钱包的打击要严重得多——这是生命的损失。

Green turtles are at risk of death from the plastic floating in the oceans because they think it is food, according to a new study. The plastics, which are often green, black or clear in color, look like seagrass to the turtles, a staple of their diets.

一项新的研究表明，绿海龟有死于漂浮在海洋中的塑料制品的危险，因为他们认为这是食物。这些塑料，通常是绿色、黑色或透明的，在海龟看来就像海草，海草是它们的主食。

“Sea turtles are primarily visual predators—able to choose foods by size and shape—and in this study we found strong evidence that green turtles favor plastic of certain sizes, shapes and colors,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Emily Duncan, in a statement.

该研究的主要作者艾米丽·邓肯博士在一份声明中说：“海龟主要是视觉上的食肉动物，它们能够根据大小和形状来选择食物。在这项研究中，我们发现了强有力的证据，证明绿海龟喜欢某些大小、形状和颜色的塑料。”

Duncan added that it was previously known that leatherback turtles eat the plastic bags, likely because they confuse them with jellyfish.

邓肯补充说，之前人们知道棱皮龟吃塑料袋，可能是因为它们把塑料袋和水母混淆了。

The study came on the back of finding dead green turtles on the beaches in Cyprus. Thirty-four turtles were examined and the gastrointestinal tracts of 19 were looked at. All of them contained plastic, ranging from three pieces to 183 pieces inside one of the turtles.

这项研究是在塞浦路斯海滩上发现死绿海龟后进行的。对34只海龟进行了检查，并对19只海龟的胃肠道进行了观察。所有的海龟体内都含有塑料，其中一只海龟体内的塑料碎片从3块到183块不等。

The issue is particularly worrisome for younger or smaller turtles, as they may eat more plastic because of inexperience, the study also found.

该研究还发现，这个问题对年幼或较小的海龟尤其令人担忧，因为它们可能会因为缺乏经验而吃更多的塑料制品。

Professor Brendan Godley, who leads the Exeter Marine research strategy, said that research such as this helps scientists understand what the sea turtles are eating and what types of plastic may be ingested more than others.

埃克塞特海洋研究战略负责人布伦丹·戈德利教授说，诸如此类的研究有助于科学家了解海龟吃的是什么，以及哪种塑料可能比其他塑料摄入得更多。

“It’s important to know what kinds of plastic might be a particular problem, as well as highlighting issues that can help motivate people to continue to work on reducing overall plastic consumption and pollution,” Godley added in the statement.

戈德利在声明中补充说:“了解哪种塑料可能是一个特殊的问题很重要，同时强调可以帮助人们继续努力减少塑料消费和污染的问题。”

The research has been published in Scientific Reports.

这项研究已发表在科学报告上。

According to a 2018 estimate from EarthDay.org, 8 million metric tons of plastic wind up in the ocean every year, including 236,000 tons of microplastics, pieces that break down that are smaller than a human fingernail.

根据EarthDay.org 2018年的一项估计，每年有800万公吨的塑料流入海洋，其中包括23.6万吨的微塑料，这些塑料碎片的破裂程度比人的指甲还小。

Some estimates have suggested there may be as many as 5.25 trillion macro and microplastic pieces floating in the ocean, many of which wind up in the digestive tracks of sea animals, such as dolphins, whales and turtles.

据估计，海洋中可能漂浮着多达5.25万亿的宏塑料和微塑料碎片，其中许多最终进入了海豚、鲸鱼和海龟等海洋动物的消化系统。