国家地理:温室效应导致花种减少
In the Rocky Mountains of Central Colorado, the forces of nature create a landscape of alpine lakes, high-altitude ponds teeming with life and mountain meadows bursting with wild flowers. It is amidst these beautiful wildflower fields that one scientist has already found alarming evidence about the potential impact of global warming. John Hart, a professor of Environmental Science at the University of California, Berkley, runs an experiment to determine what would happen if the temperature was just three degrees warmer here year around, like the forecasted effect of global warming.
“That heating effect will induce dramatic effects on these subalpine meadows, causing loss of plant seed we especially value here, the flowering plants.”
John Hart has come here each summer since the 1970s, examining factors affecting life in this fragile ecosystem.
“This heating is actually quite subtle. We are not heating a lot. It’s only a few degrees, but it’s causing the flowering plants to produce fewer flowers and to grow less abundantly.”
His setup is relatively simple. Low-power electric heaters suspended above a mountain meadow heat the ground and the plant life beneath, three degrees warmer than the surrounding area. The heaters are automatically and precisely controlled, they have been on constantly, day and night, winter, spring, summer and fall since 1991. In his global warming experiment, he suspended heaters in a grid pattern to create heated plots, then unheated plots, back and forth, so he can judge the effects side by side. The difference, three degrees of separation makes in flowers and sagebrush, is easy to see.
“They suck juices out of the plant.”
In the unheated natural area, sagebrush is a source of moisture for an army of thirsty insects. They keep sagebrush under control.
“So they have little mouthpieces that can suck away at the nutrient.”
But just a few feet away, sagebrush under the heater grows far better with fewer bugs.
“...much more rapidly, we found that the heating is causing profuse growth of the sagebrush.”
While that’s good for the sagebrush; it’s not good for its plant neighbors. Flowers feel the effect too. In natural areas, flowers grow thick as they always do here, but a few feet away, where it’s three degrees warmer, flowers are not as abundant.
“The meadows, instead of looking lush and strewn with flowers, are now actually rather arid.”
If global warming, or long-term climate change, does increase the year-around temperature here just a few degrees, John Hart predicts, in decades to come, flowers could be crowded out by sagebrush.
“Global warming is more than just an ecological catastrophe; it would be a human catastrophe in all of its dimensions.”
参考中文翻译：
科罗拉多州中部巍峨的高山上，自然的力量创造了一幅美丽的风景画，有着高山湖，充满生命的高海拔池塘，长满野花的高山草原。在这些美丽的野花中，一位科学家发现了全球气候变暖的潜在影响的有力证据。John Hart是加利福尼亚大学环境科学的教授。他组织了一个实验，观察如果这里一年之内气温升高3度会有什么情况发生，就好象全球气候变暖的预报。
“热效应会对这些亚高山带的草原产生剧烈的影响，造成我们非常珍惜的开花类植物的减少。”
从上世纪70年代开始，John Hart每年夏天都会来这里，检查影响脆弱的生态系统的因素。
“加热量其实很微小，我们没有加热很多。仅仅几度的变化，就会导致开花类作物开花量减少，不像以前那样丰富。”
他的设备相对来说很简单。低功率的电加热器悬挂在高山草原上给地面和下面的植物加热，比周围环境温度高3度。加热器是自动化的，温控非常精确。从1991年开始，加热器就春夏秋冬日日夜夜的悬挂在那里。在他的全球变暖实验中，他按照格子状悬挂加热器，以组成加热区和非加热区，来来回回，这样来判款交互影响。3度的差别给花和山艾树造成的差别一目了然。
“他们从植物里吸取汁液。”
在没有加热的自然区域，山艾树是很多昆虫的水源。他们使山艾树的数目受到控制。
“他们并没有吸取里面的营养。”
但是就在几英尺之外，收到加热的山艾树生长状况好很多，虫子很少。
“我们发现，加热使山艾树生长速度过快。”
虽然这样对山艾树比较好，但是对邻近的植物造成威胁。花也感受到了影响。在自然区域，花张的比较厚密，温度高3度的几英尺之外，花开的就没有那么繁盛。
“草地没有看上去苍翠繁茂，鲜花盛开，反而变成了不毛之地。”
John Hart预测，如果全球变暖或者长期的气候变化导致这里的全年平均气温升高几度，未来的几十年之内，鲜花会被山艾树吞噬。
“全球变暖并不只是生态灾难，对人类来说，也是一个巨大的灾难。”
“That heating effect will induce dramatic effects on these subalpine meadows, causing loss of plant seed we especially value here, the flowering plants.”
John Hart has come here each summer since the 1970s, examining factors affecting life in this fragile ecosystem.
“This heating is actually quite subtle. We are not heating a lot. It’s only a few degrees, but it’s causing the flowering plants to produce fewer flowers and to grow less abundantly.”
His setup is relatively simple. Low-power electric heaters suspended above a mountain meadow heat the ground and the plant life beneath, three degrees warmer than the surrounding area. The heaters are automatically and precisely controlled, they have been on constantly, day and night, winter, spring, summer and fall since 1991. In his global warming experiment, he suspended heaters in a grid pattern to create heated plots, then unheated plots, back and forth, so he can judge the effects side by side. The difference, three degrees of separation makes in flowers and sagebrush, is easy to see.
“They suck juices out of the plant.”
In the unheated natural area, sagebrush is a source of moisture for an army of thirsty insects. They keep sagebrush under control.
“So they have little mouthpieces that can suck away at the nutrient.”
But just a few feet away, sagebrush under the heater grows far better with fewer bugs.
“...much more rapidly, we found that the heating is causing profuse growth of the sagebrush.”
While that’s good for the sagebrush; it’s not good for its plant neighbors. Flowers feel the effect too. In natural areas, flowers grow thick as they always do here, but a few feet away, where it’s three degrees warmer, flowers are not as abundant.
“The meadows, instead of looking lush and strewn with flowers, are now actually rather arid.”
If global warming, or long-term climate change, does increase the year-around temperature here just a few degrees, John Hart predicts, in decades to come, flowers could be crowded out by sagebrush.
“Global warming is more than just an ecological catastrophe; it would be a human catastrophe in all of its dimensions.”
参考中文翻译：
科罗拉多州中部巍峨的高山上，自然的力量创造了一幅美丽的风景画，有着高山湖，充满生命的高海拔池塘，长满野花的高山草原。在这些美丽的野花中，一位科学家发现了全球气候变暖的潜在影响的有力证据。John Hart是加利福尼亚大学环境科学的教授。他组织了一个实验，观察如果这里一年之内气温升高3度会有什么情况发生，就好象全球气候变暖的预报。
“热效应会对这些亚高山带的草原产生剧烈的影响，造成我们非常珍惜的开花类植物的减少。”
从上世纪70年代开始，John Hart每年夏天都会来这里，检查影响脆弱的生态系统的因素。
“加热量其实很微小，我们没有加热很多。仅仅几度的变化，就会导致开花类作物开花量减少，不像以前那样丰富。”
他的设备相对来说很简单。低功率的电加热器悬挂在高山草原上给地面和下面的植物加热，比周围环境温度高3度。加热器是自动化的，温控非常精确。从1991年开始，加热器就春夏秋冬日日夜夜的悬挂在那里。在他的全球变暖实验中，他按照格子状悬挂加热器，以组成加热区和非加热区，来来回回，这样来判款交互影响。3度的差别给花和山艾树造成的差别一目了然。
“他们从植物里吸取汁液。”
在没有加热的自然区域，山艾树是很多昆虫的水源。他们使山艾树的数目受到控制。
“他们并没有吸取里面的营养。”
但是就在几英尺之外，收到加热的山艾树生长状况好很多，虫子很少。
“我们发现，加热使山艾树生长速度过快。”
虽然这样对山艾树比较好，但是对邻近的植物造成威胁。花也感受到了影响。在自然区域，花张的比较厚密，温度高3度的几英尺之外，花开的就没有那么繁盛。
“草地没有看上去苍翠繁茂，鲜花盛开，反而变成了不毛之地。”
John Hart预测，如果全球变暖或者长期的气候变化导致这里的全年平均气温升高几度，未来的几十年之内，鲜花会被山艾树吞噬。
“全球变暖并不只是生态灾难，对人类来说，也是一个巨大的灾难。”
