VOA常速英语2014--蜜蜂化石揭示气候变化（在线收听）

Fossilized Bees Reveal Climate Changes 蜜蜂化石揭示气候变化

LOS ANGELES —

For millennia, natural tar that seeped from the ground in what is now southern California trapped large and small animals, preserving their fossils and providing scientists with a trove of specimens suitable for study.

数千年前，从地面渗透出的天然沥青将南加州的大型和小型动物困住,经过时间的洗礼将它们保存在化石当中,而现在则成了科学家们研究的标本。

Anna Holden, a researcher at the Page Museum in Los Angeles, is analyzing fossilized bees to learn about the ancient environment.

洛杉矶佩琪博物馆研究员安娜·霍尔顿通过分析蜜蜂化石了解古代的环境。

蜜蜂化石.jpg

In trying to reconstruct what the climate and local habitat were like, this bee offered kind of unprecedented information."

在试图重建当地气候及栖息地的样貌时,这种蜜蜂提供了前所未有的信息。”

By exposing the fossils to a micro CT scanner, scientists discovered that the bee's habitat was warmer than expected. Which let them to conclude that at the end of the Ice Age, about 11,500 years ago, this area was not covered with snow and ice, as previously thought.

经过微型CT扫描仪对化石进行分析,科学家们发现蜜蜂的栖息地比预期所想更为温暖。这让他们得出结论,在冰河时代末期,大约11500年前,这个地区并没有如之前的结论那样被冰雪覆盖。

Holden said unlike that of the large mammals that came to La Brea from South America or across the land bridge now covered by the Bering Strait-allows the collection of detailed information about their immediate environment.

霍尔顿表示不像从南美来到那种拉布雷亚的大型哺乳动物,或穿过现在白令海峡覆盖的大陆桥，可以收集关于它们直接环境的详细信息。

“Insects have very specific life cycles, so they're just really good palaeoecological indicators.In other words,they're just very specific in their behavior, their habitats.”

“昆虫有非常特定的生命周期,所以它们是很好的原生态的指引者。换句话说,他们有着自己独特的行为,栖息地。”

Holden said whoever collected the specimens in the 1970s did a good job of keeping records. Comparing that data with current findings can reveal something about our future.

霍尔顿表示在20世纪70年代收集标本的人保存记录工作做的很好。这些数据和当前的结果比较可以为我们的揭示未来。

“Understanding past climate change is understanding current climate change.Climate change is a big issue right now and insects are often really good indicators.”

“理解过去的气候变化就是理解当前的气候变化。现在气候变化成了大问题和昆虫通常很好的指标”。

Holden said her work may help today's farmers fight the problem of collapsing bee populations, by switching over to bee species better adapted for the changing climate.

霍尔顿表示她的工作可以通过转换到更好适应气候变化的蜜蜂物种帮助现今的农民解决蜜蜂种群消亡的问题。