科学美国人60秒 SSS 手枪虾在温暖水域更吵闹

 

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Annie Sneed.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是安妮·斯尼德。

(CLIP: Snapping shrimp¹ sound)

（音频剪辑：手枪虾的声音）

Rice Krispies? Rain hitting a tin roof? Bacon frying? How about noisy creatures known as snapping shrimp.

这是咬脆米酥的声音？还是雨点打在锡皮屋顶上或煎培根的声音？也可以想象是手枪虾这种吵闹的生物发出的声音。

Warm temperate² and tropical coastal³ waters around the world are teeming⁴ with these noisy little creatures. They snap their claws so fast that they produce a bubble. When the bubble bursts, it makes a loud popping sound.

全球暖温带和热带沿海水域中，到处都是这种吵闹的小生物。它们开合虾钳的速度如此之快，以至于能产生气泡。气泡破裂时，会发出响亮的爆裂声。

"It's this sort of persistent⁵ background noise, these snapping shrimp kind of crackling."

“这种持续的背景噪音，就是这些手枪虾发出的噼啪声。”

Aran Mooney, a marine⁶ biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的海洋生物学家艾尔伦·穆尼说到。

The shrimp produce the loud sound to stun⁷ prey⁸. So how would this shrimp be affected⁹ by oceans getting warmer in coming years? To find out, Mooney and his colleague Ashlee Lillis analyzed¹⁰ audio recordings¹¹ of the critters in their natural environment.

手枪虾发出巨响是为了击晕猎物。那未来海洋变暖会对这种虾产生何种影响？为了找到答案，穆尼和同事阿什莉·里利斯分析了手枪虾在自然环境中的声音。

They also performed lab experiments with snapping shrimp collected from the wild, in water of varying temperatures. And they found that when water heats up, the shrimp start snapping more—and the water's soundscape gets louder. They shared their findings in February at the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2020 in San Diego.

他们还从野外收集了各种温度水域的手枪虾，用来进行实验室实验。他们发现，水温升高后，手枪虾开合虾钳的频率就开始增加，水中声景也变得更加响亮。去年2月，他们在圣地亚哥举行的2020年海洋科学大会上分享了他们的研究成果。

The researchers aren't sure what's causing this change in shrimp behavior—but they have an idea.

研究人员并不确定导致手枪虾行为变化的原因，但他们有一种想法。

"We don't precisely¹² know the mechanism¹³ of why they're snapping more often. What we think is that these guys are basically just ectothermic animals. So that means they're directly responding to environmental conditions around them. So basically, as you increase the water temperature, it increases their metabolic¹⁴ rate—they get more metabolically¹⁵ active, so they are able or trying to snap more."

“至于它们为何更频繁地开合虾钳，我们并不确切清楚其中的机制。我们认为这些虾基本上只是外温动物。因此，这意味着它们会对周围的环境情况作出直接反应。因此，基本上来说，随着水温的升高，它们的新陈代谢速率加快，也就是说它们的新陈代谢变得更加活跃，因此它们能够或试图更频繁开合虾钳。”

If these shrimp do make the ocean noisier as the climate warms, it could be a problem for both marine creatures and humans. Many ocean animals use sound to communicate. And both the Navy and fishermen rely on marine acoustics¹⁷ to do their work.

如果因为气候变暖，这些虾真的使海洋变得更吵，那这可能令海洋生物和人类都面临新的问题。许多海洋动物用声音交流。海军和渔民都依赖海洋声学来工作。

"You know, we never really thought about how that ocean background noise or its own fog is sort of naturally increasing, in what we think is temperature driven or climate change driven. So as you raise those levels, it gets harder to kind of 'see' through that acoustic¹⁶ fog."

“我们之前从未想过海洋背景噪音或声雾是正在自然增加，我们认为是温度驱动或气候变化造成的。因此，这些水平的上升使我们更难透过声雾‘看’清。”

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Annie Sneed.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是安妮·斯尼德。

 

1 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

2 temperate   

adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的

参考例句：

• Asia extends across the frigid,temperate and tropical zones.亚洲地跨寒、温、热三带。
• Great Britain has a temperate climate.英国气候温和。

3 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

4 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道

5 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

6 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

7 stun   

vt.打昏，使昏迷，使震惊，使惊叹

参考例句：

• When they told me she had gone missing I was totally stunned.他们告诉我她不见了时，我当时完全惊呆了。
• Sam stood his ground and got a blow that stunned him.萨姆站在原地，被一下打昏了。

8 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

12 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

13 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

14 metabolic   

adj.新陈代谢的

参考例句：

• Impressive metabolic alternations have been undergone during embryogenesis.在胚胎发生期间经历了深刻的代谢变化。
• A number of intoxicants are associated with metabolic acidosis.许多毒性物质可引起代谢性酸中毒。

15 metabolically   

代谢的（metabolic的副词形式）

参考例句：

• Intact skin is a highly complex, metabolically active organ. 完整的皮肤是一个高度复杂、代谢灵敏的器官。 来自辞典例句

16 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

17 acoustics   

n.声学，(复)音响效果，音响装置

参考例句：

• The acoustics of the new concert hall are excellent.这座新音乐厅的音响效果极好。
• The auditorium has comfortable seating and modern acoustics.礼堂里有舒适的座椅和现代化的音响设备。