Study Finds Huge Drop in Caribbean Coral

By Caty Weaver¹
Broadcast: August 8, 2003
This is Bill White with the VOA Special English Environment Report.
A new study shows an eighty percent decrease of hard coral in the Caribbean Sea over the past thirty years. Scientists from the University of East Anglia and the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research, both in Britain, did the study. They published their findings in Science Magazine.
Coral is made up of hundreds to hundreds of thousands of 1)organisms called 2)polyps. Each is covered with cells filled with poison. The 3)coral uses the poison to defend itself and to 4)capture its food.
Hard coral is what covers reefs. Soft coral, like sponges and sea fans, live on hard coral.
In the nineteen-seventies, hard coral covered about fifty percent of the average 5)reef in the Caribbean. Today, the researchers say, the cover is down to ten percent. They say it appears nothing like this has happened before for at least three-thousand years.
Ocean biologist Isabelle Cote took part in the study. She says the scientists knew there were serious problems with the Caribbean reef system, but what they found surprised them. They based their findings on sixty-five earlier studies that examined more than two-hundred-sixty areas of reef in the Caribbean Sea.
At first, the scientists were trying to learn the amount of destruction that ocean storms had caused to coral reefs over the years. But the researchers decided² they had to widen their study. Mizz Cote says they needed to be able to compare storm damage with damage from other forces.
The study found that weather conditions have played a part in the decrease of Caribbean coral. But the scientists say human activity has been at least as equally destructive.
Overfishing is one problem. Fish eat plants that live on coral. The fish help keep a balance in the plant life. When too many fish are caught, some plants may spread too fast and kill the coral.
Pollution is also a problem. So too, they say, is the flow of soil into rivers that feed the sea. This includes soil from forests that have been cut down.
For coral cells to build a reef takes tens of thousands of years. Scientists say healthy reefs are not only important for nature. The many different kinds of marine³ life found there may also provide materials for new medicines.
The scientists who did the study say there are signs of recovery in some areas of the Caribbean. But they say they do not know if this new coral will be able to survive any better.
This VOA Special English Environment Report was written by Caty Weaver. And this is Bill White.

注释：
1) organism [5C:^EnizEm] n.生物体，有机体
2) polyp [5pClip] n.珊瑚虫（水螅型），息肉
3) coral [5kCrEl] n.珊瑚，珊瑚虫
4) capture [5kAptFE] vt.俘获，捕获，夺取
5) reef [ri:f] n.暗礁，收帆

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 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。