VOA标准英语2012--Endangered Primate Offers Clues to Climate Change

Endangered Primate¹ Offers Clues to Climate Change

Scientists are studying a rare African monkey that’s endangered both from climate change and humans. They hope the primate’s past can give clues to the future effects of rising temperatures.

It’s called the Mandrillus leucophaeus, or drill for short, and lives in the equatorial rainforests of Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. It’s not the first time the drill has faced problems from climate change. University of Oregon Anthropology² Professor Nelson Ting says about 3,000 to 5,000 years ago, there was a large decline in their population.

“Around this time period, you see a dramatic loss in forest coverage³ in this region that the drill inhabit. And the reason for the forest loss was because of similar conditions that are projected in these regions in the future. So a very warm climate in combination with an increased seasonality⁴ and an increased aridity,” he said.

The vegetation changes and becomes sparser⁵ as temperatures rise and conditions get drier.

“Knowing more about the natural history and ecology will definitely help designating conservation priorities for an animal that is really struggling with a lot of different pressures right now,” said Ting, who is the lead author of the drill study that appeared in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

Now like then

Conditions now appear similar to what happened 3,000 to 5,000 years ago. There’s rainforest loss, rising temperatures and dryer⁶ weather. But back then, the Bantu people began migrating from the Nigeria/Cameroon area. They introduced agriculture and iron smelting⁷ as they migrated, which may have also contributed to forest loss. Whether the Bantu hunted the drill is unclear, but its meat is certainly prized today.

Ting said, “The larger concern right now for the drill is not actually climate change. That certainly is a concern down the road. But probably hunting is actually the largest problem with the drill right now. If we can protect large areas of forest, that will lead to protection of habitat. If we can protect it effectively, we can protect the animal from hunting. And then we can also buffer⁸ any kind of future effects of climate change as well. That would be ideal.”

He added that in science the key to the present and the future is often found in the past. Scientists say the history of the drill could help them understand what could lie in store for Africa’s rainforests over the next 100 years.

1 primate   

n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的

参考例句：

• 14 percent of primate species are highly endangered.14%的灵长类物种处于高度濒危状态。
• The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。

2 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

3 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

4 seasonality   

季节性

参考例句：

• a high degree of climatic seasonality 明显的季节性气候变化
• Confinement. Seasonality of tourist trade, animals often 'contracted' to work. 限制，在旅游旺季时，动物们通常都得被迫“上工”。 来自互联网

5 sparser   

adj.稀疏的，稀少的( sparse的比较级 )

参考例句：

6 dryer   

n.干衣机，干燥剂

参考例句：

• He bought a dryer yesterday.他昨天买了一台干燥机。
• There is a washer and a dryer in the basement.地下室里有洗衣机和烘干机。

7 smelting   

n.熔炼v.熔炼，提炼（矿石）( smelt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• a method of smelting iron 一种炼铁方法
• Fire provided a means of smelting ores. 火提供了熔炼矿石的手段。 来自辞典例句

8 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。