6.25 生物多样性的重要性
章节大纲
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What you will learn
::你会学到什么-
The importance of
:a) 必须:
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The economic benefits of biodiversity
::生物多样性的经济效益 -
How biodiversity provides
services
::生物多样性如何提供服务
Why is biodiversity important?
::为什么生物多样性很重要?Think about how many exist. Most likely well over 5 million. Now think about how much information about those species we do not yet understand. We do not know what we can learn from them.
::想想有多少种物种存在。 很可能超过500万。 现在想想我们还不了解的物种的信息数量。 我们不知道我们能从中学到什么。Why Is Biodiversity Important?
::为什么生物多样性重要?Human beings benefit in many ways from biodiversity . Biodiversity has direct economic benefits. It also provides services to entire ecosystems.
::人类在许多方面从生物多样性中受益,生物多样性具有直接的经济利益,也为整个生态系统提供服务。Economic Benefits of Biodiversity
::生物多样性的经济利益The diversity of species provides humans with a wide range of economic benefits:
::物种的多样性为人类提供了广泛的经济利益:-
Wild plants and
maintain a valuable pool of
. This is important because domestic species are genetically uniform. This puts them at great risk of dying out due to disease.
::野生植物和保存宝贵的植物库。这一点很重要,因为家用物种在基因上是统一的。这使得它们极有可能死于疾病。 -
Other
organisms
provide humans with many different products. Timber, fibers, adhesives, dyes, and rubber are just a few.
::其他生物为人类提供多种不同的产品,木材、纤维、粘合剂、染料和橡胶只是少数几种。 -
Certain species may warn us of toxins in the environment. When the peregrine falcon nearly went extinct, for example, it warned us of the dangers of DDT.
::例如,当游鹰濒临灭绝时,它就警告我们滴滴涕的危险。 -
More than half of the most important prescription
drugs
come from wild species. Only a fraction of species have yet been studied for their medical potential.
::最重要的处方药一半以上来自野生物种,只有一小部分物种的医学潜力尚未得到研究。 -
Other living things provide inspiration for engineering and technology. For example, the invention of the velcro tape was inspired by the spiny
seeds
of the burdock plant, as shown in the
Figure
.
::其他生物为工程和技术提供了灵感。 例如,Vellcro磁带的发明是由布洛克工厂的脊椎种子所启发的,如图所示。
The rosy periwinkle is an invaluable source of two important cancer-fighting drugs. The velcro tape used in the shoe strap (right) was an important and useful invention whose design was inspired by the spiny, sticky seeds of the burdock plant. Ecosystem Services of Biodiversity
::生物多样性生态系统服务Biodiversity generally increases the productivity and stability of ecosystems . It helps ensure that at least some species will survive environmental change. It also provides many other ecosystem services. For example:
::生物多样性通常提高生态系统的生产力和稳定性,有助于确保至少某些物种在环境变化中存活下来。-
Plants and
maintain the
atmosphere
. During
, they add oxygen and remove carbon dioxide.
::植物和保持大气。在空气中,它们添加氧气并去除二氧化碳。 -
Plants help prevent
soil
erosion. They also improve soil quality when they decompose.
::植物有助于防止土壤侵蚀,在分解时也会提高土壤质量。 -
Microorganisms purify
in rivers and lakes. They also return
nutrients
to the soil.
::在河流和湖泊中净化微生物,它们还把养分带回土壤。 -
fix nitrogen and make it available to plants. Other bacteria recycle the nitrogen from organic wastes and remains of dead organisms.
::其他细菌从有机废物和死亡生物的残骸中回收氮。 -
and
pollinate flowering plants, including crop plants.
::并授粉花卉植物,包括作物植物。 -
Natural
predators
control insect pests. They reduce the need for expensive pesticides, which may harm people and other living things.
::自然捕食者控制昆虫害虫,减少对昂贵杀虫剂的需求,这些杀虫剂可能伤害人和其他生物。
Summary
::摘要-
Biodiversity has direct economic benefits. It also provides services to entire ecosystems.
::生物多样性具有直接的经济效益,也为整个生态系统提供服务。
Review
::回顾-
List three economic benefits of biodiversity.
::列出生物多样性的三项经济利益。 -
Identify three ecosystem services of biodiversity.
::查明生物多样性的三个生态系统服务。 -
Predict what would happen to other organisms in an ecosystem in which all the decomposers went extinct?
::在一个所有分解者都灭绝的生态系统中,其他生物将会发生什么?
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The importance of
