離開
進入《中英對照讀新聞》Scientists want you to know plankton is not just whale food 科學家要你知道，浮游生物不僅是鯨魚的食物而已
◎魏國金
Scientists on Thursday unveiled the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of the world’s ocean plankton, the tiny organisms that serve as food for marine creatures such as the blue whale, but also provide half the oxygen we breathe.
科學家週四公布了迄今全球海洋浮游生物最全面的分析，這個做為藍鯨等海洋生物食物的微小有機體，也提供半數我們所呼吸的氧氣。
The researchers spent 3-1/2 years aboard the schooner Tara, taking 35,000 samples of plankton from 210 sites globally, determining the distribution of the organisms, tracking how they interact with one another and carrying out genetic analyses.
研究人員登上縱帆船「塔拉號」，耗費3.5年在全球210個據點採集3萬5000個浮游生物樣本、測定該有機體的分布區域、追蹤牠們如何彼此互動，並進行基因分析。
Plankton includes microscopic plants and animals, fish larvae, bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms that drift in the oceans.
浮游生物包括僅能從顯微鏡看見的動植物、仔魚、細菌、病毒與其他漂流於海上的微生物。
"Although tiny, these organisms are a vital part of the Earth’s life support system, providing half of the oxygen generated each year on Earth by photosynthesis and lying at the base of marine food chains on which all other ocean life depends," said Chris Bowler, a research director at France’s National Center for Scientific Research.
「雖然微小，這些有機體是地球維生系統的重要部分，透過光合作用每年提供地球所生產的半數氧氣，同時是所有其他海洋生物仰賴的海洋食物鏈的底層，」法國國家科研中心的研究主管鮑勒說。
The scientists conducted the largest DNA sequencing effort ever done in ocean science, pinpointing around 40 million plankton genes, most previously unknown.
科學家進行海洋科學史上最大規模的DNA排序工作，確認了約4000萬個浮游生物基因，而多數是前所未知的。
By removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converting it into organic carbon via photosynthesis, plankton provide a buffer against the increased carbon dioxide being generated by the burning of fossil fuels, Bowler said.
浮游生物透過去除空氣中的二氧化碳，再經光合作用將之轉變為有機碳，為燃燒化石燃料而增多的二氧化碳提供了緩衝，鮑勒說。
新聞辭典
serve as：片語，擔任、充當。例句：This may serves as a warning not to drive so fast .（這或許可做為勿開快車的警告。）
distribution：名詞，分布狀況、分布區域。例如：have a very wide distribution（分布極廣）
pinpoint：動詞，精準描述、確認、確定。例句：Our radar pinpointed the attacking planes.（我們的雷達精準確定了來襲敵機的位置。）
