第六次“生物大滅絕”真的來臨?

Earth’s sixth mass extinction is already underway – and humans are the driving force behind it, according to a new study.

地球的第六次物種大滅絕正在上演。一項(xiàng)新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人類是其背后的推動(dòng)力。

“Recent extinction rates are unprecedented in human history and highly unusual in Earth’s history,” according to a study published on June 19 in the journal Science Advances. “Our global society has started to destroy species of other organisms at an accelerating rate, initiating a mass extinction episodeunparalleled for 65 million years.”

6月19日Science Advances雜志上發(fā)表的一項(xiàng)研究表明，“最近的物種滅絕速度是人類歷史上前所未有的，在地球發(fā)展史上也極其不尋常。我們?nèi)祟惿鐣?huì)已經(jīng)開始在加速毀滅其他生物物種，并由此開啟了一個(gè)6500萬年以來最大規(guī)模的物種滅絕。”

Researchers used “extremely conservative assumptions” to determine extinction rates that prevailed in the past five periods of mass extinction. Still, they found the average rate of vertebrate species loss over the past century was up to 114 times higher than normal.

研究人員使用“非常保守的假設(shè)”來確定過去五大物種滅絕時(shí)期的物種滅絕速度,但他們?nèi)匀话l(fā)現(xiàn)，在過去的一個(gè)世紀(jì)，脊椎動(dòng)物物種的平均滅絕速度高出正常值的114倍。

For example, about 477 vertebrate species have gone extinct since 1900, according to the study.

例如，研究表明，自1900年以來大約有477種脊椎動(dòng)物物種滅絕。

Based on previous extinctions, only nine species would have been expected to die off in the same time frame had it not been for mankind’s involvement.

根據(jù)以往的物種滅絕情況，如果沒有人類的參與，在同樣的時(shí)間內(nèi)只會(huì)有九種物種滅絕。

Declining biodiversity

生物多樣性的減少

“The number of species that have gone extinct in the last century would have taken... between 800 and 10,000 years to disappear,” the study reported.

研究表明：“上個(gè)世紀(jì)滅絕的物種數(shù)量本應(yīng)該用800年到10,000年的時(shí)間才會(huì)消失的。”

“These estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last few centuries, indicating that a sixth mass extinction is already underway.”

“這些估算說明，在過去幾個(gè)世紀(jì)里生物多樣性異?？焖俚卦跍p少，這表明了第六次的大規(guī)模滅絕正在上演。”

The previous five mass extinctions happened well before mankind existed and are believed to have been mainly caused by natural disasters, such as asteroid impacts and volcanic eruptions.

之前的五次大規(guī)模物種滅絕發(fā)生在人類出現(xiàn)之前，而且這些滅絕被認(rèn)為主要是由自然災(zāi)害引起的，如小行星撞擊和火山噴發(fā)。

The last mass extinction happened some 65 million years ago, killing off the dinosaurs. Overall, each mass extinction event has rid the planet of up to 96 percent of its species each time.

上一次大規(guī)模的物種滅絕是發(fā)生在大約6,500萬年前的恐龍滅絕?？偟膩碚f，每次大規(guī)模的滅絕事件都使地球減少96%的物種。

In the past few decades, several animal species have been labeled extinct, including the Chinesepaddlefish, Yangtze River dolphin, Pyrenean ibex and western black rhinoceros.

在過去的幾十年里，一些動(dòng)物都被打上了物種滅絕的標(biāo)簽，包括中華鱘、白鰭豚、比利牛斯山羊和西方黑犀牛。

In as little as three generations, the current pace of extinction could dramatically and permanently alter the number of species on the planet, the study said. In previous extinction events it took hundreds of thousands to millions of years for the planet to re-diversify.

這項(xiàng)研究表明，在今后短短三代人的時(shí)間內(nèi)，以目前的滅絕速度足夠可以顯著和永久地改變地球上物種的數(shù)量。在以前的大規(guī)模滅絕之后，地球要花上幾十萬到幾百萬年的時(shí)間才能重新實(shí)現(xiàn)物種多樣化。

Researchers said it’s not too late to avoid a true sixth mass extinction, but it will “require rapid, greatly intensified efforts to conserve already threatened species and to alleviate pressures on their populations – notably habitat loss, overexploitation for economic gain and climate change.”

研究人員表示，要想避免真正的第六次物種大滅絕為時(shí)還不算晚，但這“需要迅速地加大保護(hù)瀕危物種的力度，以及降低這些物種所面臨的各個(gè)方面的壓力——特別是棲息地的喪失、為了經(jīng)濟(jì)利益的過度開發(fā)和氣候變化。”

“However, the window of opportunity is rapidly closing.”

“然而，避免第六次物種滅絕的機(jī)會(huì)窗口正在迅速關(guān)閉。”