2022年職稱英語(yǔ)考試?yán)砉ゎ怋級(jí)閱讀文章四

2022職稱英語(yǔ)考試?yán)砉ゎ怋級(jí)閱讀文章四AntsHaveBigImpactonEnvironmentas“EcosystemEngineers“

ResearchbytheUniversityofExeter1hasrevealedthatantshaveabigimpactontheirlocalenvironmentasaresultoftheiractivityas“ecosystemengineers“andpredators.Thestudy,publishedintheJournalofAnimalEcology,foundthatantshavetwodistincteffectsontheirlocalenvironment.

Firstly,throughmovingofsoilbynestbuilding2activityandbycollectingfoodtheyaffectthelevelofnutrientsinthesoil.Thiscanindirectlyimpactthelocalpopulationsofmanyanimalgroups,fromdecomposerstospeciesmuchhigherupthefoodchain.

Secondly,theypreyonawiderangeofotheranimals,includinglargerpreywhichcanbeattackedbyvastnumbersofantworkers.

DirkSanders,anauthorofthestudyfromtheuniversity’sCentreforEcologyandConservation,said:“Antsareveryeffectivepredatorswhichthriveinhugenumbers.They’realsoveryterritorial3andveryaggressive,defendingtheirresourcesandterritoryagainstotherpredators.Allofthismeanstheyhaveastronginfluenceontheirsurroundingarea.“

“Inthisresearch,westudiedforthefirsttimehowbigthisimpactisandthesubtletiesofit.Whatwefoundisthatdespitebeingpredators,theirpresencecanalsoleadtoanincreaseindensityanddiversityofotheranimalgroups4.Theygenuinelyplayakeyroleinthelocalenvironment,havingabiginfluenceonthegrasslandfoodweb,“Sanderssaid.

Thestudy,carriedoutinGermany,studiedtheimpactofthepresenceofdifferentcombinationsanddensitiesofblackgardenantsandcommonredants,bothspecieswhichcanbefoundacrossEurope,includingintheUK.Itfoundthatalowdensityofantsinanareaincreasedthediversityanddensityofotheranimalsinthelocalarea,particularlythedensityofherbivoresanddecomposers.Athigherdensitiesantshadnoortheoppositeeffect,showingthatpredationiscounteractingthepositiveinfluence.

DrFrankvanVeen,anotherauthoronthestudy,said:“Whatwefindisthattheimpactofantsonsoilnutrientlevelshasapositiveeffectonanimalgroupsatlowlevels,butasthenumberofantsincreases,theirpredatoryimpactshavethebiggereffect-therebycounteractingthepositiveinfluenceviaecosystemengineering.“

Antsareimportantcomponentsofecosystemsnotonlybecausetheyconstituteagreatpartoftheanimalbiomass5butalsobecausetheyactasecosystemengineers.Antbiodiversity6isincrediblyhighandtheseorganismsarehighlyresponsivetohumanimpact,whichobviouslyreducesitsrichness.However,itisnotclearhowsuchdisturbancedamagesthemaintenanceofantservicestotheecosystem.Antsareimportantinbelowgroundprocesses8throughthealterationofthephysicalandchemicalenvironmentandthroughtheireffectsonplants,microorganisms,andothersoilorganisms.

詞匯：

predatorn.食肉動(dòng)物

nutrientn.養(yǎng)分物;adj.養(yǎng)分的

decomposern.腐生物;分解體

preyv.捕食;n.被捕食的動(dòng)物

subtletyn，微妙，精妙

herbivoren.食草動(dòng)物

解釋：

1.theUniversityofExeter：埃克斯特大學(xué)。1851年建校，位于英國(guó)西南部重要商業(yè)中心?？怂固厥校怯?guó)的傳統(tǒng)大學(xué)之一。

2.nestbuilding：筑巢

3.territorial：領(lǐng)地的。在此用來形容螞蟻的本性，即具有很強(qiáng)的領(lǐng)地意識(shí)，并且會(huì)竭盡全力保衛(wèi)自己的領(lǐng)地。

4.anincreaseindensityanddiversityofotheranimalgroups：其他動(dòng)物群體在數(shù)量和品種上的增長(zhǎng)。

5.biomass：物質(zhì)名詞，由bio和mass兩局部組成，意為“生物量““生物質(zhì)“。

6.biodiversity：物質(zhì)名詞，由bio和diversity兩局部組成，意為“生物多樣性“。

7.themaintenanceofantservicestotheecosystem：螞蟻對(duì)生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的維護(hù)作用。

8.belowgroundprocesses：土壤下面的(工作)過程，即影響生態(tài)環(huán)境的過程。

練習(xí)：

1.Whyarean