阅读理解 Unless humans act now, seafood may disappear by 2048, concludes the lead author of a new study that paints a grim picture for ocean and human health．According to the study, the loss of ocean biodiversity(生物多样性)is speeding up, and 29 percent of the seafood species that humans consume have already died out．If the long-term trend continues, in 30 years there will be little or no seafood available for human beings． The increasing pace of diversity loss thus endangers the“ecosystems services”that many human populations depend on for survival, the study says．The research also found that biodiversity loss is tightly linked to declining water quality, harmful algal blooms, ocean dead zones, fish kills, and coastal flooding． “Biodiversity is a limited resource, and we are going to end up with nothing left if nothing changes,”said Boris Worm, an assistant professor of marine conservation biology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada．Worm led the international team of scientists and economists that examined the role of marine biodiversity in maintaining ecosystem services． “They examined the impact of species loss at local, regional, and global scales and in a variety of ecosystems．Everywhere they looked, they got the same result：The greater the loss of diversity, the greater the impact on ecosystem services． “The good news is that areas managed for improved diversity can and do recover, raising the possibility that the problem can be reversed(彻底改变)if humans take action．”Worm says,“Where we protect marine areas around the world we see an increase in species diversity．We also see more productivity as well as more money being earned from those ecosystems,”he said． |
