噪声—影响植物生长的双刃剑(1/3)

英语自学网

根据美国科学家最新研究，噪声可能会对周边大面积植物生长产生影响，这种影响视植物种而不同。
Hints:
New Mexico
Rattlesnake Canyon
juniper
piñon pine
Clinton Francis
National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
North Carolina
hummingbird
scrub jays
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校对：jessie319
翻译&注解：未丸宸
组长：鬼面福娃
答疑：西碧儿的琴Plants don't have ears, right? At least not the kind we hear things with, which is why researchers haven't given much thought to the effect of noise and noise pollution on plants. But all that could be about to change.
In northwestern New Mexico's Rattlesnake Canyon, gnarled juniper trees and piñon pines dominate a landscape of high mesas and rough sandstone cliffs. Tucked in among the trees are thousands of natural gas wells, about 1/3 of them pressurized by ear-splitting compressors.
"They run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with the exception of periodic maintenance, so they are going all the time." That's Clinton Francis, of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina. Since 2005, he's been studying how Rattlesnake Canyon's birds respond to the compressors' non-stop racket. "Black-chinned hummingbirds, for example, tend to prefer and settle in really noisy landscapes, and western scrub jays tend to avoid these noisy areas."植物是没有耳朵的，对吗？至少，植物没有那种我们用来听声音的耳朵，这就是为什么研究人员们没有过多的考虑噪音和噪音污染对植物的影响。但是，新的研究发现有可能会改变这些认知。
在新墨西哥西北方的响尾蛇峡谷，高台地和粗砂岩峭壁上主要生长着粗糙的桧树和矮松。树林间隐藏着数以千计的天然气井。其中大约有三分之一的天然气井被压缩机加压，发出震耳欲聋的声音。
北卡罗来纳州国家发展综合中心的克林顿·弗朗西斯说：“这些压缩机一天24小时运行，一年365天除了定期维护就全年无休。”从2005年开始，他就开始研究响尾蛇峡谷的鸟类是如果应对压缩机永不消停的噪音的。他说：“例如有着黑色下巴的蜂鸟，往往喜欢定居在嘈杂的景观区，而西部的灌丛鸦则会远离这样嘈杂的地方。”