2022-05-20

The tropics, off the coast of Cuba. For thousands of years, these waters have been one of the hotspots of life in the ocean. But in seas like this – near the Earth's equator – the richness of marine1 life is shrinking due to climate change.

这是古巴海岸附近的热带地区。数千年以来，这片水域一直是众多海洋生物聚集的热点地区之一。但在这种靠近地球赤道的海域里，海洋生物的多样性正因气候变化而缩减。

A new global study – the largest of its kind – has found that since 1955, open-water species declined by about half in tropical oceans. Sea surface temperatures rose by nearly 0.2 degrees Celsius2. It's happening faster than expected.

一项同类调查中规模最大的新全球研究发现，居住在热带海洋开阔水域的物种数量自1955年来减少了约一半。海面温度上升了近0.2摄氏度。这比预期的速度要快。

Sebastian Ferse, coral reef researcher and ecologist

So in geological history, this is a [blip], so it's just a wink3 of an eye. And to see such rapid changes, or such changes… occurring so rapidly, is something that's astonishing, I would say.

塞巴斯蒂安·弗斯    珊瑚礁研究员和生态学家

“在地质史中，这是一个小插曲，只是眨眼间的事情。看到如此迅速的变化，发生得如此之快，是一件令人吃惊的事情。”

Scientists analysed data on more than 4