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Global warming might seem like a botanical boon. After all, milder temperatures and more carbon dioxide and nitrogen should feed flora. But a ten-year study has found that any initial positive effect on plant growth from climate change may soon disappear. The report is in the journal Nature Climate Change.
全球變暖對植物而言似乎是個福音。畢竟，溫和的氣候和日漸增多的二氧化碳和氮可以給植物提供養料。但一項為期十年的研究發現，任何氣候變化對植物生長產生的最初積極影響可能很快就會消失。該報告發布在《自然氣候變化》雜志上。
Researchers transplanted vegetation from four grassland ecosystems to lower, warmer elevations. They also modified the precipitation at the transplant sites based on altered rainfall estimates. For the first year, the plants did great, producing more biomass and churning out more oxygen for us. But their productivity went down for the rest of the decade.
研究人員將四個草場生態系統的植被移植到海拔較低、較溫暖的地域。根據預期的降雨量變化，他們還改變了移植地的降水量。第一年，植物長勢確實很好，產量很高，也給我們制造了更多的氧氣。但這些植物的生產能力在這十年的剩余時間里卻降低了。
What happened? Warming did speed up the nitrogen cycle, which should have increased nitrogen’s availability as plant fertilizer. But a lot of the nitrogen left the soil through run-off or uptake into the atmosphere. In addition, productive native plants began to lose out to species that thrive at higher temperatures, but are less productive than the natives. Warmer temperatures may spur immediate growth, but in the long term, we can’to expect plants to like it hot.
這是怎么回事？原來，氣候變暖也加快了氮循環，這可以使更多的氮氣用作植物的肥料，但也有大量的氮從土壤中溢出或者流入大氣層中。此外，多產的的原生植物在競爭中開始輸給那些可以在較高溫度下茁壯成長的植物物種，但仍然低于原生植物原本的產量。氣溫升高可以迅速刺激植物增長，但是從長遠來看，溫度上升可不是植物們所喜歡的。
注：譯文為可可原創，未經許可請勿轉載
