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　　据《每日电讯报》3月29日报道，在南极洲这片没有树木生长的冰川大陆上，只有南极发草和南极漆姑草这两种开花植物生长在南极洲西部地区和周边小岛。一支由英国和澳大利亚科学家组成的考察队近日发布了最新研究成果：由于全球变暖，南极洲发草在过去50年中持续向周围蔓延，一些地方将被绿色的植被覆盖。目前，这项研究被发表在《自然》杂志上。

南极洲未来或成绿色大陆？

　　班戈大学科学家保罗·希尔称，一到夏天，南极半岛和冰冻大陆周围海岛上的冰雪就开始融化，那里长满了苔藓和上述两种开花植物。最近，随着全球气温的上升，南极洲的夏天变得更久更热，其中一种开花植物——南极洲发草生长速度明显提高，并向四周蔓延。

　　研究分析得知，由于气温升高，南极大陆土壤因升温而分解产生出氮气，充足的氮气为发草生长提供了极佳的养料，而全球燃料消耗所产生的工业氮不仅使全球气温升高，同时也促进了养料的产生。这些原因使发草能够利用短暂的夏天疯狂生长。据估计，白雪皑皑的南极洲将有可能在未来变成“绿色大陆”。

　　Antarctica going green due to climate change

　　There are no trees on the frozen continent and only two species of flowering plant Antarctic hairgrass and Antarctic pearlwort, that grow on the western peninsula and surrounding islands。

　　A team of UK and Australian scientists has found that the hairgrass has spread over the last 50 years due to global warming。

　　Dr Paul Hill, of Bangor University scientist, said areas of Antarctica are becoming greener。

　　“We think of the Antarctic as a land of snow and ice. But, in summer on the Antarctic Peninsula, and the islands surrounding the frozen centre of the continent, the snow melts and many areas become green with mosses and two species of native flowering plant. Recently, as global temperatures have increased, and Antarctic summers have become longer and warmer, one of these flowering plants, Antarctic Hairgrass has become increasingly widespread。”

　　The study, published in Nature, found that the hairgrass is able to take advantage of the nitrogen produced when soil warms up and decomposes。

　　This super efficient process, that enables the hairgrass to grow over the brief Antarctic summer, could help to develop new fertilisers to help plants grow as the world runs out of industrial nitrogen produced with oil。

　　In a separate study a team from Leeds University has been collecting stones across Antarctica to understand how the ice sheet has moved in the past in order to understand how climate change may affect the continent in future。

　　:: An opinion piece in this week’s issue of Nature called for a system of carbon labelling to be introduced so that customers can make environmentally friendly choices。

　　The paper by Michigan State University said products should display the amount of carbon used in manufacturing in the same way that food currently shows nutritional information。

　　It comes as the UK Department for the Environment launches an online tool to help businesses reduce their carbon footprint and adapt to the risks of climate change like flooding。

　　(每日电讯报)

　　(林静)