The ocean is critical to all oxygen-dependent life. But life is also critical to the ocean. The ocean produces so much oxygen because of ocean plants, which draw down Co and change it into carbon-based sugars and oxygen. Ocean plants are climate change heroes! There is now a wide recognition of the role of ocean life in slowing climate change.
On many Pacific islands, whales support tourism economies. While concerned about the impacts of climate change on whales, we also need to recognize that whales can contribute to fighting climate change!Through their deep dives, vast migrations, long lifespan(寿命), and large bodies, whales have an enormous effect on the ocean.
Whales both help ocean plants to draw down CO and help to store carbon in the ocean. Firstly, they provide essential nutrients that enable ocean plants to grow. Whale waste is a fertilizer, bringing nutrients from the depths, where whales feed, to the surface, where plants need these nutrients to grow well. Migratory whales also bring nutrients with them from highly-productive feeding grounds to the nutrient-poor waters of whales’ breeding grounds, boosting the growth of ocean plants across the ocean.
Secondly, whales keep the carbon locked in the ocean, out of the atmosphere, where it could otherwise contribute to climate change. Ocean plants produce carbon-based sugars, but with a very short lifespan. They can’t store the carbon. When they die, much carbon is released in surface waters, and can be changed back to CO2. Whales, however, can live for over a century, feeding on food chains that begin with the sugars in these tiny plants, and storing up the carbon in their bodies. When whales die, deep ocean life feeds on their remains, and the carbon formerly stored in whales’ bodies can enter sediment(沉淀物), When carbon reaches deep ocean sediment, it is effectively locked away, and therefore unable to drive climate change. This carbon is unlikely to return as CO2 in the atmosphere.
Several Pacific island countries are already leaders in whale conservation, having declared whale sanctuaries in their waters. Every year, whales socialize, breed, and give birth in Pacific island waters.
8. How do surface ocean plants get nutrients for growth?
A.From whale waste. | B.From the whales’ bodies. |
C.From the sunlight. | D.From ocean sediment. |
9. Why are ocean plants unable to store the carbon?
A.They lack nutrients for growth. |
B.They never absorb carbon-based sugars. |
C.Carbon-based sugars can’t be generated by them. |
D.The carbon in them is released after their death. |
10. What does the underlined word “sanctuaries” in the last paragraph mean?
A.Shelters. | B.Imports. | C.Markets. | D.Amusements. |
11. What is the text mainly about?
A.The importance of oceans to climate. |
B.The bad effects of CO2 to climate changes. |
C.The role of whales in slowing climate change. |
D.The importance of oceans to all oxygen-dependent life. |