文章大意:这是一篇说明文。主要说明了更老、更大的树木正在以惊人的速度消失,这使得地球上的森林变得更短、更年轻。文章介绍了对古树的相关研究以及研究发现、人们对此的看法。
3 . The forest of today will not be the forests of tomorrow. Rising temperatures, trees being cut down, development and climate-change-caused disasters are changing the very makeup of the Earth’s forests, new research published in Science finds.
Older, bigger trees are being lost at an alarming rate, making the planet’s forests shorter and younger. The change is being driven at different rates by different causes in different places, the study’s authors say, but the consequences will be global.
Old growth forests absorb and store massive amounts of climate-warming CO2. They provide habitats for rare and endangered species and promote rich biodiversity. Researchers found that the world lost roughly one-third of its old growth forests between 1900 and 2015. In North America and Europe, they found that tree mortality has doubled in the past 40 years.
“Warming temperatures, wildfires, logging and insect outbreaks were among the many causes of the decline,” says Nate McDowell, the study’s lead author. “What’s perhaps more concerning is that the trajectory of all these disturbances is generally increasing over time and is expected to continue increasing in the future.” he says.
McDowell’s focus is on how trees are affected by rising temperatures, arguably the biggest driver of forest change. To get a broader understanding of how forests are changing globally, he brought in more than 20 other researchers in different fields. Together, they examined more than 160 previous studies about tree mortality and its global causes, applying current satellite data and modeling to create a look at the Earth’s changing forests to date.
“It’s not a shock, but it’s very sad,” says Kristina, an ecologist and leader of the ForestGEO Ecosystems &Climate Program who helped with the research. “We as a human society are hitting these forests so rapidly with so many different changes that they can’t keep up.” she says.
1. What can we know from the figures in the paragraph 3?
A.More trees should be planted in no time. | B.We are losing old growth forests quickly. |
C.Forests are important habitats for wildlife. | D.Different trees can absorb CO2 differently. |
2. What can we say about McDowell’s research?
A.Timely and long-standing | B.All-sided and careful |
C.Time-limited and regional | D.Traditional and extensive |
3. What’s Kristina’s attitude towards the findings of the research?
A.Worried | B.Optimistic | C.Supportive | D.Indifferent |
4. What’s the writer’s purpose of writing the passage?
A.To call on people to plant more trees. |
B.To discuss the influence of climate change. |
C.To warn against the loss of old growth forests. |
D.To compare forests of today with those of the future. |