圣克鲁斯岛就位于南加利福尼亚海岸附近，在这里居住着一种神奇的生物，叫作岛屿灰狐。
Just off the coast of Southern California sits Santa Cruz Island, where a magical creature called the island fox dwells.
几个世纪以来中非部落和古埃及一直在描述一种奇怪的生物，欧洲人把它通俗地称为“非洲独角兽”。
Central African tribes and ancient Egyptians described and depicted a bizarre creature for centuries, colloquially dubbed the "African unicorn" by Europeans.
为了把这里的问题看得更清楚，让我们看一种不同的生物系统，比如说，橡实。
To see the problem here more clearly, let's look at a different biological system, say, an acorn.
他说，他对澳大利亚本土鱼类的研究表明，鱼是一种聪明的生物，像其他动物一样知道如何躲避敌人和捕捉食物。
He says his studies of Australian native fish show fish were intelligent creatures that know how to avoid enemies and catch food like any other animal.
实现生物多样性和陆地食物供应目标的一种选择是用更少的土地生产更高的产量，从而腾出土地用于保护目的。
One option for moving toward both biodiversity and terrestrial food supply goals is to produce greater yields from less land, thereby freeing land for conservation purposes.
在去年发表的一篇论文中，耶鲁大学的生物学家冈特·瓦格纳报告了一种名为“Bachia”的南美蜥蜴的进化史。
In a paper published last year, biologist Gunter Wagner of Yale University reported some work on the evolutionary history of a group of South American lizards called Bachia.
白腹树袋熊，作为一种已知的生物，是一种生活在森林里的有袋类动物，大部分时间生活在地面上，它的颜色非常鲜艳。
The Dingiso, as the creature is also known, is a forest-dwelling marsupial with bold coloration that spends most of its time on the ground.
研究结果为一种长期存在的假设提供了最好的证据，即单半球睡眠是在生物寻找敌人的过程中进化而来的。
The results provide the best evidence for a long standing supposition that single hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies.
噢，还有一种怪异的海洋生物，那就是海马。海马是鱼，但是它长得又不像鱼。
Oh, there is another strange sea life, you know, the sea horse. It is a fish, but it does not look like a fish.
然而，很多海洋生物的骨骼由一种叫作霰石的碳酸钙矿物变体组成。
In many marine creatures, however, the skeleton is composed of a mineral variety of calcium carbonate called aragonite.
探险家罗伊·查普曼·安德鲁斯当时认为，鲸鱼一定是一种返祖的陆地生物。
Explorer Roy Chapman Andrews argued at the time that the whale must be a throwback to a land-living ancestor.
你有没有听过有一种树木，它们是陆地动物和海洋生物的家园？
Have you ever heard of the trees that are homes over animals both on land and sea?
这就产生了生物群系的概念——一种植物群和动物群共存的结合体。
This resulted in the "biome," a combination of coexisting flora and fauna.
19世纪末，狗舌草被偶然引入新西兰，像许多入侵的外来物种一样，它很快就变成了一种有害生物。
Ragwort was accidentally introduced to New Zealand in the late nineteenth century and, like so many invading foreign species, quickly became a pest.
古生物学家彼得·默里在澳大利亚北部研究过一幅岩画，画中显示的非常像是一种被叫做袋貘的巨型有袋动物。
Paleontologist Peter Murray has studied a rock painting in far northern Australia that shows what looks very much like a megafauna marsupial known as Palorchestes.
尽管如此，大多数生物学家还是怀疑这是否是一种类似人类的青春期突增。
Most biologists, nonetheless, are doubtful that this is a humanlike adolescent growth spurt.
偶尔，一个富含化石的岩层序列可以让我们持续并全面地观察一种生物。
Occasionally , a sequence of fossil-rich layers of rock permits a comprehensive look at one type of organism over a long period of time.
如果一种古代动物有看起来像鹿角的结构，古生物学家就会争论说它可能像麋鹿或驼鹿那样使用鹿角。
If an ancient animal had structures that looked like antlers, palaeontologists would argue that it probably used them as an elk or moose.
尽管de Ricqlès 极力主张谨慎对待，主张恐龙生理学的一种中间类型，但这一代古生物学家已经开始相信恐龙骨骼与哺乳动物相似。
Although de Ricqlès urged caution, arguing for an intermediate type of dinosaur physiology, a generation of paleontologists has come to believe that dinosaur bone is mammalian like.
每一种死亡都是悲剧——不管死因是什么——但是我们并没有比与我们共存于地球上的其它生物更大的权利来利用地球上的一切。
Every death is a tragedy—regardless of the cause—but we have no greater claim to use this earth than any of the other creatures that we share it with.
给这些鱼足够的时间来恢复、成长和繁殖，然后以一种不会杀死其他无辜海洋生物的方式来捕获它们，这是有意义的。
It would make sense to give the fish enough time to recover, grow to full sizes and reproduce, then catch them in a way that doesn't kill other innocent sea life.
极少数情况下，有一种微生物可以在食物掉落的那一刻让你生病，你可以十分确定这种细菌就在你准备放进嘴里的食物上。
In the rare chance that there is a microorganism that can make you sick on the exact spot where the food dropped, you can be fairly sure that the bug is on the food you are about to put in your mouth.
生物学家们长期认为，两类鳍脚亚目动物，即海狮和海象，都是从一种陆地上的类似于熊的动物繁衍而来的。
Biologists have long maintained that two groups of pinnipeds, sea lions and walruses, are descended from response to similar environmental pressures.
与其他方法相比，生物防治的优点是它提供了一种成本相对较低、有害副作用最小的永久性防治系统。
The advantage of biological control in contrast to other methods is that it provides a relatively low-cost, perpetual control system with a minimum of detrimental side-effects.
然而，对于一种生物种群而言是大灾难的事件，却有可能给另一种生物种群创造机会。
What is a catastrophe for one group of living things, however, may create opportunities for another group.
今天，科学家们的主流观点是，种族是一种没有生物学意义的社会结构。
Today, the mainstream belief among scientists is that race is a social construct without biological meaning.
现在，我们倾向于认为鳄鱼是一种孤独的，隐藏在沼泽里的，有点神秘的生物。
Now, we tend to think of crocodiles as kind of solitary, hiding out in a swamp, kind of mysterious creatures.
随着海洋变暖，一种被称为南极极锋的水体正被逐步推向南方；南极极锋是一种富含营养的海洋向上运动，它支持着大量海洋生物的生存。
As the ocean warms, a body of water called the Antarctic Polar Front—an upward movement of nutrient-rich sea that supports a huge abundance of marine life—is being pushed further south.
这种植物是研究人员正在研究的另一种生物燃料。
They're another plant that researchers are investigating as a biofuel.
机器人革命注定使人类直面一种长久以来的恐惧——与我们一样聪明能干但没有道德规范的人造生物。
The robotics revolution is set to bring humans face to face with an old fear—man-made creations as smart and capable as we are but without a moral compass.
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