揽瓜阁俱乐部第二期 Day3 2020.06.17
【自然科学-生物】 Pinkest flamingos fight the hardest for food, scientists learn （430字 精读 必做篇）
The pinkest flamingos are also the most aggressive when it comes to squabbling over food, scientists have found.
Research from the University of Exeter also suggests bright pink plumage to be an indicator of good health in lesser flamingos.
Dr Paul Rose, a zoologist at the University of Exeter and lead author on the study, said: “Flamingos live in large groups with complex social structures. Colour plays an important role in this. The colour comes from carotenoids in their food, which for lesser flamingos is mostly algae that they filter from the water.
“A healthy flamingo that is an efficient feeder – demonstrated by its colourful feathers – will have more time and energy to be aggressive and dominant when feeding.”
The team studied the lesser flamingo species at the WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire. They looked at three types of feeding arrangements for the birds – an indoor feeding bowl, a larger indoor feeding pool and a spacious outdoor feeding pool.
They found flamingos pushed each other around while trying to get to the food, with brighter-coloured birds appearing more aggressive than their paler rivals.
However, when it came to feeding in the outdoor pool, the flamingos observed spent less than half as much time displaying aggression. No difference was found between males and females in rates of feeding or aggression, the researchers said.
According to the team, the findings published in the journal Ethology suggest captive birds should be fed over a wide space where possible.
Rose said: “When birds have to crowd together to get their food, they squabble more and therefore spend less time feeding. It’s not always possible to feed these birds outdoors, as lesser flamingos only weigh about 2kg and are native to Africa, so captive birds in places like the UK would get too cold if they went outside in the winter.
“However, this study shows they should be fed over as wide an area as possible. Where possible, creating spacious outdoor feeding areas can encourage natural foraging patterns and reduce excess aggression.”
The team also found that lesser flamingos display a “flush of colour” when they are ready to breed, only to regain their paler hues after becoming parents.
Rose said that based on the team’s findings, he had suggested some small changes to improve bird welfare at WWT Slimbridge, including providing more outdoor space to the flamingos. He said these tweaks resulted in “pinker, more relaxed flamingos”.
Previous research by the same team found that flamingos form long-lasting friendships and tend to spend time with close friends, despite being part of large flocks.
Source: The Guardian
【自然科学-生物】 Colorful Corals Beat Bleaching （313字 2分15秒 精听 必做篇）
先做精听再核对原文哦~
Warmer oceans are putting stress on corals—and causing many of them to turn white, or bleach. But some corals under stress are instead becoming strangely colorful, turning brilliant neon pink, yellow, purple or blue.
“They give this very vibrant coloration, which really blows you away.”
Jörg Wiedenmann heads the University of Southampton’s Coral Reef Laboratory in the U.K. He said he was seeing photos and reports of these brightly colored corals—but no one knew what was happening. So his lab experimentally bleached corals to find out.
First, though, it’s important to understand that corals aren’t really a single organism. They’re a symbiotic duo, a partnership, between an algae and a coral.
“So it’s two completely different organisms working together to create something which they couldn't achieve by themselves.”
The algae live inside the coral, where they get shelter and nutrients, and the corals reap the benefits of photosynthesis. But when the scientists exposed corals to warmer water, they watched as the corals’ symbiotic partners—the algae—slowly abandoned the coral skeleton. Usually, that’s what results in bleaching.
But in some cases, without the photosynthetic algae there to absorb incoming light, more of the light was bouncing around inside the coral’s tissue—and the researchers observed the corals producing neon pigments in response. The pigments seem to be a natural sunscreen. And those colorful areas appeared to attract the algae back.
“The pink-colored areas repopulated faster with symbionts. And the symbiont algae had a higher photosynthetic efficiency, which could be taken as an indicator of better health.”
The results are in the journal Current Biology.
Wiedenmann says the flashy neon colors only appear with mild levels of stress. Too hot, and the corals can’t cope. But if you do happen to see corals flashing neon colors, it’s a good sign they’re fighting back—and fighting to be noticed by their algae partners.
Source: Scientific American
【笔记格式要求】
精读笔记格式要求： 1.总结文章中心大意 2.总结分论点或每段段落大意 3.摘抄印象深刻或者觉得优美的句子 4.总结文章中的生词 5.记录阅读时间、总结时间、总时间
精听笔记格式要求： 1.逐句听写整篇文章 2.对照原文修改听写稿，标记出错原因 3.总结文章中心大意 4.总结精听过程中的生词 5.记录听写时间、总结时间、总时间
这里也给大家两点学习小建议哦~ 精读：如遇到读不懂的复杂句，建议找出句子主干，分析句子成分，也可以尝试翻译句子来帮助理解~ 精听：建议每句不要反复纠结听，如果听 5 遍都没听出来，那就跳过，等完成后再回听总结原因，时间宝贵，不要过于执着哦~
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发表于 2020-6-16 20:30:30
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