墨西哥湾漏油使食物链断裂

Some scientists say oil from the Gulf Oil spill is harming the base of the region’s food chain. They say it will create a ripple effect that will reach all the way up to the fishing industry.

一些科学家指出海湾地区食物链的底层生物正遭受石油泄漏的危害，这会带来连锁反应，并最终波及水产业。

Glenn Plumb: If we anticipate that this is a short-lived event with a short-lived expression in disturbance of the ecosystem, then we’re probably not anticipating the right scenario.

格伦．普莱伯：如果我们期望这只是暂时的事故，给生态系统带来影响也只是暂时的，那么可能事与愿违。

That’s Glenn Plumb, a chief scientist with Yellowstone National Park. In May 2010, Plumb was sent to the Gulf Coast by the U.S. Department of the Interior to help determine how the April 2010 ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill might affect the Gulf ecosystem. He explained that right now, along more than 100 miles of the Gulf coastline, the oil is harming tiny organisms at the very base of the food web.

这位是格伦．普莱伯，黄石国家公园的首席科学家。在2010年5月，美国内政部派普莱伯去帮助评定2010年4月发生的墨西哥湾石油泄漏对海湾生态系统的影响。他说，100多英里海湾海岸线上的微生物正遭受油污危害，这些微生物处在食物链的最底层。

Glenn Plumb: In the top two millimeters of the mudflats is just the food factory that feeds much of the Gulf, the microscopic worms, the tiny invertebrates that then become part of the food web feeding the oysters and the small crabs and the small fish that then become the food for larger and larger animals.

格伦．普莱伯：泥滩顶层的两毫米泥层其实算是食物制造厂，为海湾那些微小的蠕虫供给食物，这种微小的无脊椎动物就成了食物链的一部分，成为牡蛎、小螃蟹和小鱼等的食物来源，然后这些小鱼小虾又成为更大动物的食物来源。

If these tiny invertebrates at the bottom of the food chain die, he said, that ultimately harms bigger sea creatures and the entire fishing industry.

他说，如果这些处在食物链底层的微小的无脊椎动物死掉了，将最终危害那些大的海洋生物及整个水产业。