研究：自然界建立缓冲区应对气候变化

focus on对(某事或做某事)予以注意
例句：Today we're going to focus on the question of homeless people.
今天, 我们主要讨论无家可归者的问题。

2. Co-author David Eldridge, with the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at Australia’s University of New South Wales, says these dry lands are also among the ecosystems most at risk “from changes in management, changes in rainfall, changes in climate.”

at risk有危险
例句：The disease is spreading, and all children under five are at risk.
这疾病在蔓延, 五岁以下的小孩都有危险。

3. Eldridge points out that on each, they marked out 30-by-30-meter plots, inventoried the plant life within and measured how it cycled carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, elements considered essential for life on earth.

point out指出
例句：If I make any mistakes, please point them out.
如果我出了错, 请指出来。
mark out选出, 选定
例句：Some of the best pupils have been marked out for special training.
已经选出几名出色的学生加以专门训练。

4. We also measured other attributes that we thought might be related, things like temperature, soil texture... how much sand or clay the soil has got in it, slope, latitude, longitude, all those attributes and used a modeling system to be able to pick out what some of the drivers were.

pick out挑选, 选择; 选拔; 分辨出
例句：There were so many people at the conference that I couldn't pick him out.
参加会议的人太多了, 我没法认出他。

5. Even with this huge diversity of different types of plant communities, the fact that when we analyzed our data from more than 200 sites, that even in these really diverse communities, diversity of plants came out as being a highly significant driver of how functional the soil was.

come out出现
例句：A new model will come out this summer.
今年夏天将有新的型号问世。

6. If we go from a system where we have a lot of species to very, very few species, then we know that the ability of the soil to produce carbon, to allow water to infiltrate to hold together, actually break down.

hold together把…结合在一起; 团结一致
例句：They hold together for collective security.
他们为了共同安全而团结在一起。
break down损坏, 发生故障
例句：Her telephone had broken down.
她的电话故障了。

7. Eldridge says, for example, in a warmer world, sand content in soils would be expected to rise, lowering its productivity.

be expected to预计
例句：House prices are expected to perk up.
预计房价会上涨。

8. What this shows is that anything that results in increased temperatures is ultimately going to reduce the functionality of dry land soils.

result in导致,结果是
例句：The flood resulted in a considerable reduction in production.
这次水灾造成相当大的减产。