近一个世纪，*上森林覆盖面积大幅度锐减，除了人为因素的大量砍伐，也有相当数量的树木由于自然气候死亡。自然气候的改变带来的炎热和干旱导致了*上越来越多的树木奄奄一息。下面我们就来看一则建立在几十篇科学文献基础上，有关此话题的报道。
Tree Deaths Linked To Climate Change
Hot and dry conditions triggered by climate change are killing the world''s trees, according to a new report which examines dozens of scientific articles on the subject.
Stanford University graduate student William Anderegg has seen this forest die-off firsthand.
His doctoral thesis documents the impact of drought on trembling aspen, the most common tree in North America.
“These are complete hillsides of trembling aspens that are dying off," Anderegg says. "And when the main tree in a forest goes, you tend to see a lot of the other species, especially the grasses and the wild flowers, tend to disappear as well. But you lose a lot of those species from those forests.”
Changing ecology
With colleagues from Stanford and North Arizona State University, Anderegg co-authored the new report which presents a picture of accelerating worldwide tree deaths that appear to be linked to changes in the global climate.
Anderegg says these changes, triggered by rising levels of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, are stressing the world’s forests.
“One of the ways that we expect climate change to increasingly play out in forests is through these widespread tree mortality events where you stress the trees enough that you essentially push a whole region of them off the edge and in fact what happens afterwards, after a forest dies from drought is every bit as important and in some sense matters more to humans who rely on forests.”
Trees provide a range of ecological services. They hold soil in place, help purify water and shelter species. They are valued for timber and tourism. When trees die, the ecology and hydrology of a forest change, which in turn promotes insect infestation and fire.
This can result in long-term shifts in the area’s dominant species and may even trigger a transition to a different ecosystem, such as grass land.
Devastating consequence
Anderegg says the most devastating consequence may be that the changing forests, in turn, will start affecting the global climate.
“Because forests do a lot to stabilize the climate and to store carbon and when they start to die off, you can actually have forest die-off accelerate climate change," he says. "You get into a vicious cycle.”
This is especially troubling for Anderegg because trees, which cover 30 percent of the earth’s surface, absorb 25 percent of the climate-changing gases emitted into the atmosphere from cars, buildings and factories.
Forest monitoring
While scientists are getting better at tracking the effects of climate change on forests, data is still sparse. Anderegg says his study urges governments and specialists from many disciplines to support wide-scale forest monitoring.
“It is not just ecologists, but we also need people working with satellites. We need people in government agencies. We need people on the ground to do this as well. It’s unfortunately not something that just the scientific research community can pull off on their own.”
Anderegg, whose research is published in Nature Climate Change, says a better understanding of how climate change is killing off the world’s forests can help shape better forest management, business decisions and policies.
【热点话题】 根据以上的这则研究报道，我们发现树木死亡的话题和雅思阅读考试有十分紧密的联系，雅思阅读话题中有很多都涉及到环*，生态，这在2012年1月-9月的考试中可见一斑。平时对这类话题的背景知识累积有助于考生更好地理解新文章。因为吸热气体在大气层中的不断增加，所以不仅是森林里的树木，野花和草类也逐渐消失。这样的后果会造成该地区生态系统的改变，转而再次影响全球气候。
【难句词汇】 雅思考生的阅读难点之一就是对词汇量和句型的掌握程度不同，如果学生的词汇量不足，那么文章将看不懂，我们从上文中就可以学到很多的句型和词汇。
? Hot and dry conditions triggered by climate change are killing the world''s trees, according to a new report which examines dozens of scientific articles on the subject.
定语后置修饰（过去分词短语作后置定语）
trigger v. 导致，引发
dozens of 几十个
? These are complete hillsides of trembling aspens that are dying off, the most common tree in North America.
定语从句和同位语
trembling adj. 颤抖的
aspen n. 白杨
die off 死亡，消失
? And when the main tree in a forest goes, you tend to see a lot of the other species, especially the grasses and the wild flowers, tend to disappear as well.
