Ant-Eating
Plant Adjusts to Optimize Its Trapping Ability
VOA News
Last updated on: January 14, 2015 6:15 PM (source)
Reuters
January 14, 2015 6:15 PM
WASHINGTON—
A tricky insect-eating plant from Borneo is living proof that one need
not have a brain to outsmart
the opposition.
婆羅洲有種狡詐的食蟲植物，提供了活脫脫的證據(living proof)，
證明了不需要大腦也能智取
(outsmart)敵人。
Scientists say the tropical carnivorous
plant regularly exploits
natural weather fluctuations to adjust the slipperiness of its pitfall
traps in order to capture and dine on batches
of ants at one time rather than individual ants.
科學家們認為，熱帶的肉食性(carnivorous)植
物會規律地利用(exploit)天
然的氣候波動
(fluctuation)來調整其掉落式陷阱(pitfall trap)的
滑溜程度，可以一次抓捕與獵食整群
(batch)螞蟻，而非一隻隻單獨的螞蟻。
The research involved an Asian species of pitcher plant, so named
because its leaves form cup-shaped insect traps that look like a
pitcher.
研究對象是一種亞洲品種的豬籠草(pitcher plant)，
其英文名為水壺草，如此命名是因為其葉子會形成杯狀的陷阱來捕獵昆蟲，形狀看起來如同水壺(pitcher)。(編
按：「豬籠草」是中文名稱，但這種植物在英文裡是「水壺草」(pitcher plant)。pitcher一字除了指「水壺」，另有常見意思
是棒球的「投手」。)
When the rim of the plant becomes wet, it gets extremely slippery and
ants walking on the surface fall
victim to the voracious
vegetation.
豬籠草葉子邊緣(rim)溼潤的時候會變
的非常滑溜，走在表面上的螞蟻很容易就成了這個張著大口、貪食的(voracious)植
物的受難者(fall
victim to . . .)。
In hot, sunny weather, however, the surface dries and becomes safe for
ants to visit. Individual ants serving as scouts for their colonies
discover and collect sweet nectar
from the trap and return to their nest to tell their fellow ants where
to find a nice meal.
豬籠草的葉子表面在炎熱的夏天時比較乾燥，螞蟻能很安全地在
上遊走。蟻群中作為偵察兵
(scout)的螞蟻會發現此處有甜美的花蜜(nectar)，並從這
個陷阱中收集了花蜜返回巢穴，告知同伴們這個可大飽一餐的好地方。
Numerous ants then march unwittingly into the trap in search of food
and are captured because the plant has made its trap slippery and
inescapable. So by letting the individual scouts escape, the plant
eventually manages to capture much more prey.
然後為數眾多的螞蟻為了尋找(in search of)食
物，會毫無戒心地
(unwittingly)行軍到這個陷阱中，受困其中，因此時豬籠草已經把捕食陷阱變的滑溜而無法逃脫(inescapable)。
豬籠草藉著放走個別單獨行動的偵察蟻，反而捕捉到更多獵物(prey)。
To control when its trap is slippery, the pitcher plant secretes sugary nectar that primes the trapping surface to
become wet through condensation at lower humidity levels than other
plant surfaces. That activates the trap during afternoons, when many
day-active insects are still out and about.
豬籠草能控制陷阱的滑溜程度。它用分泌(secrete)含糖的
花蜜來讓其陷阱表面做好準備(prime)，當溼
度降低時，陷阱會因為凝縮效果而變潮溼。這樣的陷阱會在下午時啟動(activate)，日
行性的昆蟲此時剛好還在外四處遊蕩
(out and about)。
"Of course a plant is not clever in the human sense — it cannot plot.
However, natural selection is very relentless and will only reward the
most successful strategies," said biologist Ulrike Bauer of Britain's
University of Bristol, who led the study being published Wednesday in
the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
發表這個研究的里斯托爾大學的生物學家表示：「 以人類的角度來看(in the
human sense)，植物當然不能說是聰明，因為植物並不懂得 算計(plot)。然而，天擇
是 永不止歇的
(relentless)，只有最成功的生存策略才能得到回報。」此研究發表於科學類期刊「英國皇家學會報告
B」(Proceedings of the Royal Society
B)。(編按：「英國皇家學報」分為A與B兩種刊物，A系列是數學、物理、工程學相關的，而B系列是生物學，詳見Wikipedia解釋 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proceedings_of_the_Royal_Society。)
There are about 600 species of carnivorous plants known worldwide. The
pitcher plants generally grow in nutrient-poor habitats, which is why
they capture animal prey to feed on. Most species trap insects. A few
attract small mammals and collect their feces for nourishment.
世界上已知有六百種食肉植物。豬籠草的生長地(habitat)通常
養分貧瘠，因此需要捕捉動物獵物，作
為食物(feed on . . .)。 食肉植物大多是誘捕昆蟲，但有一些是吸引小型的哺乳類動物，收集牠們的糞便(feces)當成養分。
"What superficially looks like an arms race between nectar robbers and
deadly predators could in fact be a sophisticated case of mutual
benefit," Bauer said. "As long as the energy gain [eating the nectar] outweighs the loss of worker ants,
the ant colony benefits from the relationship just as much as the plant
does."
研究學者說：「這表面上(superficially)看
起來是花蜜搶匪與致命獵食者之間的武
力競賽(arms race)，但事實上可能是種微妙的互惠(mutual benefit)關
係。只要從花蜜中得到的能量高於
(outweigh)所折損的工蟻，蟻群和這個食肉植物一樣，亦能從這種關係中獲得好處。」
Language Notes
outsmart (v) 比...更聰明;用計謀打敗
carnivorous (a) 肉食性的
exploit (v) 利用
batch (n) 一群
fall victim to . . . (v phr) 屈服於. . .；成為 . . . 祭品，受 . . . 傷害
voracious (a) 狼吞虎嚥的；貪婪的
nectar (n) 花蜜
prey (n) 獵物
secrete (v) 分泌 *注意本字的字尾有e，是動詞；字義和發音不要跟當名詞的secret (秘密) 搞混了 
prime (v) 灌注，裝填；使. . .做好準備
feces (n) 排泄物，糞便
outweigh (v) 比. . .更重要(或更有價值等)
Check your vocabulary!
Fill
in the blanks with a word or phrase from the list above. Make necessary
changes. After you finish, select the text above to reveal the hidden
answers.
1. The older kids outsmart the
young ones when trading cards.
2. You must exploit every
opportunity to learn new things.
3. Many small businesses have fallen
victim to the recession.
4. The lion was hunting for its prey.
5. The toad's skin secretes a
deadly poison.
6. Every day another batch of
papers reaches the manager demanding his attention.
編譯：簡嘉呈
|
A worker ant collects sweet nectar from the trap
of an insect-eating Nepenthes pitcher plant in this undated handout
picture courtesy of Dr. Ulrike Bauer, University of Bristol, U.K..
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