食用醋可有效杀灭刺冠海星

食用醋可有效杀灭刺冠海星

James Cook University scientists in Australia have made a breakthrough in the war against a deadly enemy of the Great Barrier Reef. The Crown of Thorns Starfish (CoTS) are breeding at epidemic1 levels and are one of the primary reasons for the decline in live coral.

But a new paper shows injecting the coral-eating pest with simple household vinegar kills it just as effectively as the current drug, which can be expensive and difficult to source.

Lead author Lisa Bostrom-Einarsson said vinegar had been tried unsuccessfully before, but JCU scientists refined the process which resulted in a 100% kill rate.

Ms Bostrom-Einarsson said the findings were exciting. "Currently divers2 use 10 or 12 ml of ox-bile to kill each CoTS. It's expensive, requires permits and has to be mixed to the right concentration. We used 20 ml of vinegar, which is half the price and can be bought off the shelf at any local supermarket."

The CoTS in the JCU trial were all dead within 48 hours of being injected.

Ms Bostrom-Einarsson said the dead CoTS were fed on by fish in the lab trials with no ill-effect, but this needed to be backed up by large-scale field trials to be sure the process is totally safe for other marine3 life. "There's no reason to think it won't work or it'll be dangerous, but we have to be sure," she said.

She said the findings could have big implications for developing countries without the means to acquire and use the current drugs.

Scientists say while the process may greatly help slow down the CoTS outbreak, killing4 the starfish individually was never going to save coral reefs by itself.

1 epidemic

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。

The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

2 divers

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。

Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

3 marine

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。

When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 killing

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。

Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。