If there is any such thing as a sea monster, chances are that it looks much like a frilled shark(皱鳃鲨)！This fearsome but interesting creature is one of the most rarely sighted species on earth. Let’s take a closer look at the habitat, appearance and feeding behavior of the frilled shark.

While very little is known about the frilled shark, it is thought to live in the deepest, darkest parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and only come to the surface when sick or injured. It is believed that they are able to survive at a depth of about 5,150 feet but are more commonly found in waters 50-200 feet deep. There is a small but convincing body of research that suggests the frilled shark is a vertical migrator, moving from deep to deeper waters on a regular basis.

While this mysterious beast is called a shark, many believe it looks more like an eel with a long, slim body about five to six feet in length. It has a head that’s triangular in shape similar to that of a poisonous snake and large oval eyes giving off a strange and frightening green light. The unusual creature has six pairs of gills (鳃), each with the frilled edges for which the sea monster was named.

The feeding behavior of the frilled shark has never been studied or even observed by human eyes. However, it is almost certainly a predator (食肉动物). After all, researchers believe, why else would it need 300 sharp teeth?! Scientists theorize that these dangerous teeth make it possible for a slow moving fish like the frilled shark to catch squid and other deep-sea creatures.

As research into the habitat, appearance and feeding behavior of this strange creature continues, there’s a good chance that we will gain a full understanding of this unusual species one day. Until then, the frilled shark remains one of the great mysteries of the deep.

Gardeners who use pesticides (杀虫剂) are contributing to a smaller number of British songbirds, a study suggests. Scientists have urged people not to spray their gardens with poisons in order to halt bird decrease and adopt wildlife-friendly practices instead. The results of the University of Sussex study, which researchers call the first of its kind, were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

The experiment, which surveyed 615 gardens in Britain, found 25% fewer house sparrows when glyphosate (草甘膦) was used regularly. This is an ingredient found in commonly used herbicide (除草剂) brands such as Roundup or Gallup. Slug pellets (鼻涕虫杀虫剂) also seemed to have an effect on bird sightings; in gardens where Slug pellets were used, house sparrow numbers were down by almost 40%.

Prof. Dave Goulson, a scientist at the University of Sussex, said, “The UK has 22 million gardens, which could be a fantastic home for wildlife, but not if they are overly tidy and sprayed with poisons. We just don’t need pesticides in our gardens. Many towns around the world are now pesticide free. We should simply stop the use of these poisons in urban areas, following the example of France.” The Royal Horticultural Society, the UK’s leading gardening charity, said the use of pesticides and herbicides should be avoided if possible and they should only be used, if ever, in small and targeted applications.

The research also found that those who adopted wildlife-friendly practices such as planting native bushes and flowers, or digging a wildlife pond, saw more birds than those who did not. Cannelle Tassin de Montaigu, a PhD researcher within the school of life sciences and an author of the study, said, “It’s encouraging to find that simple measures, such as planting native bushes and trees and creating a pond, together with avoiding the use of pesticides, really make a measurable difference to the number of birds you will see in your garden.”

For centuries, fishers in Narrangansett have fished in the waters of the northwestern Atlantic for herrings (鲱鱼). But as climate change warms the world’s seas, the herrings are disappearing at the southern end of their range and turning up more often at its northern edges. A study shows that concentrations of marine (海洋的) species populations have been shifting away from the equator (赤道) and toward the poles during the course of the past century. These movements could wreak havoc on food webs and endanger the livelihoods (生计) of fishers.

The tropical (热带的) water at the equator is well-known for having the richest diversity of marine life on Earth. The number of marine species naturally decreases gradually as you head towards the poles. Ecologists have assumed this global pattern has remained stable over recent centuries until now. Our recent study found the ocean around the equator has already become too hot for many species to survive, and that global warming is responsible. And as species flee to cooler water towards the poles, it’s likely to have deep impacts on marine ecosystems.

Losing species in tropical ecosystems means ecological adaptation to environmental changes is reduced, potentially damage ecosystem persistence. In subtropical ecosystems, species richness is increasing. This means there’ll be species invaders, and new competitive relationships. This could result in ecosystem collapse in which species go extinct and ecosystem services (such as food supplies) are permanently changed.

One way is to reduce our emissions aggressively. Other opportunities could also help safeguard biodiversity and hopefully minimize the worst impacts of it shifting away from the equator. Designing climate-smart reserves could further protect biodiversity from future changes. For example, reserves for marine life could be placed where the climate will be stable over the foreseeable future. We should take action without delay.