Ants Have Big Impact on Environment as Ecosystem Engineers

　　Firstly, through moving of soil by nest building2 activity and by collecting food they affect the level of nutrients in the soil. This can indirectly impact the local populations of many animal groups, from decomposers to species much higher up the food chain.

　　Dirk Sanders, an author of the study from the universitys Centre for Ecology and Conservation, said:Ants are very effective predators which thrive in huge numbers. Theyre also very territorial3 and very aggressive, defending their resources and territory against other predators. All of this means they have a strong influence on their surrounding area.

　　The study, carried out in Germany, studied the impact of the presence of different combinations and densities of black garden ants and common red ants, both species which can be found across Europe, including in the UK. It found that a low density of ants in an area increased the diversity and density of other animals in the local area, particularly the density of herbivores and decomposers. At higher densities ants had no or the opposite effect, showing that predation is counteracting the positive influence.

　　Ants are important components of ecosystems not only because they constitute a great part of the animal biomass5 but also because they act as ecosystem engineers. Ant biodiversity6 is incredibly high and these organisms are highly responsive to human impact, which obviously reduces its richness. However, it is not clear how such disturbance damages the maintenance of ant services to the ecosystem. Ants are important in below ground processes8 through the alteration of the physical and chemical environment and through their effects on plants, microorganisms, and other soil organisms.

　　predator n.食肉動物

　　decomposer n.腐生物;分解體

　　subtlety n ，微妙，精妙

　　注釋：

　　2. nest building ：筑巢

　　4. an increase in density and diversity of other animal groups ：其他動物群體在數量和品種上的增長。

　　6. biodiversity ：物質名詞，由bio和diversity 兩部分組成，意為生物多樣性。

　　8. below ground processes ：土壤下面的過程，即影響生態環境的過程。

　　1 .Why are ants compared to ecosystem engineers?

　　B Because they collect food.

　　D Because they are predators.

　　A prey on small as well as large animals.

　　C collect food as decomposers.

　　3. Dir Sanders study centered on how ants

　　B defend their resources and territory against other predators.

　　D produce such a big impact on the environment.

　　A Ants bring about a negative influence to an area when their population is small.

　　C Ants predation counteracts the positive influence they may have on an area.

　　5. What still remains unclear about ants, according to the last paragraph?

　　B How do ants affect the animal diversity in a given ecosystem?

　　D How do ants alter the physical and chemical environment?

　　1. C 短文的第一段提供了答案。A不是正確答案，因為并不是因為螞蟻會筑巢才被譽為生態系統工程師，而是因為它們筑巢和獲取食物的方式改變了土壤的營養水平，為整個食物鏈提供了很好的生態環境。

　　3.D Dirk Sanders說：In this research, we studied for the first time how big this impact is and the subtleties of it.所以，D是正確選擇。句中the subtleties of it 的意思是：螞蟻對環境影響的精妙之處。

　　5.C 最后一段的第二和第三句提供了答案。第二句告訴我們，螞蟻極易受人類的影響，第三句告訴我們，科學家還不清楚人類對螞蟻這種干擾如何破壞螞蟻對生態系統的維護作用。

　　Ants Have Big Impact on Environment as Ecosystem Engineers

　　Firstly, through moving of soil by nest building2 activity and by collecting food they affect the level of nutrients in the soil. This can indirectly impact the local populations of many animal groups, from decomposers to species much higher up the food chain.

　　Dirk Sanders, an author of the study from the universitys Centre for Ecology and Conservation, said:Ants are very effective predators which thrive in huge numbers. Theyre also very territorial3 and very aggressive, defending their resources and territory against other predators. All of this means they have a strong influence on their surrounding area.

　　The study, carried out in Germany, studied the impact of the presence of different combinations and densities of black garden ants and common red ants, both species which can be found across Europe, including in the UK. It found that a low density of ants in an area increased the diversity and density of other animals in the local area, particularly the density of herbivores and decomposers. At higher densities ants had no or the opposite effect, showing that predation is counteracting the positive influence.

　　Ants are important components of ecosystems not only because they constitute a great part of the animal biomass5 but also because they act as ecosystem engineers. Ant biodiversity6 is incredibly high and these organisms are highly responsive to human impact, which obviously reduces its richness. However, it is not clear how such disturbance damages the maintenance of ant services to the ecosystem. Ants are important in below ground processes8 through the alteration of the physical and chemical environment and through their effects on plants, microorganisms, and other soil organisms.

　　predator n.食肉動物

　　decomposer n.腐生物;分解體

　　subtlety n ，微妙，精妙

　　注釋：

　　2. nest building ：筑巢

　　4. an increase in density and diversity of other animal groups ：其他動物群體在數量和品種上的增長。

　　6. biodiversity ：物質名詞，由bio和diversity 兩部分組成，意為生物多樣性。

　　8. below ground processes ：土壤下面的過程，即影響生態環境的過程。

　　1 .Why are ants compared to ecosystem engineers?

　　B Because they collect food.

　　D Because they are predators.

　　A prey on small as well as large animals.

　　C collect food as decomposers.

　　3. Dir Sanders study centered on how ants

　　B defend their resources and territory against other predators.

　　D produce such a big impact on the environment.

　　A Ants bring about a negative influence to an area when their population is small.

　　C Ants predation counteracts the positive influence they may have on an area.

　　5. What still remains unclear about ants, according to the last paragraph?

　　B How do ants affect the animal diversity in a given ecosystem?

　　D How do ants alter the physical and chemical environment?

　　1. C 短文的第一段提供了答案。A不是正確答案，因為并不是因為螞蟻會筑巢才被譽為生態系統工程師，而是因為它們筑巢和獲取食物的方式改變了土壤的營養水平，為整個食物鏈提供了很好的生態環境。

　　3.D Dirk Sanders說：In this research, we studied for the first time how big this impact is and the subtleties of it.所以，D是正確選擇。句中the subtleties of it 的意思是：螞蟻對環境影響的精妙之處。

　　5.C 最后一段的第二和第三句提供了答案。第二句告訴我們，螞蟻極易受人類的影響，第三句告訴我們，科學家還不清楚人類對螞蟻這種干擾如何破壞螞蟻對生態系統的維護作用。