Sea Bacteria Produce Methane

Methane is a greenhouse gas that traps heat even better than carbon dioxide. It comes from a variety of sources, including fossil fuel production and even farming. Cows give off methane, ya know, after they eat. Even the surface waters of the ocean contain substantial amounts of this gas. But where that marine methane comes was a mystery， Until now。

Scientists collected seawater off the coast of Hawaii. And they found that bacteria that live in these waters scarf up certain phosphorous-containing chemicals, and then release methane as a byproduct. The results appear online in the journal Nature Geoscience. What's surprising is that scientists had previously thought that methane's only produced by bacteria that live in places where there's no oxygen, think of the smell you associate with a swamp or with the muck at the bottom of a murky pond. This marine methane could contribute to global warming by adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. What's worse, the hotter it is, the more stressed these seafaring bacteria get, and the more methane they're likely to put out. Which was certainly not the kind of feedback that atmospheric scientists were hoping to get.

海洋细菌也能产生甲烷

    甲烷是一种温室效应比二氧化碳还强的气体。大气中的甲烷有多种来源，包括化石燃料燃烧和农牧业活动，比如奶牛在进食后就会排放这种气体（∶－））。科学家甚至发现海洋表层海水也含有相当多的甲烷，但其来源之谜迄今仍不得其解。

   在最近的一项研究中，科学家从收集于夏威夷海岸的海水中发现了一种特殊的细菌，它们能聚合某些含磷物质，同时生成副产物甲烷。该研究结果在线发表于《自然·地球科学》。原本学术界认为仅有生活于缺氧环境中的厌氧菌能产生甲烷，它们就是你在沼泽或池塘底部闻到的气味来源。但在这项研究中却出人意料的发现了这种细菌，它们产生的甲烷释放到大气中将有可能加剧全球变暖。尤其令人担忧的是，气温越高，这种海洋微生物生成的甲烷越多，这种恶性循环对于气象科学家来说可是非常糟糕的。

(在下是做生物技术研究的，因此翻译这个感觉还比较顺手。不过也许应该在科学技术圈子外进行翻译尝试)