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A sea creature known as the sunflower sea star was once plentiful in the Pacific Ocean along the coast of North America.
一种叫作向日葵海星的海洋生物曾经大量出现在北美太平洋沿岸。
They used to be found in the waters along the coast of Mexico's Baja peninsula all the way to Alaska.
它们曾经出现在墨西哥巴哈半岛一直到阿拉斯加沿岸的水域。
But in the last 10 years, about 90 percent of them have died.
但在过去的10年里，大约90%的向日葵海星已经死亡。
Scientists at the University of Washington are trying to understand why the sea stars died.
华盛顿大学的科学家们正试图了解海星死亡的原因。
To do so, they are growing them in a lab.
为了了解海星死亡的原因，他们在实验室里培养海星。
The sickness that killed them is known as sea star wasting syndrome.
导致它们死亡的疾病被称为海星消耗综合症。
Jason Hodin is the top researcher at the Friday Harbor Marine Lab.
杰森·霍丁是星期五港海洋实验室的首席研究员。
He said the sickness might have happened because of warmer water caused by climate change.
他说，这种疾病可能是由于气候变化导致的海水变暖造成的。
The lab is on San Juan Island, northwest of Seattle.
该实验室位于西雅图西北部的圣胡安岛。
They have nearly 150 sea stars between the ages of one and three.
他们培养了近150只年龄在一岁到三岁之间的海星。
They also have around 5,000 sea stars that are at the larvae stage.
他们还有大约5000只处于幼虫阶段的海星。
They also have 16 adult sea stars transferred from ocean waters.
他们还有16只从海水中转移过来的成年海星。
Hodin called his lab the world's only "captive breeding program for the world's only endangered sea star."
霍丁称他的实验室是世界上唯一的一个“世界上唯一的濒危海星的圈养繁殖计划”。
Endangered means at risk of dying out.
Endangered的意思是濒临灭绝。
The university's neuroscience department is also working on the study.
该大学的神经科学系也在进行这项研究。
They are trying to find out if warmer water changes the way the stars move.
他们正试图找出更温暖的水是否会改变海星的运动方式。
The group is using special cameras to see how the stars move and to create 3-dimensional pictures that can show differences.
该小组正在使用特殊的相机来观察海星的运动方式，并创建可以显示差异的三维图像。
The pictures would show differences even with small changes to their environments – such as a small water temperature change.
即使环境发生微小变化，比如水温的微小变化，这些图像也会显示出差异。
So far, researchers think the sea stars are able to survive in warmer water.
到目前为止，研究人员认为海星能够在较温暖的水中生存。
That, Hodin said, is a good thing.
霍丁说，这是一件好事。
"If sunflower stars are going to recover in the wild with or without human assistance," Hodin said, "they're going to be doing so in a change in climate."
霍丁说：“如果不管有没有人类的帮助，向日葵海星都能在野外恢复，那么它们在气候变化的情况下也会恢复。”
I'm Dan Friedell.
丹·弗里德尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
