Creative1 Crabs有创造力的螃蟹

Plastic is everywhere. According to the United Nations， enough plastic wasteto fill 2，000 garbage trucks is dumped2 into waterways such as oceans， rivers， andlakes each day. There’s plastic litter at the bottom of the ocean and on top ofMount Everest.

Now plastic has been found in another surprising place： on the backs of hermit crabs3. According to a study published4 in February in the journal Science of the Total Environment， hermit crabs are using plastic litter as shells.

Zuzanna Jagiello is a scientist at the University of Warsaw， in Poland. She’sthe study’s lead author5. “For me， a hermit crab in a plastic shell could be anicon of our times，”Jagiello told TIME for Kids .“They don’t have homes， so theyuse rubbish.”Jagiello studies the Anthropocene6 age. That’s the geologic7 agewe’re in now. Scientists think of it as the time when human activity has had amajor impact8 on the environment. Hermit crabs using plastic waste as shells isone example of that impact.

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Hermit crabs are small， soft-bodied crabs that live near oceans. To protectthemselves from predators9， the crabs always wear seashells that have been leftbehind by dead sea snails10.

According to February’s study， at least 386 hermit crabs have been writtendown wearing garbage11. Of the world’s 16 kinds of hermit crabs that live onland， 10 have been seen wearing garbage. Nearly nine out of every 10 of thosecrabs were wearing plastic waste， such as bottle caps. The others wore glass or metal12， such as broken lightbulbs13 or soda cans14.

Jagiello says that she and her team first learned about hermit crabs wearinggarbage when they noticed photos of them postedonline. They decided to learn more bydoing research.

塑料无处不在。据联合国称，每天有足够装满2000 辆垃圾车的塑料垃圾被倒入海洋、河流和湖泊等水道。海底和珠穆朗玛峰顶都有塑料垃圾。

现在在另一个令人惊讶的地方发现了塑料：寄居蟹的背上。根据2 月份发表在《整体环境科学》杂志上的一项研究，寄居蟹正在使用塑料垃圾作为外壳。

苏珊娜·雅盖隆是波兰华沙大学的科学家。她是这项研究的主要作者。“对我来说，一只住在塑料壳里的寄居蟹可能是我们这个时代的标志。”雅盖隆告诉《儿童时代》，“它们没有家，所以它们用垃圾做房子。”雅盖隆研究人类世时代，就是我们现在所处的地质时代。科学家们认为这是人类活动对环境产生重大影响的时期。寄居蟹用塑料垃圾做壳就是这种影响的一个例子。

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寄居蟹是生活在海洋附近的小型软体蟹。为了保护自己免受捕食者的伤害，它们总是背着死去的海螺留下的壳。

根据2 月份的研究，至少有386 只寄居蟹被记录寄居在垃圾里。在世界上16 种生活在陆地上的寄居蟹中，有10 种被发现寄居在垃圾中。将近90%的螃蟹身上背着塑料垃圾，比如瓶盖。其他的寄居蟹寄居在玻璃或金属制品中，如破碎的灯泡或汽水罐。

雅盖隆说，她和她的团队第一次知道寄居蟹背着垃圾是在他们注意到网上发布的寄居蟹照片时。他们决定通过研究来了解更多情况。

For their study， the researchers lookedthrough the Internet for photos of hermitcrabs wearing garbage. They found photosfrom all over the world. Some had beentaken by scientists. Some had been taken bynature photographers. Manyhad been taken by peoplewho were just curious15.

What Does It Mean？

Scientists aren’t sure why hermit crabs are choosing garbage instead of snail shells. But they have their own ideas.

Some sea snails are becoming less and less. Hermit crabs could be turning to garbage because they can’t find enough seashells.

It’s also possible that crabs are choosing plastic because it’s light and easy to carry. Or they’re drawn to its bright colors.

Scientists agree that plastic pollution16 is bad for wild animals and their homes in many ways. But it isn’t clear that the crabs are in any danger.

“It’s really an amazing example of the beauty of adaptation17， how someanimals are doing about the Anthropocene age，”Jagiello says. “What are thelong-term consequences18 of these adaptations？ We don’t know.”

To study hermit crabs， researchers used iEcology—Internet Ecology. It’s away of doing research. It uses information on the Internet to find out patterns19 inthe natural world. For this study， researchers looked at photos of hermit crabs thatpeople had posted online.

iEcology isn’t perfect. The data can be biased20. For example， people aremore likely to take and post a photo of a hermit crab in a plastic shell than asnail shell， because it’s more surprising.

为了他们的研究，研究人员在互联网上寻找寄居蟹背着垃圾的照片。他们找到了来自世界各地的照片。有些是由科学家拍摄的，有些是由自然摄影师拍摄的，还有许多照片是被好奇的人拍下来的。

这是什么意思？

科学家们不确定为什么寄居蟹选择垃圾而不是蜗牛壳。但是他们有自己的看法。

有些海螺数量越来越少了。寄居蟹可能会转而选择垃圾是因为它们找不到足够的海贝壳。

寄居蟹选择塑料也有可能是因为它很轻，便于携带，或者它们就是被鲜艳的颜色所吸引。

科学家们一致认为塑料污染物在许多方面对野生动物及其家园有害。但尚不清楚寄居蟹是否有危险。“这真是一个惊人的例子，展示了适应力之美，说明了一些动物如何应对人类世时代。”雅盖隆说，“这些适应性变化造成的长期后果是什么呢？我们不知道。”

为了研究寄居蟹，研究人员使用了互联网生态学。这是一种研究方式，它利用互联网上的信息找出自然界的规律。在这项研究中，研究人员查看了人们上传到网上的寄居蟹照片。

互联网生态学并不完美。数据可能有偏差。例如，比起蜗牛壳，人们更有可能拍摄并发布一张套在塑料壳里的寄居蟹照片，因为这能更令人惊讶。

（英语原文选自：timeforkids.com）