Getting Help From Nature

孟文杰

A group of clams recently caught people sattention after an article was posted by ChinaScience Communication online. Although theseclams are usually regarded as nothing morethan delicious food， they work to monitor thelocal water quality in Poland.

Gruba Kaska pumping station， whichstands in the River Wisla， helps provide mil-lions of liters of water to Warsaw， the capital ofPoland. However， one particular concern forthe water quality has been heavy metals， and re-searchers sought help from nature to solve thisproblem.

Clams are sensitive to pollutants in theirenvironment as they filter water to feed on mi-croorganisms. They shut their shells immediate-ly after detecting“dangerous ”water.

Based on this， the researchers selectedeight clams at a time and recorded the naturalopening of their shells. After the clam“employ-ees ”become accustomed to the local water，they are placed in a specially designed contain-

最近，科普中国线上发表了一篇关于河蚌的文章，吸引了人们的注意。文章中科普到，河蚌不仅可以被烹饪成美食，还能帮助检测波兰当地的水质。

建在维瓦斯河流上的 Gruba Kaska 水泵站，为波兰首都华沙提供了数百万升的水资源。然而，重金属污染已经成为该地水质的一大问题，于是有专家试图向大自然寻求帮助来改善水质。

河蚌对于其生存环境中的污染物极其敏感，因为它们滤食水中的微生物。一旦检测到水源发出的“危险”信号，河蚌会立即合上蚌壳。

基于此，研究者们同时选择了八只河蚌进行试验，并且记录其蚌壳的自然开启。在这些河蚌“员工”适应了当地的水环境后，它们被放置在一个特别设计的容器中。蚌壳上粘贴的传感器将河蚌与记录蚌壳开启程

er. With sensors stuck onto their shells， the clams are connected to a system that records how wide the shells are open.

If four or more clams close their shells at the same time， an alarm will be triggered and the water supply will be shut down. The result is reliable because the creatures are considering many different factors at the same time， accord- ing to ZME Science.

Animals have long been helpers for hu- man activities. Farmers in north Queensland， Australia， have been ordering different species of dung beetles to help clean up cattle dung， ac- cording to ABC News. As the number of cattle grows， their waste increases， leading to an enor- mous population of flies and a worsening envi- ronment. Dung beetles， however， take the waste and bury it. This way， they help improve soil quality.

Similarly， cockroaches are used to deal with kitchen waste at several firms in China， ac- cording to a report of The Beijing News in 2018. About 300 million cockroaches are fed 15 tons of food waste on a daily basis， and they themselves are a good protein resource for live- stock.

度的系统连接到一起。

如果四只及以上河蚌同时合上蚌壳，就会触发警报，同时切断水供给。ZME Sci-ence表明，该研究结果十分可靠，因为实验过程中同时考虑到了多种因素。

动物一直以來都是人类活动的好帮手。据澳大利亚广播公司报道，在澳大利亚昆士兰北部的农民一直依靠不同种类的屎壳郎来帮助他们清理牛粪。随着牛群的扩大，牛的排泄物也随之增加，不仅引来大量苍蝇，还污染环境。然而，屎壳郎可以将排泄物埋进土里，改善土质。

此外，新京报2018年的一篇报道称，中国多家公司利用蟑螂处理厨余垃圾。大约3亿只蟑螂一天可以被喂食15吨餐厨垃圾，并且蟑螂自身对牲畜来说也是很好的蛋白质来源。

选自《21世纪英文报》