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in discussions of how nature regulates carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, forests receive most of the attention for their ability to absorb and store carbon. but peatlands play an important role, too.

泥炭由泥炭蘚與其他苔蘚構成，這些苔蘚含有大量水份和按捺分解的複合物。泥炭經由幾個世紀慢慢堆集擴大，因為每一年成長的速度超過分化的速度。

the world has already had vast releases of carbon from peat翻譯社 in indonesia. last year, bogs that had been drained for agriculture, and were drier because of el nino-related warmth, burned for months翻譯社 creating a haze visible from space and causing widespread health problems.

“there’s literally tons of carbon here,” she said翻譯社 looking around the bog, which covers several acres off a muddy oil-company road amid the vast flatness of northern alberta.

以「用泥炭烘乾的大麥」製作威士忌，會產生奇特的煙燻味。幾乎所有的蘇格蘭威士忌都含有泥炭成份，只是大大都泥炭度（peatiness）不高，一般人喝不出來。

kristyn housman grabbed the end of a sampling auger翻譯社 a steel tube that two colleagues had just drilled into a moss-covered hummock in a peat bog, and poked through a damp翻譯社 fibrous plug of partly decomposed peat.

a relatively small amount of peat is mined to burn as fuel, to improve backyard gardens or to add smokiness to scotch. but most of it stays where it is翻譯社 and because it accumulates carbon over such a long time, it contains more carbon than is in all the world’s trees and plants, and nearly as much as the atmosphere does.

麥克馬斯特大學傳授沃丁頓在亞伯達和其他處所研究泥炭跨越20年，他說：「這些二氧化碳已積聚了好幾千年，一旦釋出，全球二氧化碳濃度就會高上很多。」

peat is made up of sphagnum and other mosses, which hold a large amount of water and contain compounds that inhibit decomposition. the peat slowly builds up over centuries because the annual growth exceeds the decay.

地球上約有160萬平方哩泥炭地，占地表陸地面積3%，大多位於北半球加拿大、美國阿拉斯加州、歐洲和俄國翻譯

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在「大天然若何調理大氣中二氧化碳」的相幹評論辯論中，森林以接收和貯存二氧化碳的能力取得最多注意，不過，泥炭地也飾演主要腳色。

plug通常是插頭或塞子，本文中的plug輕易曲解為園藝術語peat plug「泥炭育苗塊」，但育苗塊不會有幾百年歷史，所以在本文中應解作「從較大的物品切下的圓柱或圓錐狀小塊，平常作為樣本」翻譯

there are an estimated 1.6 million square miles of peatlands翻譯社 or about 3 percent of the earth’s land surface, mostly in northern latitudes in canada, alaska翻譯社 europe and russia.

（文／李京倫）

這個世界已有大量二氧化碳從印尼的泥炭地釋出翻譯客歲泥炭地為了轉作農業用處被抽乾水份，又因與聖嬰現象相幹的高溫氣候變得更乾燥，起火燃燒了數月，冒出的煙霧從太空都能看到，且致使很多人的健康問題。

“it’s carbon that has accumulated over several thousands of years,” said mike waddington, a mcmaster professor who has been researching peat in alberta and elsewhere for more than two decades. “if it were to be released, the global co2 concentration would be much higher.”

泥炭已在這片沼澤中積聚幾世紀，這裡鬆軟的苔蘚中穿插著一些黑雲杉，暮春淩晨的空氣中盡是蚊子。池沼廣達幾英畝，位在加拿大亞伯達省北部這片廣袤平原中一條泥濘的石油公司道路四周翻譯

她一邊說「這裡真的有好幾噸二氧化碳」，一邊環視池沼。

teem是指雨「傾瀉」，teem with則是「充滿很多」（人或動物），例如：the camps teem with about 135,000 refugees.（棲流所內擠了或者13萬5000個難民。）

只有為數甚少的泥炭被操縱：看成燃料焚燒，為後院花園增加營養，或為蘇格蘭威士忌增添泥炭煙燻味。

peat has been building up for centuries in this bog, where the spongy moss is interspersed with black spruces and, on a late spring morning, the air is teeming with mosquitoes. the sample翻譯社 taken from 3 feet down, is at least several hundred years old, said housman翻譯社 a graduate researcher at mcmaster university in hamilton, ontario.

泥炭（peat）由石楠、苔蘚、蕨類等植物殘骸經細菌蛻化分化而成，又稱為草炭或泥煤，是煤化程度最低的煤。蘇格蘭盛產泥炭，泥炭不但作為平常生活中的燃料，也用來製造蘇格蘭威士忌翻譯

like forests, peatlands are threatened by climate change. warming temperatures can dry out bogs翻譯社 making them more susceptible to fires, and to deeper, more intense burning. a peat fire, which can smolder like a cigarette for months翻譯社 can release a lot of carbon.

泥炭地跟森林一樣受氣候變遷要挾。泥炭地火警能像香菸一樣悶燒數月，釋出大量二氧化碳翻譯