研究發現:地球再變暖或使蜥蜴進化成恐龍

Global warming 300 million years ago triggered the evolutionary burst which caused lizards to evolve into dinosaurs, scientists revealed today. The new research is focused on the Carboniferous Period, when the supercontinent of Pangea was covered in tropical rainforests ruled by reptiles. Scientists now believe that the Earth became significantly hotter during this age - turning rainforests into 'islands' surrounded by arid deserts. This climatic change caused lizards to adapt to live in drier conditions and led to the evolution of different varieties of dinosaurs.

這是一個信息大爆炸的時代，也是一個生活大爆炸的時代，但誰也沒想過，早已遠去的時代未來會在億萬年後又重新迴歸。 倫敦大學的科學家通過研究發現，30億年前的一波全球變暖讓當時的蜥蜴進化成了恐龍，這一推斷讓人不禁想到30億年後的今天，全球氣候變暖重演，蜥蜴是否會再次進化成恐龍。 在30億年前的石炭紀時代，大陸被熱帶雨林覆蓋，並由爬行動物所統治。科學家分析，若變暖趨勢加劇，蜥蜴會調整自身以適應乾燥氣候，再次進化成不同種類的恐龍。

Dr Howard Falcon-Lang of Royal Holloway, University of London, who carried out the research, revealed this global warming indirectly caused the evolution of mammals. He said: 'We now know that this climate change caused the rainforests to fragment into small 'islands' of forest. 'This change isolated populations of reptiles and caused each community to evolve in a different direction leading to an increase in diversity.

倫敦大學皇家霍洛威學院的科學家指出，全球變暖將首先作用於哺乳類動物，推進它們的進化。博士Dr Howard Falcon-Lang說：“我們瞭解到氣候變暖加劇後，會使得大片的熱帶雨林分裂，而羣居的蜥蜴一旦被強行分開就會成爲一個個小羣體，隨之，每個羣體之間開始向不同方向進化，最終差異促進進化成功。而蜥蜴進化的最終結果有可能成爲恐龍。”

'We have discovered for the first time how this evolution occurred after analysing hundreds of fossils from around the globe. 'This initial burst of global warming significantly affected the evolution of the world and led reptiles to evolve into dinosaurs, birds and mammals.'

據悉，科學家大膽推斷出這一結論是通過蒐集病研究全球各地的化石而得到的，他們認定，第一波的全球變暖的確影響了生物的進化過程。