科学美国人60秒 SSS 狼群如何影响森林的生态系统(1)

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Jason Goldman.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是杰森·戈德曼。

"We literally¹ get down on our hands and knees and start slowly sifting² through the leaf litter, looking through bits of hair or a little chunk³ of bone…

“我们匍匐在地上，开始慢慢地在落叶中筛选，寻找一些头发或一小块骨头……

Tom Gable is tracking a predator⁴. In fact, he’s tracking a whole pack of them.

汤姆·盖博在追踪一个捕食性动物。事实上，他在追踪一大群动物。

Always, it's very much like a crime scene investigation….

这每次都很像犯罪现场调查....

Since 2015, the University of Minnesota conservation biologist has used GPS collars to track 30 wolves inside Voyageurs National Park.

自2015年以来，这位明尼苏达大学的保护生物学家使用GPS项圈追踪探险家国家公园内的30只狼。

Those collars led Gable and his team to kill sites.

这些项圈引导盖博和他的团队来到捕杀地点。

And there, amid the leaf litter, were bloodied⁵ bits of fur and bone … clues about how wolves alter the ecosystems⁷ they live, and hunt, and kill in.

在落叶中，有血迹斑斑的皮毛和骨头...这是关于狼如何改变它们生活、追捕和杀戮的生态系统的线索。

The long-term study is, in a way, a quest to broaden a science story that goes back 25 years.

在某种程度上，这项长期研究是为了拓宽25年前的科学故事。

For wildlife ecologists, the story of the reintroduction of wolves to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem⁶ on January 12, 1995, has become canonical⁸.

对于野生动物生态学家来说，1995年1月12日将狼重新引入大黄石生态系统的故事已经成为经典。

The story goes something like this: as the elk⁹ grew to fear the wolves, they changed where and how they foraged¹⁰.

故事大致是这样的:当麋鹿越来越害怕狼时，它们改变了觅食的地点和方式。

That gave willows¹¹, cottonwoods, and aspens a better chance to grow near streams.

这使得杨柳、三角叶杨和白杨有更好的机会在溪流附近生长。

It also meant more river-side berries for foraging¹² grizzly¹³ bears.

这也意味着有更多的河边浆果供灰熊觅食。

And it led to alterations¹⁴ in the flow of those streams, sending water in new directions.

这导致了这些溪流的流动方向发生了改变，将水输送到新的方向。

Wolves outcompete coyotes for access to prey¹⁵, so coyotes populations plummeted¹⁶, which led to a rise in fox, rabbit, and ground-nesting bird numbers, and so on.

狼在获取猎物方面胜过草原狼，因此草原狼的数量直线下降, 这导致了狐狸、兔子和地面筑巢鸟类数量的增加, 等等。

Ecologists call this row of biological dominoes a trophic cascade¹⁷.

生态学家把这一系列生物多米诺骨牌效应称为营养级联。

"Regardless of your inclination¹⁸, it's hard not to be like, wow this is amazing. If that is true, it's really incredible."

“不管你的倾向如何，很难不发出这样的感叹，哇，这太棒了。 如果这是真的，那真是难以置信。”

New findings cast some doubt on the idea that wolves primarily regulate the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem through fear and intimidation¹⁹.

新的发现让人们对狼主要通过恐吓和威胁来调节大黄石生态系统的观点提出了一些怀疑。

And regardless of the situation there, very little research has been conducted on this question in ecosystems that don't resemble the mountains and grasslands²⁰ of Yellowstone.

不管那里的情况如何，在与黄石公园的山脉和草原不同的生态系统中，关于这个问题的研究很少。

Which brings us back to the boreal forests of northern Minnesota, and the ground that Tom Gable and his team have been crawling over the last few years.

这让我们回到了明尼苏达州北部的北方森林，以及汤姆·盖博和他的团队在过去几年里一直在爬行的土地。

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句

3 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

4 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

5 bloodied   

v.血污的( bloody的过去式和过去分词 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• His pants leg was torn and bloodied when he fell. 他跌交时裤腿破了，还染上了血。 来自辞典例句

6 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

7 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

8 canonical   

n.权威的；典型的

参考例句：

• These canonical forms have to existence except in our imagination.这些正规式并不存在，只是我们的想象。
• This is a combinatorial problem in canonical form.这是组合论中的典型问题。

9 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

10 foraged   

v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西）

参考例句：

• He foraged about in the cupboard. 他在碗橱里到处寻找食物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She foraged about in her handbag, but she couldn't find her ticket. 她在她的手提包里搜寻，但她没能找到她的票子。 来自辞典例句

11 willows   

n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木

参考例句：

• The willows along the river bank look very beautiful. 河岸边的柳树很美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Willows are planted on both sides of the streets. 街道两侧种着柳树。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 foraging   

v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的现在分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西）

参考例句：

• They eke out a precarious existence foraging in rubbish dumps. 他们靠在垃圾场捡垃圾维持着朝不保夕的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The campers went foraging for wood to make a fire. 露营者去搜寻柴木点火。 来自辞典例句

13 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。

14 alterations   

n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变

参考例句：

• Any alterations should be written in neatly to the left side. 改动部分应书写清晰，插在正文的左侧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code. 基因突变是指DNA 密码的改变。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

16 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

18 inclination   

n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好

参考例句：

• She greeted us with a slight inclination of the head.她微微点头向我们致意。
• I did not feel the slightest inclination to hurry.我没有丝毫着急的意思。

19 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

20 grasslands   

n.草原，牧场( grassland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来，种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》