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Listen to part of a lecture in an environmental science class.
聽一段環(huán)境科學課堂的講座。
Now, we've been talking about the loss of animal habitat from housing developments, uh...
我們一直在討論在住房建設和，呃...
growing cities small habitat losses.
城市發(fā)展中動物棲息地的減少——為數(shù)并不太多。
But today I wanna begin talking about what happens when habitat is reduced across a large area.
今天我想從談論大片的棲息地在減少的時候都發(fā)生了什么。
There are, of course, animal species that require large areas of habitat, and some migrate over very long distances.
當然，動物有需要大片棲息地的物種，也有遷徙的物種。
So what's the impact of habitat loss on those animals animals that need large areas of habitat?
那么，棲息地的縮減對需要大量棲息地的物種有什么影響呢？
Well, I'll use the humming birds as an example.
我舉一個蜂鳥的例子。
Now you know a humming bird is amazingly small, but even though it's really tiny, it migrates over very long distances,
大家都知道蜂鳥體形超小，但盡管它很小，它遷徙時得飛到很遠的地方，
travels up and down the western hemisphere the Americas, back and forth between where it breeds in the summer and the warmer climates where it's spent the winter.
南北橫跨西半球——美國，在夏季的繁殖地和氣候暖和一點的地方來回，它們到暖和一點的地方過冬。
So you would say that this whole area over which it migrates is its habitat because on this long distance journey,
這樣你會說它們遷徙跨越的這片土地就是它們的棲息地因為在它們長途遷移的過程中
it needs to come down to feed and sleep every so often, right?
它們需要時不時停下來進食和休息，是嗎？
Well, the humming bird beats its wings get this about 3 thousand times per minute.
蜂鳥扇動著翅膀——明白不——大約每分鐘3千次。
So you think, wow, it must need a lot of energy, a lot of food, right?
所以，想想，哇，它們得需要很多能量，很多食物，對吧？
Well, it does.
是的，確實這樣。
It drinks a lot of nectar from flowers and feeds on some insects, but it's energy efficient too.
它們得喝很多花蜜吃昆蟲，其實它們也很節(jié)能的。
You can not say it is not.
這一點你得承認。
I mean, as it flies all the way across the Mexico Gulf, it uses up none of its body fat.
我是說，當它們飛過墨西哥灣時，它們并沒有耗盡身體的脂肪。
But that does not mean it does not need to eat.
但這并不意味著它們不需要進食。
So humming birds have to rely on plants in their natural habitat.
所以自然棲息地對蜂鳥來說植物是必須有的。
And it goes without saying, but the opposite is true as well, plants depend on humming birds too.
這是不言而喻的，但反過來也有道理，植物也依賴蜂鳥。
There are some flowers that can only be pollinated by the humming birds.
一些花只靠蜂鳥來授粉。
Without its stopping to feed and spread pollen from flower to flower, these plants would cease to exist.
如果蜂鳥不停下來覓食或傳播花粉，這些植物就不復存在。
But the problem, well, as natural habitat along these migration routes is developed by humans for housing or agriculture or cleared for raising cattle,
但是，隨著人類在蜂鳥遷徙路線上的自然棲息地進行開發(fā)，擴建住房或是耕作或是放牧，
for instance, there is less food available for migrating humming birds.
這樣下來，蜂鳥在遷徙時能找到的食物就更少了。
Their nesting sites are affected too, the same by the same sorts of human activities.
它們的筑巢區(qū)也會受到影響，原因也是人類的活動。
And all of these activities pose a real threat to the humming bird population.
同時，人類所有的這些活動對蜂鳥種群的繁殖造成真正的威脅。
So help them survive, we need to preserve their habitats.
因此要幫助它們生存，人類需要保護它們的棲息地。
And one of the concrete ways people have been doing this is by cleaning up polluted habitat areas and then replanting flowers,
人們一直以來采取的保護蜂鳥棲息地的具體措施之一是清理受到污染的棲息地
um, replanting native flowers that humming birds feed on.
然后重栽蜂鳥賴以生存的花草。
Promoting ecological tourism is another way to help save their habitat.
推廣生態(tài)旅游是保護它們棲息地的另外一種方式。
As the number of visitors, eco tourists who come to humming bird habitats to watch the birds,
隨著游客數(shù)量的增加，這些生態(tài)旅游者來蜂鳥棲息地看鳥，
the more the number of visitors grows, the more local businesses' profit, so ecological tourism can bring financial rewards,
游客的數(shù)量越多，當?shù)氐穆糜尉包c收益越大，這樣看來生態(tài)旅游能帶來經(jīng)濟回報，
all the more reason to value these beautiful little creatures in their habitat, right?
小巧漂亮的蜂鳥將更加得到重視，對吧？
But to understand more about how to protect and support the humming birds the best we can,
但是要想更好地了解如何才能做到最大地保護蜂鳥，
we've got to learn more about their breeding, nesting sites and migration routes, and also about the natural habitats we find there.
我們必須了解它們的繁殖，筑巢和遷徙路線，也需要了解沿途的自然棲息地。
That just helps us determine how to prevent further decline in the population.
這樣能幫助我們決定如何防止蜂鳥數(shù)量進一步的減少。
A good research method, a good way to learn more, is by running a banding study.
電子條帶捆綁研究是對蜂鳥進一步了解的不錯方式。
Banding the birds allows us to track them over their lifetime.
條帶綁定有助于我們對蜂鳥一生進行跟蹤。
It's been a practice that's been used by researchers for years.
多年來，研究人員一直在沿用這樣的做法。
In fact, most of what we've known about humming birds comes from banding studies, where we capture a humming bird and make sure all the information about it,
其實，人類對蜂鳥的了解絕大多數(shù)來源于(條帶)捆綁研究，它提供蜂鳥確切的落腳點和其他的信息，
like its weight and age and length, are all recorded and put into an international information database.
如它的體重和年齡和壽命，都記錄在案，然后輸入一國際信息數(shù)據(jù)庫。
And then we place an extremely lightweight band on one of its legs, well, what looks like a leg,
我們將一個極為輕巧的電子條帶綁在蜂鳥的一條腿上，嗯，看起來像一條腿，
although technically it's considered part of the bird's foot.
盡管嚴格地說它應該是依附在鳥腳上的。
Anyway, these bands are perfectly safe, and some humming birds have worn them for years with no evidence of any problems.
不管怎么說，這些條帶絕對安全，一些蜂鳥帶著它好幾年一點問題都沒有。
The band is labeled with tracking number, oh, and there is a phone number on the band for people to call for free,
條帶上標有追蹤號碼，哦，上面還有一個人們可以免費撥打的電話號碼，
to report a banded bird to be found or recaptured.
用來了解該鳥被發(fā)現(xiàn)或被抓的情況。
So when a banded bird is recaptured and reported, we learn about its migration route, its growth,
當被綁定的蜂鳥被逮住并有人(通過綁定的電話號碼)告知，我們就知道它的遷徙路線，它的成長
and how long it has been alive, its lifespan.
和它活了多久，它的壽命。
One recaptured bird was banded almost 12 years earlier she was one of the oldest humming birds on record.
一只再次被逮住的蜂鳥曾于12年前被綁上電子條帶——她是記錄在案的最老的蜂鳥之一。
Another interesting thing we learned is that some humming birds no longer use a certain route.
我們了解到的另一個有意思的事是有些蜂鳥在遷徙時“不走尋常路”。
They travel by a different route to reach their destination.
它們另辟蹊徑飛到目的地。
And findings like these have been of interest to biologists and environmental scientists in a number of countries who are trying to understand the complexities of how changes in a habitat affect the species in it, species like the humming birds.
這樣的發(fā)現(xiàn)對致力于了解棲息地影響生活在其中的物種變化的復雜性的生物學家和環(huán)境科學家們來說一直興趣盎然。
