保護了大熊貓就等於保護了其他動物?|紐約時報

人類能夠投入在動物保護上的資源是有限的，不可能把每一種需要保護的動物都保護到。所以最好的辦法就是在保護一種動物的同時也保護到了其他的動物。這樣被選出來的代表物種就是傘護種。

在傳統的理論中，大熊貓就是一個典型的傘護種，保護了大熊貓，不僅是保護這一個物種，而且保護了大熊貓棲息地內許許多多的其他物種。

但真的是這樣嗎？

今天，就讓我們跟隨《紐約時報》的腳步，一同圍觀下這件事：

Like many undergraduate biology students, Fang Wang was taught that pandas are a prime example of an umbrella species — a charismatic, well-known and usually endangered animal whose protection benefits an entire ecosystem and all the wildlife that lives there.

像許多生物學專業的大學生一樣，王放曾學到大熊貓是傘護物種的典範——魅力非凡、廣為人知且通常瀕臨滅絕，對這種動物的保護會使整個生態系統和生活在該生態系統中的所有野生動植物都受益。

In fact, the story is much more complex, according to findings that Dr. Wang, now an ecologist at Fudan University in Shanghai, published last month in Biological Conservation. Refuting years of assumptions about the universal benefits of panda conservation, Dr. Wang and his colleagues report that a number of other threatened species are not being shielded by the panda umbrella.

實際上，根據王放博士——現在是上海復旦大學的一位生態學家——上個月發表在《生物保護》(Biological Conservation)上的研究結果，情況要複雜得多。王放及其同事駁斥了多年來關於保護大熊貓的普遍益處的假設，他們報告說，其他許多受威脅的物種並未受到大熊貓保護傘的庇護。

「The key point is that a single umbrella will inevitably have gaps and holes,」 Dr. Wang said. 「It’s time to move forward from focusing on just one species to focusing on the whole animal community.」

「問題的關鍵是單個保護傘不可避免地會有縫隙和漏洞，」王放說。「現在應該從只關注一種物種轉向關注整個動物界的時候了。」

第一，了解Umbrella species的含義。Umbrella species are species selected for making conservation-related decisions, typically because protecting these species indirectly protects the many other species that make up the ecological community of its habitat. Species conservation can be subjective because it is hard to determine the status of many species. 傘護種是保護生物學中的一個概念，指那些生存環境需求能夠涵蓋許多其他物種生存環境需求的物種。布魯斯·威爾科克斯最早於1984年提出這一概念。 通過保護傘護種可以同時對其他物種提供保護傘，故被稱為傘護種。傘護種可用來確定應被保護的生存環境的類型與面積，常用於自然保護區的規劃。

第二，學習refute的用法。這個詞作及物動詞，表示to prove that a statement or idea is not correct，批駁、反駁（陳述或觀點），其同義詞為rebut，常用搭配為refute a hypothesis/a claim/an idea etc，例：an attempt to refute Darwin’s theories 反駁達爾文理論的嘗試

第三，學習shield的用法。大家可以記住這個詞，用於同義替換protect，作及物動詞表示to protect someone or something from being harmed or damaged，保護、保衛，常用搭配為shield somebody/something from somebody/something，例：import tariffs that shield firms from foreign competition 保護企業免受外國競爭威脅的進口關稅

Panda conservation, on its own, has been a success. In the 1980s, pandas had very little protection in the wild and were thought to number around just 1,100 individuals. In the 1990s, China began to actively conserve wild populations, eventually establishing 67 panda-specific protected areas representing 70 percent of the species』 range. By 2014, a government census tallied more than 1,800 wild pandas.

大熊貓保護本身已經取得了成功。在1980年代，大熊貓在野外受到的保護很少，據信大約只有1100隻。在1990年代，中國開始積極保護野生種群，最終建立了67個大熊貓保護區，佔該物種生存區域的70％。到2014年，政府普查統計了1800多隻野生大熊貓。

All of these efforts focused solely on China’s national animal, however, not on other species. As Dr. Wang said, 「Everything was about pandas.」

所有這些努力都只針對中國的國寶動物，而非其他物種。正如王放所說：「一切都與大熊貓有關。」

Dr. Wang began to question the umbrella species narrative when he noticed that droppings, tracks and other signs of forest musk deer and Asiatic black bear had declined in the years since he started conducting research as an undergraduate at field sites in central China. Following up on this observation, he and colleagues from Michigan State University established a monitoring network of more than 1,000 infrared cameras in and around eight panda nature reserves in the Qinling and Minshan Mountains.

王放在中國中部的野外進行本科生研究以來的幾年裡，他注意到林麝和亞洲黑熊的糞便、痕跡和其他跡象有所減少，這時他開始質疑傘護種的敘事。根據這一觀察結果，他和密西根州立大學(Michigan State University)的同事們在秦嶺和岷山的八處大熊貓自然保護區及其周圍建立了一個由1000多個紅外熱像儀組成的監測網絡。

第一，學習(all) on your own的用法。這個詞組有兩個含義：其一，alone，單獨地、獨自地，例：He didn’t want to be left on his own. 他不想被單獨留下。其二，without anyone’s help，無援地、獨立地，例：You can’t expect him to do it all on his own. 你不能指望全部由他一個人來做。

第二，學習tally的用法。這個詞通常作不及物動詞，表示if numbers or statements tally, they match exactly，符合、（完全）吻合，例：Some of the records held by the accounts departments did not tally. 會計部門的一些帳目有出入。但這個詞也可以作及物動詞，表示to calculate a total number，計算（總數）。

第三，學習infra-的前綴用法。文中的infrared，其實應該拆分成infra-red，表示紅外線的。infra-這個前綴表示below something in a range，在……之下、在……之外。

After three years of data collection, they determined which types of habitat were preferred by nine species of mammals, including pandas. They then used satellite data to examine whether ideal habitat had increased, decreased or stayed the same for each of the species over the preceding 10 years.

經過三年的數據收集，他們確定了包括大熊貓在內的九種哺乳動物都偏愛哪種類型的棲息地。然後，他們使用衛星數據檢查了在過去10年中，每個物種的理想棲息地是否增加、減少或保持不變。

Most panda reserves consist of bamboo forests at high elevation, which is not ideal for all wildlife. The researchers found that two threatened species, Asiatic black bears and forest musk deer, actively lost key habitat in the most intensively protected panda areas. And in places where habitat changed for the better for forest musk deer and Asiatic black bears, as well as for two other cloven-hoofed species, Chinese serow and Reeve’s muntjac, it changed for the worse for pandas. 「Now we know that when we’re protecting pandas, we’re losing Asiatic black bears, musk deer and probably many other species,」 Dr. Wang said.

大多數大熊貓保護區都由高海拔的竹林組成，這並不是所有野生動植物的理想選擇。研究人員發現，在受到最密集保護的大熊貓地區內，亞洲黑熊和林麝這兩種受到威脅的物種正在喪失重要棲息地。在棲息地變得更適合林麝和亞洲黑熊以及其他兩種偶蹄物種（中華鬣羚和小麂）的區域，棲息環境對大熊貓變得不利。王放說：「現在我們知道，當我們保護大熊貓時，我們將失去亞洲黑熊、林麝和其他許多物種。」

The findings echo research published last summer by some of Dr. Wang’s colleagues, which found that panda conservation had not helped large carnivores in China, like leopards, wolves and snow leopards.

這一發現與王放的一些同事在去年夏天發表的研究結果相吻合。他們的研究發現，對大熊貓的保護對中國的大型食肉動物沒有幫助，例如豹、狼和雪豹。

第一，學習for the worse的用法。這裡的worse是不可數名詞，表示更壞、更差的事物。我們常見的搭配是take a turn for the worse，表示to change and become worse，變糟、變差，例：Last year his health took a turn for the worse. 去年他的健康狀況開始惡化。

第二，學習carnivore的用法。這個詞作可數名詞，表示an animal that eats flesh，食肉動物。herbivore是食草動物，omnivore是雜食動物。

外刊文章來源：2021年2月25日，紐約時報，For Shielding Endangered Neighbors, Pandas Make Flimsy Umbrellas

長按二維碼 關注外刊看世界

掌握語言，是為了換一個視角看世界

也許長，但必定值得耐心學習

願你看待這個星球的眼光能夠批判且不同

你愛動物嗎？