经济学人下载:树桩如何无限期存活(2)

Exactly why a stump's neighbours dole out their hard-won nutrients in this manner remains a mystery, but Dr Bader and Dr Leuzinger have ideas.
为什么树桩的邻居们会以这种方式少量发放自己辛苦得来的营养仍是个谜，但Bader和Leuzinger博士有自己的想法。

Biologists know of two ways co-operation between organisms can evolve.
生物学家知道生物体之间有两种合作可以进化。

One is kin selection, which requires the collaborators to be related (as neighbouring trees of the same species are likely to be)
一种是亲缘选择，要求合作者相互联系（就像邻近的同种树木一样）

and works if sacrifices by one bring disproportionate reproductive benefits to others.
如果一方给另一方带来不成比例的繁殖优势，这种方式就会奏效。

The effect of this is to propagate a collaborator's genes collaterally,
这种方法的效果是间接地传播合作者的基因

in a way that sociologists might refer to as nepotism, instead of directly from parent to offspring.
在某种程度上，社会学家或许称为裙带关系，而非直接从父母传给后代。

This may be why root connections happen in the first place, but cannot explain their perpetuation,
这或许是根系连接首先发生的原因，但这无法解释它们的存活，

for trying to help a trunkless stump reproduce would be a fool's errand.
因为尝试帮助没有树干的树桩繁殖是徒劳的。

The other route to co-operation is reciprocal altruism of the "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" variety.
另一种合作方式是互惠利他主义，即“你帮我，我帮你”。

This requires a stump's neighbours, which are feeding it, to benefit directly from the arrangement.
这要求树桩附近向它运输营养的邻居直接从这种配植中获益。

The suggestion Dr Bader and Dr Leuzinger make is that they do—
Bader和Leuzinger博士认为它们确实这么做了—

the stump's role being to extend, at minimal cost, the root networks of its intact neighbours.
树桩的角色是以最小的代价扩张其完整邻居的根系网络。

From their point of view, that makes keeping the stump alive worthwhile.
从他们的角度来看，这使得树桩的存活是值得的。

If this is what is going on, however, it is a good illustration of the dangers of anthropomorphic terminology.
然而，若事实如此，那么这就很好地说明了拟人术语的危险。

The arrangement might look reciprocal to human eyes, because it is keeping the stump alive.
这种配植可能看起来与人类的眼睛是对等的，因为它保持了树桩的活性。

But since the stump cannot reproduce it might as well, in Darwinian terms, be dead anyway,
但既然树桩不能繁殖，用达尔文的话说，它还是有可能会死掉，

for it garners no evolutionary benefit from its survival. Unless, of course, to go back to the idea of kin selection,
因为它没有从它的生存中获得进化上的好处。当然，除非回到亲缘选择的概念，

the neighbours it is sustaining are its kin and it is rendering nepotistic assistance to them from beyond the grave.
它所扶养的邻居是它的亲戚并且它在死后向它们提供裙带关系的援助。