狼群如何影响森林的生态系统(下)

During the winter, wolves work together to kill large prey like deer.

在冬天，狼会一起猎杀像鹿这样的大型猎物。

But Gable found that in warmer, ice-free months, wolves focus on smaller prey, like newborn deer fawns – and especially beavers.

但盖博发现，在温暖无冰的月份，狼会把注意力集中在更小的猎物上，比如新生的小鹿——尤其是海狸。

And that’s where things get really interesting for the ecosystem.

这就是生态系统真正有趣的地方。

"Wolves, by preying on dispersing beavers, alter where wetlands are created.

狼通过捕食分散的海狸，改变了湿地形成的地方。

If a young beaver gets killed after leaving home, it will never have a chance to build a new dam.

如果一只小海狸在离开家后被捕杀，它将永远没有机会建造新的水坝。

Even if it had started construction before becoming a wolf's lunch, the dam will remain unfinished and fall into disrepair.

即使海狸在成为狼的午餐之前已经开始建设，水坝也将完不了工，会变得破败不堪。

Beavers are ecosystem engineers.

海狸是生态系统工程师。

When a wolf kills one, it can have a big impact.

当一只狼捕杀一只海狸时，将会产生巨大的影响。

"Because they prevent beavers from converting a forest into a wetland.

“因为狼阻止海狸把森林变成湿地。

In that regard, wolves are connected to all the ecological processes that are associated with wetlands and beaver ponds."

在这一点上，狼与与湿地和海狸池塘相关的所有生态过程都有联系。

Ecologists have long assumed the predators can influence their ecosystems in two main ways.

生态学家一直认为，捕食性动物可以通过两种主要方式来影响生态系统。

One is through fear and intimidation, like in the Yellowstone story.

一种是通过恐吓和威胁，就像黄石公园的故事一样。

The second is through direct killing.

第二种是直接杀戮。

The Voyageurs wolves offer up a third possibility.

探险家国家公园的狼群提供了第三种可能性。

The park and the forests surrounding it have more than 7000 beaver ponds.

该公园及其周围的森林有7000多个海狸池塘。

Gable estimates that wolves have a direct impact each year on around 88 of them.

盖博估计，狼每年对大约88个海狸池塘产生直接影响。

That’s a mere one and a quarter percent affected.

只有1.25%的海狸池塘受到了影响。

So it's hard to argue that wolves are responsible for re-shaping the ecosystem in the broadest sense.

因此，从最广泛的意义上来说，很难说狼对重塑生态系统负有责任。

But it's equally hard to deny that they help to maintain a diversity of habitats across the landscape.

但同样难以否认的是，狼有助于维持整个地区栖息地的多样性。

"But I don't really think that estimate is a key finding, so to speak.

“但可以说，我真的认为这个估计并非是一个关键的发现。

Because I think the real goal, the real point of our paper was simply to flesh out this mechanism of how wolves do this."

因为我认为我们论文的真正目的，真正的意义只是为了充实狼是如何做到这一点的机制。”

The study was published in the November 13 issue of the journal Science Advances.

这项研究发表在11月13日的《Science Advances》期刊上。

"This is something worth studying, and this is likely happening in a variety of ecosystems."

“这是一件值得研究的事情，这很可能发生在各种生态系统中。”

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是杰森·戈德曼。