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科学美国人60秒 SSS 生态学家通过追踪鸟鸣来监测鸟类

时间:2019-12-10 07:43:56

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This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

For more than a hundred years, this sound has been missing from New Zealand's forests: (hihi call up and under) "It's like two stones being clicked together, or two marbles being clicked together. It's a very simple call." Oliver Metcalf, a conservation biologist at Manchester Metropolitan1 University, has studied the small bird that makes the noise—the hihi. By the 1880s, it was all but wiped out by rats and disease, which came along with colonists2.

But the hihi did manage to survive on a predator-free barrier island called Te Hauturu-o-Toi. And now they're being reintroduced to mainland New Zealand. "And they're going through the process of trying to restore the ecosystems3 they had prior to colonial settlement there. So they're bringing back the birds one by one."

But the dense4 forests, and the birds' unusual behavior, makes them tough to monitor. "They're very inquisitive—they love people! So they'll come and see you. If they hear you coming, they'll come and see you. But that means you have a problem of knowing what they would have been doing when you're not there."

So instead, Metcalf and his collaborators from the Zoological Society of London u?sed that distinctive5 call (hihi call) to their advantage—using an array of audio recorders to eavesdrop6 on 40 hihi birds reintroduced to the North Island's Rotokare Scenic7 Reserve. A month later, analysis of the calls revealed that the birds had abandoned some areas of the reserve, and settled into others... suggesting they'd begun to form territories, often close to water.

The details are in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Metcalf says the concept could be used to monitor all sorts of animals. "So whether that's a reintroduction of a small mammal, or how existing birds species respond to a housing development nearby or something like that, this process could be used to understand how those populations respond to changes."

Assuming, that is, they make some noise.

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.


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1 metropolitan mCyxZ     
adj.大城市的,大都会的
参考例句:
  • Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
  • Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。
2 colonists 4afd0fece453e55f3721623f335e6c6f     
n.殖民地开拓者,移民,殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 ecosystems 94cb0e40a815bea1157ac8aab9a5380d     
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
4 dense aONzX     
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的
参考例句:
  • The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
  • The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。
5 distinctive Es5xr     
adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的
参考例句:
  • She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
  • This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。
6 eavesdrop lrPxS     
v.偷听,倾听
参考例句:
  • He ensconced himself in the closet in order to eavesdrop.他藏在壁橱里,以便偷听。
  • It is not polite to eavesdrop on the conversation of other people.偷听他人说话是很不礼貌的。
7 scenic aDbyP     
adj.自然景色的,景色优美的
参考例句:
  • The scenic beauty of the place entranced the visitors.这里的美丽风光把游客们迷住了。
  • The scenic spot is on northwestern outskirts of Beijing.这个风景区位于北京的西北远郊。

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