密歇根新闻广播 小标签贴帮助科学家了解帝王蝴蝶的迁徙

The monarch¹ butterflies that are emerging right now in Michigan have a long trip ahead of them.

They'll fly several thousand miles to the oyamel fir forests in Mexico to spend thewinter.

You can play a small part in this incredible migration² by helping³ scientists put a little sticker on butterflies to track them.

The Kalamazoo Nature Center is one of many places where you can do that. You can actually order a kit⁴ online and do everything yourself, but sometimes it's easier to have someone show you how first.

I met up with Ashley Cole-Wick to learn how to do it. She's the center's biological research director.

"These little tags are essentially⁵ tiny little stickers that each have a unique code for each butterfly that’s tagged, like a social security number or a driver's license⁶ number," she says.

We're standing⁷ on a wide porch in the woods outside the nature center.

The center's citizen science coordinator⁸ Jen Tagett is holding a male monarch in her hand. She slowly peels a little white tag from the sheet.

"I'm trying not to touch the sticky part because I want the majority of the sticky part to stay on the butterfly, so it maintains for its entire migration," says Tagett.

She gently presses the sticker on part of the hind⁹ wing where it won't inhibit¹⁰ flight. It’s called the discal cell.

"We say 'put the sticker on the mitten¹¹' because that cell kind of looks like a mitten," she says.

These butterflies are ones they're raising inside the nature center. After they tag them, they release them into the wild.

Tagett and Cole-Wick write down some data about the butterfly, including its unique code on the tag.

"They're a little bit more hardy¹² than you'd expect, but what I'm doing is holding all four wings together so it if does struggle a little bit I'm keeping everything contained so it doesn’t injure itself," says Tagett.

Tagett presses the sticker on, and lets the butterfly go.

"Up, up and away!" says Cole-Wick.

The monarch flutters up above our heads, off into the woods.

The nature center holds monarch tagging walks that are open to the public every Tuesday in September. For those, they catch wild butterflies.

Ashley Cole-Wick says anyone can tag monarchs¹³, even little kids.

"Some of my favorite people we've had come to our walks are a couple moms that bring their kids that she home schools and they call it P.E. I'm like, 'take these nets and go catch monarchs!' because they are very fast fliers," she laughs.

"An insane number of tags."

The nonprofit group Monarch Watch has been running this tagging program since the 1990s. Chip Taylor is the group's director. He says people have tagged about 1.4 million butterflies since 1998.

"The interest in tagging has increased and last year we sent out an absolutely insane number of tags due to requests. It was 320,000 tags and this year it's even more than that," he says.

Scientists want to keep a close eye on monarchs, because it's estimated the population has dropped by more than 80% over the past 20 years.

Chip Taylor says they're able to learn things about the migration they couldn't without all these volunteers.

For example: if you're a butterfly, it's better to migrate earlier in the season.

"And it's also clear that if you're getting to Mexico, it's better to be from the Midwest than it is to be from further east," he says.

Taylor says the tagged butterflies are really hard to find in Mexico: just one tagged butterfly for every 20,000-30,000.

David Mota-Sanchez was lucky enough to see a tagged monarch, among millions of butterflies that coat the fir forest. He's an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at Michigan State University. He says it's a beautiful sight.

"It's amazing. You can hear the noise of their wings when the monarchs are flying," he says.

He says people who live close to the sanctuaries¹⁴ watch out for the butterflies as they spend the winter huddled¹⁵ on the fir trees. Mota-Sanchez says the most noticeable wave of butterflies arrives in Mexico at the beginning of November, coinciding with Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. He says the traditional belief is that the monarchs represent the souls of ancestors returning to visit.

"The people in Mexico, people from the local community, are also citizen scientists. They are working really hard with the federal agencies, with local agencies, to preservethe monarch butterflies and they care about the butterflies," he says.

If you want to tag butterflies, it's not too late, although Monarch Watch's Chip Taylor says if you want to order your own kit, you should do that this last week of August. You can learn more here.

If you'd like to join a monarch tagging walk at the Kalamazoo Nature Center, you can learn more about the walks here. They're held at the nature center every Tuesday in September, from 2-4 pm, weather permitting.

You can learn more about the best plants to add to your yard to help monarchs, in this video from MSU.

1 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

2 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

9 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

10 inhibit   

vt.阻止，妨碍，抑制

参考例句：

• Don't let ego and greed inhibit clear thinking and hard work.不要让自我和贪婪妨碍清晰的思维和刻苦的工作。
• They passed a law to inhibit people from parking in the street.他们通过一项法令以阻止人们在街上停车。

11 mitten   

n.连指手套，露指手套

参考例句：

• There is a hole in the thumb of his mitten.他的手套的姆指上有个洞。
• He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to where you live.I want to see your brother and meet your parents".他一手接过她的钱，一手抓起她的连指手套，“带我去你住的地方，我想见见你的弟弟和你的父母。

12 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

13 monarchs   

君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Monarchs ruled England for centuries. 世袭君主统治英格兰有许多世纪。
• Serving six monarchs of his native Great Britain, he has served all men's freedom and dignity. 他在大不列颠本国为六位君王服务，也为全人类的自由和尊严服务。 来自演讲部分

14 sanctuaries   

n.避难所( sanctuary的名词复数 )；庇护；圣所；庇护所

参考例句：

• The designation of special marine reserves and marine sanctuaries shall be subject to the State Council for approval. 海洋特别保护区、海上自然保护区的确定，须经国务院批准。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After 1965 he acquiesced when they established sanctuaries on that soil. 1965年以后，他默认了他们在那块土地上建立庇护所。 来自辞典例句

15 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。