美国国家公共电台 NPR Old-Growth Forests May Help Songbirds Cope With Warming Climate

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Songbirds have been in decline for decades. And it's becoming clear that climate change is a factor. Now scientists are finding that old-growth forests may help the birds cope with rising temperatures. Jes Burns of Oregon Public Broadcasting and EarthFix explains.

JES BURNS, BYLINE¹: Researcher Hankyu Kim and his colleagues are developing a new experiment in Oregon's Cascade² Mountains. They're seeing if they can catch, tag and then track the movements of a tiny, yellow-headed songbird called the hermit³ warbler.

HANKYU KIM: These birds are territorial⁴ in the breeding ground. They set up their territories. And they fight with each other to defend it.

BURNS: Armed with this knowledge, a nearly invisible net, a lifelike decoy and a loop of recorded bird call...

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRD CHIRP)

BURNS: ...The Oregon State University researchers' trap is set.

KIM: So when birds fly in, they hit the net and drop down into a pocket and lie down there like a hammer.

BURNS: And within just a few minutes, the hermit warbler takes the bait.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: He's in.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Another win for the decoy.

BURNS: Learning how the warblers move could help explain how bird species are dealing⁵ with rising temperatures and climate change.

Matt Betts studies birds at Oregon State.

MATT BETTS: We have these long-term population monitoring routes across the northwest. And a surprising number of species are declining, actually more than about half of the species that live in a forest like this are in decline.

BURNS: For the hermit warbler, those declines are up to 4 percent each year. Rising temperatures can shrink where some birds can live and where they can find food. Research by Betts and Sarah Frey found warblers declined in areas with young forests, including those replanted after clear cut logging. But...

SARAH FREY: In landscapes that had more older forests, their population declines were lowered or even reversed even though the climate has been warming.

BURNS: The warblers thrived in areas with old growth. They think the reason is, in part, because these forests are cooler than younger forests, up to five degrees cooler. And the hermit warblers use this to their advantage. Now, they want to try to prove it. And that's where this new study comes in.

ADAM HADLEY: Transmitter 12, frequency 357.

BURNS: Adam Hadley and Hankyu Kim move the trapped hermit warbler's feathers aside to attach a tiny radio tag to its back using non-toxic glue.

KIM: It's an eyelash glue.

HADLEY: For gluing fake eyelashes on. If it works on people, I guess...

KIM: For a month.

HADLEY: ...It works on the skin of birds, too.

BURNS: The bird flies away.

The next day is the true test. Hadley and the others push into a dense⁶ stand of trees armed with receivers that look like old-fashioned TV antennas⁷.

HADLEY: It's going away from us.

BETTS: We'll try and be as quiet as we can.

BURNS: They want to compare the bird's movements to temperature data they've been gathering⁹ at different levels in canopy¹⁰.

HADLEY: Given the differences in temperature across the whole height of a tree, it's possible that when it's warmer they may be only using the bottom in more shady parts of the trees.

BURNS: The complex layers and sheer biomass of old growth keeps the temperature low. Hadley waves the antenna⁸ through the air trying to pinpoint¹¹ the warbler's location.

HADLEY: I'm not getting the strongest signal at the top of the tree. Seems to be a bit stronger in the mid-canopy.

BURNS: If Hadley, Matt Betts and the others are able to track the hermit warblers through these forests, they'll get another step closer to understanding how native species might cope with rising temperatures.

BETTS: Don't see it likely that hermit warblers will have air conditioning anytime soon.

BURNS: But it looks like old-growth forests could be the next best thing. For NPR News, I'm Jes Burns in Blue River, Ore.

(SOUNDBITE OF ANDREW BIRD SONG, “SOVAY”)

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And that story came from NPR's energy and environment team.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

3 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

4 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 dense   

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。

7 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

8 antenna   

n.触角，触须；天线

参考例句：

• The workman fixed the antenna to the roof of the house.工人把天线固定在房顶上。
• In our village, there is an antenna on every roof for receiving TV signals.在我们村里，每家房顶上都有天线接收电视信号。

9 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

10 canopy   

n.天篷，遮篷

参考例句：

• The trees formed a leafy canopy above their heads.树木在他们头顶上空形成了一个枝叶茂盛的遮篷。
• They lay down under a canopy of stars.他们躺在繁星点点的天幕下。

11 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。