美国国家公共电台 NPR In The Rockies, Climate Change Spells Trouble For Cutthroat Trout

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Now we have a story of an unplanned experiment that is underway in the northern Rocky Mountains. Spring is arriving earlier there. And it's generally warmer and drier than before. And that is messing with some of the fish that live there, including the cutthroat trout¹.

Now, from its name, you might expect the species would survive any competition but that is not the case as we hear from NPR's Christopher Joyce.

CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE²: The cutthroat trout is a native North American fish that thrives in cold, small streams. In 1805, explorer Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame wrote about catching³ these very fine trout using deer spleen as bait.

The cutthroat's relative rarity now makes it sought after by anglers as well as biologists. And biologists have now found that it's in danger. The much more common rainbow trout is invading cutthroat streams and mating with the native fish. Ecologist Clint Muhlfeld says that creates hybrids⁴.

CLINT MUHLFELD: It jumbles⁵ up the genes⁶ that are linked to these locally-adapted traits that these fish have evolved with.

JOYCE: Traits that have allowed cutthroats to survive through millennia⁷ in cold northern streams. Many of those streams are getting warmer because of climate change and have less springtime water, conditions the rainbow trout thrive in. Muhlfeld, who's with the U.S. Geological Survey, says when rainbows and cutthroats breed, the resulting hybrids are feeble.

MUHLFELD: They don't survive as well as the native fish. Another reason is there's not a lot of places that you can go and enjoy and appreciate a native fish anymore.

JOYCE: As they report in the journal "Global Change Biology," Muhlfeld and scientists from several research institutions studied fish in hundreds of locations in the northern Rockies. Hybridization was widespread. It was most common in places where fish and game departments have introduced rainbow trout, a practice that started in the 19th century.

Some states are trying to solve the problem by getting rid of rainbow trout. That might not please some anglers but Muhlfeld says otherwise the cutthroat species could disappear.

MUHLFELD: There are so many places around the world that you can go catch a rainbow trout. There's very few places that you can actually go and catch a native fish that has been around for thousands and thousands of years.

JOYCE: Christopher Joyce, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF CLOUDKICKER'S "GARAGE SHOW")

1 trout   

n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属)

参考例句：

• Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
• We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼，早饭时吃了。

2 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。

3 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

4 hybrids   

n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物

参考例句：

• All these brightly coloured hybrids are so lovely in the garden. 花园里所有这些色彩鲜艳的杂交花真美丽。 来自辞典例句
• The notion that interspecific hybrids are rare is ill-founded. 有一种看法认为种间杂种是罕见的，这种看法是无根据的。 来自辞典例句

5 jumbles   

混杂( jumble的名词复数 )； （使）混乱； 使混乱； 使杂乱

参考例句：

• She jumbles the words when she is supposed to write a sentence. 将要写句子的时候，她搞乱了字词的次序。
• His grandfather sells jumbles. 他爷爷卖旧物。

6 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

7 millennia   

n.一千年，千禧年

参考例句：

• For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。
• In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。