由于缺乏游客“守护者”，海鸟栖息地受到了影响，它们享受着封闭的生活
由于缺乏游客“守护者”，海鸟栖息地受到了影响，它们享受着封闭的生活
The widespread lockdowns triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused a number of unexpected effects on birdsong, air pollution and even seismic noise on planet Earth. Many Tweeted #EarthIsHealing to shine a light on the returning of wildlife to once anthropogenically noisy areas (though not all of these turned out to be true).
2020年COVID-19大流行引发的大范围封锁对鸟鸣、空气污染甚至地震噪音造成了一系列意想不到的影响。许多人在推特上发了#EarthIsHealing(地球正在愈合)的帖子，以阐明野生动物重返曾经因人类活动而喧闹的地区的问题(尽管并非所有这些都被证明是真的)。
While the benefits for nature weren’t always as extensive as they were made out to be, it was perhaps unexpected that some wild animals might actually fare less well without a gaggle of tourists peering at their homes. New research published in the journal Biological Conservation has found that this was indeed the case for a colony of seabirds on the Swedish island of Stora Karlsö in the Baltic Sea. Without the hustle and bustle of tourists flocking to see the spectacle of so many cliff-nesting birds, the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) saw a sevenfold increase in the area – much to the dismay of the common murre, Uria aalge.
虽然对大自然的好处并不总是像人们想象的那样广泛，但令人意外的是，如果没有一群游客在他们的家窥视，一些野生动物可能会活得更糟。发表在《生物保护》杂志上的一项新研究发现，在波罗的海的瑞典斯道拉岛Karlsö上的一群海鸟确实存在这种情况。没有了蜂拥前来观看这么多筑巢在悬崖上的鸟类的游客，白尾鹰(Haliaeetus albicilla)在该地区的数量增加了7倍，这让普通的海鼠乌里亚·阿齐格(Uria aalge)感到沮丧。
Rachael Funnell
While the eagles don’t directly predate on murres, which exist in the area in their thousands, data from long-term seabird monitoring revealed they had a significant impact on the reproductive success of these birds. By frequently hassling them and causing disturbances, the researchers found the eagles were indirectly delaying egg laying and actually made it easier for herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and hooded crows (Corvus cornix) to swipe the eggs.
虽然这些鹰并没有直接捕食在该地区成千上万的海鸟，但长期的海鸟监测数据显示，它们对这些鸟的繁殖成功有重大影响。研究人员发现，这些鹰经常骚扰和扰乱它们，从而间接地推迟了它们的产卵时间，而且实际上使鲱鱼鸥(银斑雏鸥)和冠鸦(乌鸦)更容易偷取它们的蛋。
The lockdown offered a rare opportunity for researchers to gain a better understanding of the influence of humans on the functioning of an ecosystem. Interestingly, their findings revealed tourists in this part of the world had a "guardian" effect on the seabird colony. When they were gone, the increased presence of white-tailed eagles – which are usually deterred by humans – caused a 26 percent decline in murre productivity compared to the long-term average.
封锁为研究人员提供了一个难得的机会，以便更好地了解人类对生态系统功能的影响。有趣的是，他们的发现表明，在世界上这个地区的游客对海鸟的栖息地有一种“守护”作用。当白尾鹰消失后，白尾鹰(通常被人类阻止)的数量增加，导致海鸟的产量与长期平均水平相比下降了26%。
“An emerging lesson from over a hundred years of biodiversity conservation is that humans are intrinsic parts of most ecosystems,” wrote the study authors. “Based on our findings, we suggest that human presence could be used as a strategic measure in guarding seabird colonies, and that a social-ecological systems perspective is vital for long-term success in protected area management."
该研究的作者写道:“从一百多年的生物多样性保护中得出的一个新教训是，人类是大多数生态系统固有的组成部分。”“根据我们的研究结果，我们认为人类的存在可以作为保护海鸟栖息地的战略措施，而社会-生态系统的视角对于保护区管理的长期成功至关重要。”
It's not always in conservation that human interference is considered a good thing, but the researchers think this study could prove an interesting consideration for other areas.
人类的干预并不总是被认为是一件好事，但研究人员认为，这项研究可以证明在其他领域是一个有趣的考虑。
"Future field studies will reveal whether the return of tourists to the island post-COVID-19 lockdown will reverse the state of the murre colony to 'normal', or if the anthropause has permanently shifted the behavior of eagles into a long-term threat to the breeding seabirds," they concluded. "If the return of tourists improves the conditions for seabirds, we suggest that human presence can be applied also in other areas to mediate eagle disturbances."
他们总结说:“未来的实地研究将揭示，在covid -19封锁后，游客返回该岛是否会让海鸦的栖息地状态恢复‘正常’，或者人类活动是否永久性地将鹰的行为转变为对正在繁殖的海鸟的长期威胁。”“如果游客的归来改善了海鸟的生存条件，我们建议，人类的存在也可以应用在其他地区，以调解鹰的干扰。”
