编者按：气候变化与人类活动息息相关，在方方面面影响着我们的日常生活。但你是否察觉，动物同样与其相关？从人类普遍喜爱的猫猫狗狗，到自然中的生灵万物，都逃不过气候变化的力量。
01 猫狗们能适应气候变化吗？
导语：Global warming will no doubt mean misery for humanity on a scale. It will also mean misery for the dogs and cats of the world — most of which are strays, unowned by any human.
全球变暖无疑对人类而言一定程度上是种苦难，同样它也会给世界上的猫和狗带来不幸——其中大部分都是无人领养的流浪者。
蹲坐在干涸沙地上的狗. 图源：Salon
There are estimated to be over 1.4 billion dogs and cats on Earth, the majority without owners. As the climate crisis ravages Earth, their population and lives are bound to be changed in ways we can already foresee.
据估计，世界上有超过14亿只猫狗，而其中大部分都没有主人。随着气候危机重创地球，我们已能窥见它们种群数量与生活状态的必然改变。
The way humans take care of companion animals will likely evolve, said Dr. Alexandra Protopopova, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia who studies animal welfare. "With increasing heatwaves, people may reduce outdoor exercise opportunities for dogs," Protopopova noted. People may also struggle to afford adequate food and medical care for their animals, and may find shelters do not welcome dogs and cats.
据研究动物福利的英属哥伦比亚大学助理教授亚历山德拉·普罗托波娃博士所言，人类照顾动物伴侣的方式很可能会逐渐变化。“随着气温的上升，人们可能会降低狗的户外活动频率。”她指出。人们可能逐渐难以为他们的宠物提供足够的食物和医疗护理，并可能发现收容所也不再欢迎猫狗们。
Even the free ranging dogs and cats, who rely on humans for their resources, however, will experience drastic life changes. As there are fewer humans to either directly feed them or provide them with indirect sustenance like food waste, starvation will increase. An altering climate may also prompt free ranging animals to alter their territorial boundaries as they seek opportunities to feed, or modify their reproductive behaviors as cats do by extending kitten season during prolonged summers.
即使是那些依靠人类资源的流浪猫狗，也会面临生活的巨大变化。由于直接（投喂）或间接（如食物垃圾）喂养它们的人越来越少，饿死的动物会增加。由于气候变化，它们可能在觅食过程中更改领地界线，或改变繁殖行为——就像猫会在漫长的夏季延长繁殖期。
"Most dogs live as free agents around human cities [or] settlements and utilize resources provided by people," Protopopova said. Those free agent dogs have already shown a capacity to evolve based on the climate of their region. They are, like all animals, natural creatures whose larger species change due to natural selection.
普罗托波娃说：“大多数狗都在人类城市（或）居住区周围流浪，并利用人们提供的资源生活。这些流浪狗已经显现出了根据其区域气候进化的能力。它们和所有动物一样，都是自然生灵，整个物种因自然选择而改变。
Cats, on the other hand, might have an easier go of transitioning simply because of their unique character. They have a flexible relationship with humans, more utilitarian and deliberate than that of dogs, and as such may have an edge that will become more evident as climate change worsens.
另一方面，得益于独特的性格，猫可能更容易渡过这一变化过程。它们与人类有着灵活的关系，比狗更“功利”和“刻意”，同时，随着气候变化加剧，这种优势将变得更为明显。
图片源自网络
02 海獭，对抗全球变暖的英雄！
导语：Sea otters were hunted to the brink in the 19th Century fur trade, but their numbers have been slowly recovering since. The return of these playful creatures doesn't just transform their ecosystems, it canturn them into a powerful carbon sink.
海獭曾因19世纪的皮毛贸易而被捕杀至灭绝边缘，但在过去一段时间里，它们的种群数量正在缓慢恢复。这些有趣的小生灵的回归不仅转变着周边的生态系统，还能将其转化为一个强有力的“碳槽”。
图源：BBC
Now, scientists are studying how these marine mustelids may also be climate superheroes. Sea otters help ecosystems capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it as biomass and deep-sea detritus, preventing it from being converted back to carbon dioxide and contributing to climate change.
现在，科学家正在研究这些鼬科动物是如何拯救气候的。海獭帮助生态系统从大气层中捕捉碳元素并以生物量和深海有机残渣的形式储存下来，防止它们被转化回二氧化碳加剧气候变化。
Sea otters' voracious appetites help protect the kelp. In order to maintain their high metabolic rates, the mammals must eat constantly. Among their favorite foods are sea urchins, which are easy to catch and dense in calories. When present, sea otters eat so many urchins that the invertebrate's population stays low. When sea otters are lost from an ecosystem, sea urchin numbers spike. The herbivorous urchins then basically clear cut the kelp, chewing through the holdfasts at their base and sending the rest of the giant algae to wash away. Sea urchins even eat the young seaweed. If sea otters return, however, their feasting can put the herbivores in check and allow the kelp to flourish once again.
海獭巨大的食量能保护大型褐藻。为了维持哺乳动物的高新陈代谢率，他们必须保持较高的进食频率。海胆是他们最爱的食物之一，不仅易于捕捉，还有较高的热量。当海獭存在于某个生态系统时，它们会大量捕食海胆，将这种无脊椎动物的数量维持在较低水平。当海獭从某个生态系统中消失时，海胆的数量便会急剧增加。这些草食性的海胆会咬穿大型褐藻附着用的基部，使其被海浪冲走，几乎将它们消灭殆尽。海胆甚至还会啃食海藻幼体。但只要海獭们回归，饱餐一顿，就能遏制这些食草动物，为大型褐藻再次繁荣提供条件。
海獭拥有巨大的食量，每天都会吃掉相当于他们身体重量
四分之一的食物 图源：BBC
Kelp has been thought of as a possible climate solution. That's because it can grow really fast – up to 60cm a day. That means it's pulling carbon from the atmosphere faster than a slower growing plant. When kelp dies and washes ashore, carbon returns to the atmosphere during decomposition. But when dead kelp sinks to the sea floor, it might not surface (and therefore decompose and produce carbon dioxide) for thousands of years. "A kelp frond that drifts to the seafloor and decomposes, that carbon might be trapped in the sediments for millennia, even millions of years," says Pearson, a marine biologist at the University of Alaska Southeast.
大型褐藻被认为可能是一种解决气候问题的办法。因为它生长迅速——一天最多能长60cm。这意味着，相比生长缓慢的植物，它能更快地从大气中提取碳元素。若大型褐藻死亡后被冲刷上岸，被吸收的碳元素将由于分解作用回到大气中。但若死亡的大型褐藻沉至海床，它们可能上千年都不会重回海面（并因此分解产生二氧化碳）。“一片漂至海床并被分解的大型褐藻，其中的碳元素可能被沉淀物捕获贮存千年甚至数百万年。”东南阿拉斯加大学的海洋生物学家皮尔逊说。
褐藻.图片源自网络
In 2012, a team of ecologists including Estes published a study on the potential for sea otter carbon sequestration in the North Pacific between the Aleutian archipelago and Vancouver Island. Using data on the rate of kelp growth and its density at sites with and without otters, they found that the presence of sea otters across rocky reef habitat in the study area, covering 51,551 square kilometers (19,900 square miles – an area about the same size as Costa Rica), is capable of storing 4.4 to 8.7 million tonnes of carbon compared to if an otter-free condition. That's more carbon than that emitted from a million passenger cars for a year.
2012年，一个生态学家队伍发表了一篇关于海獭在阿留申群岛和温哥华岛之间的北太平洋海域的碳捕捉潜能的研究。他们比较了有和无海獭生活的条件下大型褐藻生长速率及其密度的数据，发现在研究区域中，有海獭存在的占地5万1551平方公里的礁石栖息地（约等于哥斯达黎加的国土面积）相比于无海獭生存的区域，能储存440到870万吨碳元素，比100万辆客车一年的碳排放总量还多。
03 气候变化影响下 有些动物开始变形了！
导语：Humans are not the only ones adapting to the effects of global climate change. Animals are also adapting to the environmental changes — as some warm-blooded animals are beginning to "shapeshift" their bodies in response to shifts in climate, according to a recent study in Trends in Ecology & Evolution led by Sara Ryding, a researcher at Deakin University in Australia.
人类并不是唯一在适应全球气候变化影响的生物，动物也在适应环境变化。澳大利亚迪肯大学的研究员萨拉·莱丁关于生态与进化趋势的研究表明，一些温血动物开始改变身体形态以应对气候的变化。
一只椋鸟坐在华盛顿潮汐盆地盛开的樱花树上。图源：npr
In the study, researchers find that some warm-blooded animals are experiencing changes to their bodies due to the rising temperatures, resulting in larger legs, ears and beaks in some cases. The researchers noted that according to a principle known as "Allen's Rule," warm-blooded animals living in colder climates tend to have smaller appendages (like beaks or legs) than animals of the same species living in warmer climates.
研究人员发现，为了适应升高的温度，一些温血动物发生了身体的变化，进化出了更大的腿、耳朵和喙。研究人员指出，根据一项被称为“艾伦法则*”的规则，生活在寒冷气候生活下的温血动物往往比生活在温暖气候生活下的同类动物拥有有更小的器官（如喙或腿）。
*艾伦法则：约耳·阿萨夫·艾伦在1877年提出的一个动物学规则,认为在恒温动物中, 同种的个体或近缘的异种之间, 生活在寒冷地区的物种比生活在温暖地区的物种其四肢等突出的部分具有变短的倾向 。
Some of the most compelling evidence of anatomical change was found in birds in Australia and North America, according to researchers. Certain species of Australian parrots have demonstrated about 4%–10%increase in the size of their bills since 1871, In North America, the dark-eyed junco also has seen an increase in bill size. Larger beaks help birds dissipate excess body heat more effectively, the study said, which is a useful trait as global temperatures rise.
研究人员称，在澳大利亚和北美的鸟类中发现了一些令人信服的解剖学证据。自1871年以来，某些确切种类的澳大利亚鹦鹉的喙长已经增加了4%-10%；在北美，暗眼灯芯草雀的喙长也在增加。该研究称，更大的喙有助于鸟类更有效地散发身体的多余热量，随着全球变暖，这是一个很有效的辨别特征。
一种澳大利亚鹦鹉. 图片源自网络
暗眼灯芯草雀. 图片源自网络
"A lot of the time when climate change is discussed in mainstream media, people are asking 'can humans overcome this?', or 'what technology can solve this?'," Ryding said in a news release from Cell Press. She said that just like humans, animals also have to adapt to climate changes. "The climate change that we have created is heaping a whole lot of pressure on them, and while some species will adapt, others will not," Ryding said.
“许多时候，当主流媒体讨论气候变化时，人们都在问‘人类能战胜它吗？’，或者‘有什么技术可以解决它？’ ”莱丁在细胞出版社的一份新闻稿中说。她说，和人类一样，动物也必须适应气候变化。”我们造成的气候变化给它们带来了巨大的压力，有些物种能适应，有些不能。”莱丁说。
难点表达解释：
stray n. an animal that has got lost or separated from its owner or that has no owner 走失的宠物（或家畜）；无主的宠物（或家畜）
例：There are many strays around the city.
ravage v. to damage sth badly 毁坏；损坏；严重损害
例：a country ravaged by civil war
sustenance n. the food and drink that people, animals and plants need to live and stay healthy 食物；营养；养料
例：There's not much sustenance in a bowl of soup.
have an edge v. 具有优势
例：But there's no reason to believe that we'll always have an edge.
biomass n. the total quantity or weight of plants and animals in a particular area or volume (术语) 生物量（以生境面积或容积表示）
例：The weight of living organisms is called biomass.
detritus n. natural waste material that is left after sth has been used or broken up (术语) 风化物；残渣；腐殖质
例：organic detritus from fish and plants
kelp n. a type of brown seaweed , sometimes used as a fertilizer to help plants grow 巨藻；大型褐藻
例：The study on the effect of antibiotics in process of Thalassiosira sp. ′ s growing Seaweeds are any of numerous marine algae, such as a kelp, rockweed, or gulfweed.
metabolic：adj. Metabolic means relating to a person's or animal's metabolism. 新陈代谢的;代谢作用的
例：Your metabolic rate is the speed at which your body transforms food into energy.
invertebrate n. any animal with no backbone , for example a worm （术语) 无脊椎动物
例：The results show that there were 128 species of invertebrates there.
alga n. very simple plants with no real leaves, stems or roots that grow in or near water, including seaweed (术语) 藻；海藻
例：Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.
frond n. a long piece of seaweed that looks like one of these leaves （海藻长条形的）植物体，叶状体
例：Large brown seaweeds having fluted leathery fronds.
millennia n. 千年
例：China, as it has been for millenia doesn't really care about what the outside world does or thinks.
sequestration n. the act of segregating or sequestering 封存
例：This last technology, carbon sequestration, is of paramount importance.
anatomical adj. Anatomical means relating to the structure of the bodies of people and animals. 解剖的；（人体或动物体）结构上的
例：Anatomical terms are the vocabulary of medicine.
dissipate v. to gradually become or make sth become weaker until it disappears （使）消散，消失；驱散
例：Her laughter soon dissipated the tension in the air.
原文链接：
01 https://www.salon.com/2021/10/11/climate-change-is-going-to-make-life-harder-for-dogs-and-cats/
02 https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210914-how-sea-otters-help-fight-climate-change
03 https://www.npr.org/2021/09/09/1035503769/climate-change-animals-shape-shift-australia
文案 | 陈瀚 赵巍 肖敏瑜 陈宇昕 刘铸
排版 | 赵巍
