Climbing Bears Help Plants Keep Cool
熊人速递

Mountain-climbing bears transport cherry tree seeds, internally at first, to cooler, higher altitudes where the trees can survive as temperatures rise.
登山的熊肚子里的樱桃树种子跟随熊被散播到更清凉、海拔更高的地方以对抗气候变暖。

播音/撰文 凯伦·霍普金 (Karen Hopkin)
翻译 Meatle
审核 邰伦玥

Picture a brave fireman carrying a pet from a burning building. Now, imagine that global warming is the burning building, a cherry tree is the pet, and a bear is the fireman. You’ve now got the gist of a new study that finds that cherry trees may be able to survive rising temperatures thanks to mountain-climbingbears that carry the cherry tree seeds to cooler climes.
想象一下消防员从燃烧的大楼中救出宠物的场景。现在，把全球变暖中的地球想为那个燃烧的大楼，樱桃树是那宠物，而熊则是那个消防员。现在你应该了解了一项新研究的主旨：爬山的熊会将樱桃的种子带到温度较低的地域，使樱桃树能够在全球变暖的情况下幸存。

It’s projected that, over the next hundred years, temperatures on Earth could rise an average of nearly five degrees Celsius. While some animals might be able to migrate north to escape the brunt of the heat, plants can’t uproot themselves quite so easily. But researchers wondered whether the creatures that disperse plant seeds might be able to help.
据估计，在接下来的100年中，全球平均气温将上升约5℃。动物可以通过迁徙到北方来躲避骤升的气温，而植物却不那么容易迁离到别处。研究人员好奇的是，那些能帮助传播种子的动物在植物迁离中能否起到作用。

So scientists spent three years sifting through the droppings of Asiatic bears, looking for cherry tree seeds. And they found that the bears were indeed transporting the seeds to cooler locations—not by moving to higher latitudes, but higher altitudes.
研究人员花费三年的时间筛查亚洲黑熊的粪便，在其中寻找樱桃种子。他们发现那些熊确实将种子传递到温度较低的地区，但不是将这些种子散播到更高的纬度去，而是到更高的海拔上。

Seems the bears snack on the fruits that are found at the foot of the mountains in spring and then make the climb to higher elevations to enjoy young leaves and buds and flowers, particularly as the season progresses.
事实似乎是，黑熊们在山脚下吃下了樱桃，然后爬上山去享受山上的繁花嫩叶，特别是在季节更迭之时。

The researchers could tell that seeds had been deposited higher up the mountain than they had been harvested by the ratio of their oxygen isotopes, which changes with altitude. And the 300 or so meters the seeds ascended should buy the resulting trees a degree or two in heat relief. The study is in the journal Current Biology. [Shoji Naoe et al, Mountain-climbing bears protect cherry species from global warming through vertical seed dispersal]
由于氧同位素是跟随着海拔变化，研究人员通过分析种子中的氧同位素差异发现了山脚下的樱桃被带到了山上。这种大约300米的海拔差异可以使樱桃树的生活环境温度降低1-2℃。该研究发表在《当代生物》上(Current Biology)。

The finding is good news for plants, like cherry trees, that fruit in spring. Unfortunately, the results suggest that plants that fruit in fall, when bears are headed back down for hibernation, will have to hold out for a different animal hero. Or for a bear with a bad sense of direction.
这项发现对像樱桃树那样的在春季结果的树来说，是好消息。不幸的是，对于那些在秋天结果的树来说，它们就不能指望熊来帮助它们了，因为熊在这段时间需要下山去冬眠——但也许某只没有方向感的熊会帮到它们吧。