英国东岸鸟类大批死亡之谜

Every new tide brings with it further evidence that our seabirds are suffering. Dead gannets, guillemots and razorbills are being found on beaches from northern Scotland down to The Wash [UK].

每一次潮起潮落都会让更多证据浮出水面，证明海鸟正在挣扎求存。从苏格兰北部到英国沃什湾的海滩上，都发现了死掉的塘鹅、海鸠和刀嘴海雀。

 

The Yorkshire coastline is home to half a million birds, and in recent days, some of these have also started to die. 

约克郡海岸线是五十万只鸟的家园，最近，这里的一些鸟也开始死亡。

 

Poppy Rummery, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

We're monitoring seabird populations here at Bempton, and to have this kind of huge scale death of seabirds, we're unsure how that's going to affect them in the future. With already, sort of, declining populations, to see this mass death is really, really devastating¹.

波比·鲁默里       英国皇家保护鸟类协会

“我们正在监视本普顿这里的海鸟数量，面对海鸟这样大规模的死亡，我们不确定这将如何影响它们的未来。海鸟的数量本来就在日益减少，现在又看到它们大批死亡，真的很令人悲痛。”

 

Some birds are changing their behaviour, coming inland into rivers. Those that are found dead are emaciated² – half the weight they should be.

一些鸟类正在改变它们的行为，进入内陆河流。那些被发现的死鸟都很瘦弱，它们的体重只有正常的一半。

 

Paul Murphy, BBC correspondent

The investigation³ into why this is happening is complex because these birds are already being impacted by climate change and industrial activity out at sea. But the strongest line of inquiry⁴ so far is that some sort of toxin⁵ is infecting the fish that they are eating.

保罗·墨菲       BBC通讯员

“对于为什么出现这种情况，调查起来很复杂，因为这些鸟已经受到气候变化和海上工业活动的影响。但到目前为止，最有力的调查方向是某种毒素污染了鸟类捕食的鱼。”

 

Francis Daunt⁶, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

They're dying of starvation, it seems. And now what we're trying to find out is what's causing them to starve. Toxins⁷ are produced by algae⁸ or plankton⁹, and when those get at high concentrations, you can get sufficient quantities of toxins produced by these algae into the marine¹⁰ environment, and that can work its way up the food chain.

弗朗西斯·丹特       英国生态与水文研究中心

“看来海鸟是饿死的。现在我们想试着查明是什么导致它们挨饿。毒素是由藻类和浮游生物产生的，当达到高浓度时，这些藻类会将产生的大量毒素带入海洋环境中，这会沿食物链向上传递。”

 

At least 2000 seabirds are thought to have died along the UK's east coast in recent weeks. 

据信，最近几周至少有2000只海鸟死在了英国东海岸。

 

Poppy Rummery, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Even today, we've had at least, sort of, four razorbills seen just off the coast here, certainly dead beneath the cliffs, and… ones that are acting¹¹ strangely as well, so whether or not they make it and, well, to the rest of the day, who knows?

波比·鲁默里       英国皇家保护鸟类协会

“仅在今天，我们在海岸附近就看到了至少四只刀嘴海雀，可以肯定它们死在悬崖下面了，我们还看到了一些行为反常的鸟，不知道它们能不能活下来，连能不能撑过今天也说不定。”

 

Birds are often a barometer¹² of the health of our seas. The unprecedented¹³ scale of this ongoing¹⁴ incident will be seen as yet another warning that our climate is changing more quickly than wildlife can adapt.

鸟类常是海洋健康状况的晴雨表。这起持续发展的事件规模前所未见，又一次警示人们气候变化要快于野生动物所能适应的速度。

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