Symbiosis: A surprising tale of species cooperation - David Gonzales

翻译人员: Wei Dai 校对人员: Yi Zong

（音乐）

Are you familiar with the word symbiosis?

你熟悉Symbiosis （共生关系）吗？

这个美妙词汇用来形容两个不同物种之间的伙伴关系，

It's a fancy term for a partnership between two different species,

比如蜜蜂和花儿。

such as bees and flowers.

In a symbiosis, both species depend on each other.

在一个共生关系中，两个物种相互依赖。

我想要告诉你们一个很神奇的共生关系

I want to tell you about a remarkable symbiosis

between a little bird, the Clark's nutcracker,

建立于一只小鸟，克拉克星鸟（Clark's Nutcracker），

and a big tree, the whitebark pine.

和一棵大树，槐芭椑（Whitebark Pine）之间的关系。

Whitebark grow in the mountains of Wyoming, Montana

槐芭椑生长于（美国的）怀俄明州，蒙大拿和其他西部各州的山区里。

and other western states.

They have huge canopies and lots of needles,

它们有巨大的顶篷和很多的针叶，

which provide cover and shelter for other plants and animals,

为其他的灌木和动物提供了遮掩和保护，

and whitebark feed the forest.

而且，槐芭可以为森林提供养料。

Their cones are packed with protein.

它们的毬果拥有大量的蛋白质。

Squirrels gnaw the cones from the upper branches

松鼠从它的上枝上咬掉毬果，

这样它们掉落在地上，

so they fall to the ground,

and then race down to bury them in piles, or middens.

然后，松鼠们就抢着去把它们埋在土堆，或贝丘里。

But they don't get to keep all of them;

但是松鼠们不能保存住所有的毬果；

grizzlies and black bears love finding middens.

灰熊和黑熊就爱找那些贝丘。

But there's more to a symbiosis than one species feeding another.

然而，共生关系远远不止于一个物种喂养另一个。

In the case of the Clark's nutcracker, this bird gives back.

针对克拉克星鸟的例子，这种鸟会给与回报。

While gathering its seeds, it also replants the trees.

当（它）收集它的种子时，它也重新种植了（槐芭）树。

这就是它如何工作的：用她的厉害的喙状嘴，

Here's how it works: using her powerful beak,

the nutcracker picks apart a cone in a treetop,

星鸟从树尖上啄下毬果，

pulling out the seeds.

拔出种子。她可以一次性在她的嘴里存上80颗种子。

She can store up to 80 of them in a pouch in her throat.

Then she flies through the forest

然后她穿梭在森林里，寻找一个保存她的种子的地方。

looking for a place to cache the seeds

（她能）在土下的一英寸的洞里存上9颗种子。

an inch under the soil in piles of up to eight seeds.

Nutcrackers can gather up to 90,000 seeds in the autumn,

星鸟能在一个秋天里收集上9万颗种子，

以在来年的冬天和春天返回来寻找它们。

which they return for in the winter and spring.

And these birds are smart.

这些鸟非常聪明。它们能记住这些种子存放的地方。

They remember where all those seeds are.

它们甚至会利用地形和地貌--

They even use landmarks on the landscape --

trees, stumps, rocks --

树木，残根，岩石--

to triangulate to caches buried deep under the snow.

来三角定位到深埋在积雪里的存储处。

What they don't go back and get, those seeds become whitebark.

那些她们没有能回来收集的种子，它们就变成了槐芭。

这个共生关系对于双方物种是如此的重要

This symbiosis is so important to both species

that they've changed, or evolved, to suit each other.

以至于它们改变，或演化来相互适应对方。

星鸟演进生成了长长的，坚硬的喙形嘴

Nutcrackers have developed long, tough beaks

以从毬果啄出种子，

for extracting seeds from cones,

and whitebarks' branches all sweep upwards

而槐芭的树枝都长成向上生长的

with the cones at the very ends,

毬果长在了最顶端，这样可以在星鸟飞越的时候提供给它们。

so they can offer them to the nutcrackers as they fly by.

你看，这就是一个共生关系：

That's a symbiosis:

Two species cooperating to help each other for the benefit of all.

两个不同的物种为了大家共同的目的相互合作共同帮助对方。