From the top of the food chain down: Rewilding our world - George Monbiot

從食物鏈的頂端向下：野化我們的世界 - 喬治．蒙比爾特

譯者: Isabel Lin 審譯者: 紀維 秦

We all know about the dinosaurs

我們都知道恐龍

that once roamed the planet,

曾經遍地遨遊於這個星球。

but long after they went extinct,

它們絕跡許久以後，

great beasts we call the megafauna

我們統稱巨型動物（megafauna）的巨獸們

lived on every continent.

才取而代之，遍佈各大洲。

In the Americas, ground sloths the size of elephants

在美洲，如象般大的地懶

pulled down trees with their claws.

用它們的手爪就能將大樹拔斷。

Saber-toothed cats the size of brown bears

跟棕熊一樣大的劍齒虎

hunted in packs,

成群狩獵，

but they were no match for short-faced bears,

但是它們仍非美洲短面熊的對手，

which stood thirteen feet on their hind legs,

後者以後腿直立有近乎 4 公尺高。

它們驅趕劍齒虎，很可能是為了不讓 自己的獵物被捷足先登。

and are likely to have driven these cats

away from their prey.

There were armadillos as big as small cars,

還有如小型汽車般大的犰狳。

an eight foot beaver,

身長 2.4 公尺的河貍。

and a bird with a 26 foot wingspan.

跟展翼寬達 8 公尺的鳥。

Almost everywhere, the world's megafauna

然而，現今各地的巨型動物幾乎絕跡，

were driven to extinction, often by human hunters.

多是人類獵殺所致。

某些物種仍苟活在亞洲、非洲某處。

Some species still survive in parts of Africa and Asia.

其他的地方，往日巨獸的影響仍源遠流長。

In other places, you can still see the legacy of these great beasts.

例如，大部分的樹木 能從樹幹斷裂之處重新發芽生長，

Most trees are able to resprout

where their trunk is broken

to withstand the loss of much of their bark

還能夠承受失去大量的樹皮，

and to survive splitting, twisting and trampling,

在斷裂、扭曲、或被踐踏後依然存活，

partly because they evolved to survive attacks by elephants.

這些功夫一部分是為了抵禦大象的蹂躪。

美洲叉角羚能跑得如此之快

The American pronghorn can run so fast

because it evolved to escape the American cheetah.

因為這是有利於逃離美洲豹追捕的演化方向。

The surviving animals live in ghost ecosystems

倖存於滅絕的動物們活在一個幽靈生態：

空有一身禦敵的好本領，

adapted to threats from species that no longer exist.

然而掠食它們的物種，今已不復存。

Today, it may be possible to resurrect those ghosts,

我們現今有一絲希望，讓那些幽靈動物復活：

to bring back lost species using genetic material.

利用基因物質讓逝去的動物起死回生。

For instance, there's been research in to

例如，有個研究試圖利用

冰凍的遺骸來複製長毛象。

cloning woolly mammoths from frozen remains.

But even if it's not possible,

但是就算做不到，

we can still restore many of the ecosystems

我們還是可以還原許多這世界 失去的生態系統。

the world has lost.

怎麼做呢？就利用那些廢棄的農場。

How? By making use of abandoned farms.

隨著糧食市場的全球化，

As the market for food is globalized,

貧瘠的土地失去了競爭力。

infertile land becomes uncompetitive.

Farmers in barren places can't compete

貧瘠的地方農民無法跟 有肥沃土地農作的人們競爭。

with people growing crops on better land elsewhere.

As a result, farming has started to retreat from many regions,

結果，農作開始從許多地區消失，

and trees have started to return.

取而代之的是樹木的重生。

One estimate claims that two-thirds of land in the US

一項估計宣稱 美國三分之二的土地

曾經一度是森林，為了農作而被剷平，

that was once forested but was cleared for farming

has become forested again.

現在已再度林木叢生。

Another estimate suggests that by 2030,

另一項預測指出到 2030 年時，

an area in Europe the size of Poland

在歐洲會有與波蘭一樣大的土地

will be vaccated by farmers.

將被農民閒置。

So even if we can't use DNA to bring back

所以，即使我們不能用 DNA 再生巨型地獺跟巨型犰狳，

ground sloths and giant armadillos,

we can restore bears, wolves, pumas

我們還是可以讓熊、灰狼、美洲豹、 山貓、麋鹿、和美洲野牛

lynx, moose and bison

to the places where they used to live.

回到它們原來生活的地方。

Some of these animals can reshape their surroundings,

某些動物能重塑它們的環境，

創造其他生物也能發跡的條件。

creating conditions that allow other species to thrive.

When wolves were reintroduced to

1995年，灰狼再次被帶回到黃石國家公園時，

the Yellowstone National Park in 1995,

they quickly transformed the ecosystem.

牠們不久便讓整個生態系統大為改觀。

Where they reduced the numbers of overpopulated deer,

牠們減少了過度繁殖的鹿的數量，

vegetation began to recover.

草木因此有機會復甦。

The height of some trees quintupled in just six years.

有些樹木僅僅六年內長高了五倍！

當森林回復，鳴鳥也回來了。

As forests returned, so did songbirds.

Beavers, which eat trees, multiplied in the rivers,

以樹為食的河貍多了好幾倍，

and their dams provided homes

而牠們的水壩變成了 水獺、麝鼠、鴨子、青蛙和魚兒們溫暖的家。

for otters, muskrats, ducks, frogs and fish.

灰狼吃掉土狼，

The wolves killed coyotes, allowing rabbits

讓兔子和老鼠得以增殖，

and mice to increase,

providing more food for hawks, weasels,

提供更多食物給老鷹、黃鼠狼、

狐狸、還有獾。

foxes and badgers.

Bald eagles and ravens fed on the carrion

禿鷹和烏鴉取食灰狼遺棄的腐屍。

that the wolves abandoned.

So did bears, which also ate the berries

還有也吃野果的熊 又出現在復育的灌木叢間了。

on the returning shrubs.

Bison numbers rose as they browsed

野牛的數目也逐漸增加，隨著牠們於 重現生機的森林間進食。

the revitalized forests.

灰狼呀，幾乎影響了生態的所有層面。

The wolves changed almost everything.

This is an example of a trophic cascade,

這是個營養級聯（Trophic cascade）的例子：

a change at the top of the food chain

一個食物鏈頂端的改變，

that tumbles all the way to the bottom,

一路震盪到了底端，

affecting every level.

影響了所有的階層。

The discovery of widespread trophic cascades

發現營養級聯效應在生態系中無處不在

may be one of the most exciting scientific findings

可能是近半世紀以來最令人興奮的科學發現了。

of the past half century.

They tell us that ecosystems that have lost

各種例證說明了生態系統之中

只需一、兩種大型動物絕跡

just one or two species of large animals

can behave in radically different ways

就會徹底變質、面目全非。

from those that retain them.

All over the world, new movements are trying

世界各地，新興運動正在試著

to catalyze the restoration of nature

激起自然界的自癒能力

in a process called rewilding.

透過稱為「野化」（rewilding）的方法。

This means undoing some of the damage we've caused,

這意味著復原一些我們造成的破壞，

reestablishing species which have been driven out,

協助我們驅走的生物重新扎根，

然後我們不再干預。

and then stepping back.

There is no attempt to create an ideal ecosystem,

我們並不意圖 建立 一個 理想 的生態，

to produce a heath, a rainforest or a coral reef.

去 製造出 荒地、熱帶雨林、或珊瑚礁。

Rewilding is about bringing back the species

野化是要將重新引入生物至牠們適宜的棲地，

that drive dynamic processes

任牠們互動，然後順其自然。

and then letting nature take its course.

But it's essential that rewilding must never be used

但是非常重要的是，野化絕對不能

as an excuse to push people off the land.

用來作為把人類擠出這塊地的理由。

It should happen only with the consent

它應該得到當地人的同意與熱誠後才能進行。

and enthusiasm of the people who work there.

Imagine standing on a cliff in England,

試想！站在英格蘭的峭壁邊，

watching sperm whales attacking shoals of herring

看著抹香鯨攻擊一群鯡魚，

猶如此情景在 18 世紀，時時在離海岸不遠處發生。

as they did within sight of the shore

until the 18th century.

By creating marine reserves

只要設立禁止商業捕魚行為的海洋保護區

in which no commerical fishing takes place,

that can happen again.

前述景況就能重現。

Imagine a European Serengeti

想像一個歐洲版本的塞倫蓋蒂生物保護區 （位於東非的大型野生動物保護區）

full of the animals that used to live there:

充滿了曾經在此生活的動物：

hippos, rhinos, elephants, hyenas and lions.

河馬、犀牛、大象、土狼、和獅子。

What rewilding reintroduces,

野化重新導入的

alongside the missing animals and plants,

除了絕跡的動物與植物外，

還有一種稀有的東西叫做「希望」。

is that rare species called hope.

It tells us that ecological change

它告訴我們生態的變化

不必總是往變糟的方向上進行。

need not always proceed in the same direction.

The silent spring could be followed by a wild summer.

清幽的春天後，依然會是狂野的夏天。