How animals and plants are evolving in cities | Menno Schilthuizen

Transcriber: Ivana Korom Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

翻译人员: Ivana Korom 校对人员: Ruan Xiu Ze 阮修泽

这是我成长的地方。

荷兰鹿特丹附近的

一个小村庄。

在 20 世纪 70 和 80 年代， 当我十几岁的时候，

This is where I grew up.

A small village near the city of Rotterdam

那里仍然是个安静的地方。

in the Netherlands.

到处都是农场、田野、沼泽地，

In the 1970s and 1980s, when I was a teenager,

我在那里度过我的闲暇时光， 享受生活，

this area was still a quiet place.

It was full of farms and fields and swampland,

画这样的油画、

采野花、赏飞鸟，

and I spent my free time there, enjoying myself,

也收集昆虫。

painting oil paintings like this one,

这是我最珍贵的战利品之一。

这是种非常特殊的神奇甲虫，

collecting wildflowers, bird-watching

and also collecting insects.

叫做蚁巢甲虫。

这种甲虫在蚂蚁的巢穴里

And this was one of my prized finds.

度过它的一生。

This is a very special beetle,

它进化出了蚂蚁的“语言”。

an amazing beetle called an ant beetle.

它使用和蚂蚁一样的化学信号、

And this is a kind of beetle that lives its entire life

和蚂蚁一样的气味来进行沟通，

inside an ant's nest.

It has evolved to speak ant.

现在，这只甲虫正在告诉工蚁，

It's using the same chemical signals,

“嘿，我也是一只工蚁，

the same smells as the ants do, for communicating,

我饿了，给我些吃的吧。”

而蚂蚁照做了，

and right now, this beetle is telling this worker ant,

因为甲虫使用了相同的化学物质。

"Hey, I'm also a worker ant,

在这数百万年里，

I'm hungry, please feed me."

这种甲虫进化出了一种 在蚂蚁社会中生活的方式。

And the ant complies,

because the beetle is using the same chemicals.

我在那个村庄生活的

Over these millions of years,

那些年里，

this beetle has evolved a way to live inside an ant society.

我收集了两万多种不同的甲虫，

我还制作了一个钉着甲虫的展板。

Over the years,

when I was living in that village,

这让我从小就对进化产生了兴趣。

I collected 20,000 different beetles,

所有这些不同的生命形态 和生物多样性是如何产生的？

and I built a collection of pinned beetles.

And this got me interested, at a very early age, in evolution.

于是，我成为了一名 进化生物学家，

How do all those different forms, how does all this diversity come about?

就像查尔斯·达尔文一样。

和查尔斯·达尔文一样， 进化大多数发生在过去这件事

So I became an evolutionary biologist,

也很快让我感到了沮丧。

like Charles Darwin.

And like Charles Darwin, I also soon became frustrated

我们通过研究今天看到的规律，

by the fact that evolution is something that happened mostly in the past.

试图了解在过去发生的进化，

但我们永远也无法看到 实时发生的进化。

We study the patterns that we see today,

我们无法观察进化。

trying to understand the evolution that took place in the past,

正如达尔文本人所说，

“我们看不到这些 正在进行的缓慢变化，

but we can never actually see it taking place in real time.

We cannot observe it.

直到时间之手 刻下岁月的痕迹。”

As Darwin himself already said,

我们真的看不到吗？

"We see nothing of these slow changes in progress,

在过去的几十年中，

until the hand of time has marked the lapse of ages."

进化生物学家开始意识到，

进化有时候进行得快多了， 并且可以被观察到，

Or do we?

Over the past few decades,

evolutionary biologists have come to realize that sometimes,

尤其是在环境剧烈变化、

evolution proceeds much faster and it can actually be observed,

生物急需适应的时候。

especially when the environment changes drastically

当然，这些年，

巨大的环境变化 通常是由人类造成的。

and the need to adapt is great.

我们割草、灌溉、耕作、建造，

And of course, these days,

我们把温室气体排放到大气中，

great environmental changes are usually caused by us.

改变了气候。

We mow, we irrigate, we plow, we build,

我们把外来的动植物

放生到它们不曾生活过的地方，

we pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere

我们收获鱼、树木和猎物， 来满足食物和其他需求。

that change the climate.

We release exotic plants and animals

in places where they didn't live before,

而城市是所有这些环境变化的中心。

and we harvest fish and trees and game for our food and other needs.

城市人为形成了全新的栖息地。

And all these environmental changes reach their epicenter in cities.

它包裹着砖块、混凝土、 玻璃和钢铁的外壳，

Cities form a completely new habitat that we have created.

植物很难在这些

不透水的表层扎根。

And we clothe it in brick and concrete and glass and steel,

城市同样也是化学污染、

which are impervious surfaces

that plants can only root in with the greatest difficulty.

人造光和噪音

最集中的地方。

城市中还混杂了

Also in cities, we find the greatest concentrations

来自全球各地的动植物，

of chemical pollution,

of artificial light and noise.

因为它们是从庭园、水族馆

和宠物贸易中逃离出来的。

And we find wild mixtures of plants and animals

那么当一个物种生活在 完全改变了的环境中时，

from all over the world that live in the city,

because they have escaped from the gardening

and aquarium and pet trade.

它会怎么做呢？

And what does a species do

当然，让人难过的是， 很多物种会灭绝掉。

when it lives in a completely changed environment?

但那些没有灭绝的物种

则以惊人的方式适应了环境。

Well, many, of course, go, sadly, extinct.

现在，生物学家开始意识到

But the ones that don't go extinct,

城市是今天的“进化高压锅”。

they adapt in spectacular ways.

在这些地方，野生动植物

Biologists these days are beginning to realize

在我们眼皮底下快速进化，

that cities are today's pressure cookers of evolution.

来适应这些全新的都市环境。

These are places where wild animals and plants

就像几百万年前的蚁巢甲虫

are evolving under our eyes very rapidly

刚搬进蚁群的时候。

to suit these new, urban conditions.

我们现在发现， 进入人类领地的动植物

Exactly like the ant beetle did millions of years ago,

正在适应我们的城市。

when it moved inside an ant colony.

于是，

We now find animals and plants that have moved inside the human colony

我们也开始意识到，

进化其实可以发生得非常快。

and are adapting to our cities.

它未必一定需要经年累月；

And in doing so,

we're also beginning to realize

进化也可以发生在我们的眼前。

that evolution can actually proceed very fast.

例如，这种白足鼠。

It does not always take the long lapse of ages;

这是一种来自纽约周边地区 的本土哺乳动物，

it can happen under our very eyes.

在 400 多年前， 早在城市建立前，

This, for example, is the white-footed mouse.

这些老鼠遍地都是。

This is a native mammal from the area around New York,

但如今，它们被困在 绿色的孤岛上——

and more than 400 years ago, before the city was built,

被柏油路和车流的海洋 包围的城市公园。

this mouse lived everywhere.

But these days, they are stuck in little islands of green,

有点像现代版的 加拉帕戈斯群岛上的达尔文雀。

the city's parks, surrounded by a sea of tarmac and traffic.

和达尔文雀一样，

A bit like a modern-day version of Darwin's finches on the Galapagos.

在被分隔开的各个公园里， 老鼠开始了进化，

开始变得各不相同。

And like Darwin's finches,

这是我的同事， 福特汉姆大学的

the mice in each separate park have started evolving,

杰森·孟希-萨奥斯 （Jason Munshi-South），

他正在研究这个进程。

have started to become different from each other.

他正在研究纽约城市公园的

And this is my colleague, Jason Munshi-South,

白足鼠的 DNA，

from Fordham University,

试图了解它们是如何

who is studying this process.

He is studying the DNA of the white-footed mice

在这些“群岛”中进化的。

in New York City's parks,

他使用了 DNA 指纹技术，

and trying to understand how they are beginning to evolve

他说，“如果有人给我一只老鼠，

没有告诉我它来自哪里，

in that archipelago of islands.

只要看看它的 DNA，

我就可以准确说出 它来自哪个公园。”

And he's using a kind of DNA fingerprinting, and he says,

"If somebody gives me a mouse,

它们的差异已经变得这么大了。

doesn't tell me where it's from,

杰森还发现，

just by looking at its DNA,

I can tell exactly from which park it comes."

这些进化上的改变

不是随机的，而是有意义的。

That's how different they have become.

比如，在中央公园，

And Jason has also discovered that those changes,

我们发现老鼠进化出了

these evolutionary changes,

are not random, they mean something.

能让它们处理高脂肪食物的基因。

For example, in Central Park,

人类食物。

we find that the mice have evolved genes

每年有 2500 万人造访中央公园，

that allow them to deal with very fatty food.

它是北美访问量最高的公园。

人们留下了零食、

Human food.

Twenty-five million people visit Central Park each year.

花生和垃圾食品，

It's the most heavily visited park in North America.

老鼠开始以这些为食，

这和它们过去饮食结构完全不同。

And those people leave behind snack food

历经数年后，

and peanuts and junk food,

它们进化到能适应这种 脂肪含量很高的人类食物。

and the mice have started feeding on that,

and it's a completely different diet than what they're used to,

这是另一种城里动物：

and over the years,

欧洲庭园蜗牛。

they have evolved to suit this very fatty, very human diet.

它是一种很常见的蜗牛，

具有各种颜色变化，

And this is another city slicker animal.

从浅黄色到深棕色。

This is the European garden snail.

A very common snail,

这些颜色完全是由

it comes in all kinds of color variations,

蜗牛的 DNA 决定的。

ranging from pale yellow to dark brown.

这些颜色也决定了

生活在壳里的蜗牛的热量管理。

And those colors are completely determined

by the snail's DNA.

比如，一只在阳光下的蜗牛，

And those colors also determine the heat management of the snail

在艳阳下，

如果它的壳是浅黄色的，

that lives inside that shell.

它就没有深棕色壳的蜗牛那么热。

For example, a snail that sits in the sunlight,

in the bright sun,

if it has a pale yellow shell,

就好比你坐在白车里时，

it doesn't heat up as much as a snail that sits inside a dark brown shell.

会比坐在黑车中凉爽些。

有一种现象叫做“城市热岛效应”，

Just like when you're sitting in a white car, you stay cooler

指的是在大城市中央的

than when you're sitting inside a black car.

气温要比大城市外

Now there is a phenomenon called the urban heat islands,

高几度。

这是因为

which means that in the center of a big city,

在城市里聚集了数百万人，

the temperature can be several degrees higher

他们所有的活动和器械

都产生热量。

than outside of the big city.

并且，风被高楼阻挡了，

That has to do with the fact

that you have these concentrations of millions of people,

所有的钢、砖和混凝土 都吸收太阳能

and all their activities and their machineries,

they generate heat.

并在夜晚辐射出来。

Also, the wind is blocked by the tall buildings,

所以在大城市中心有一团热气，

and all the steel and brick and concrete absorb the solar heat

我和我的学生觉得，

也许那些拥有多变外壳的庭园蜗牛

and they radiate it out at night.

So you get this bubble of hot air in the center of a big city,

正在适应城市热岛。

and my students and I figured that maybe those garden snails,

可能在城市中心，

with their variable shells,

我们会发现蜗壳颜色

are adapting to the urban heat islands.

在朝减少蜗牛过热的方向进化。

Maybe in the center of a city,

为了研究这个课题， 我们开展了一个公民科学项目。

we find that the shell color is evolving

我们开发了一个免费的 智能手机应用，

in a direction to reduce overheating of the snails.

让整个荷兰的人

And to study this, we started a citizen-science project.

去拍摄他们花园里、街道上、

以及农村的蜗牛照片，

We built a free smartphone app,

并上传到公民科学网网络平台。

which allowed people all over the Netherlands

一年之内，我们收集到了 1 万张

to take pictures of snails in their garden, in their street,

在荷兰拍摄的蜗牛照片，

also in the countryside,

and upload them to a citizen science web platform.

当我们开始分析结果时，

And over a year, we got 10,000 pictures

我们发现确实如此， 我们的猜想被证实了。

of snails that had been photographed in the Netherlands,

在城市热岛的中心，

and when we started analyzing the results,

我们发现蜗牛进化出了 更黄、更浅色的外壳。

we found that indeed, our suspicions were confirmed.

In the center of the urban heat islands,

we find that the snails have evolved more yellow, more lighter-colored shells.

为了适应新栖息地—— 我们创造的城市栖息地，

越来越多的动植物发生了进化，

Now the city snail and the Manhattan mouse

城市蜗牛和曼哈顿老鼠

are just two examples of a growing list of animals and plants

只是其中的两个例子。

我写了一本

关于城市进化这个主题的书，

that have evolved to suit this new habitat,

其中举了更多例子。

this city habitat that we have created.

比如，杂草进化出了

And in a book that I've written about this subject,

更容易在人行道上发芽的种子。

the subject of urban evolution,

生活在嘈杂交通附近的蚱蜢

I give many more examples.

For example, weeds that have evolved seeds

进化出了音调更高的叫声。

that are better at germinating on the pavement.

Grasshoppers that have evolved a song

蚊子已经进化到

能以地铁站内的 人类通勤者的血液为食。

that has a higher pitch when they live close to noisy traffic.

即便是普通的城市鸽子，

Mosquitoes that have evolved to feed on the blood of human commuters

也进化出了 把重金属污染放在羽毛中

inside metro stations.

为自己排毒的方式。

And even the common city pigeon

全球各地像我这样的生物学家

that has evolved ways to detox themselves

都对令人着迷的城市进化过程

from heavy-metal pollution by putting it in their feathers.

越来越感兴趣。

我们意识到我们正在经历

Biologists like myself, all over the world,

地球生命历史中的一个独特事件。

are becoming interested in this fascinating process

一个全新的生态系统

of urban evolution.

We are realizing that we're really at a unique event

正在进化并适应 我们创造的栖息地。

in the history of life on earth.

A completely new ecosystem

并且不只是学术专家——

that is evolving and adapting to a habitat that we have created.

我们也开始争取城市里数百万人

的双手和耳目的支持。

公民科学家、学生——

And not just academics --

we're also beginning to enlist the millions of pairs of hands

我们和他们携手，

创建了一个全球观察网络，

and ears and eyes that are present in the city.

让我们可以实时观察城市进化

Citizen scientists, schoolchildren --

together with them,

发生的过程。

we are building a global observation network

同时，也让人们清楚的了解到，

which allows us to watch this process of urban evolution taking place

进化不再是你需要

in real time.

跑到加拉帕戈斯群岛 才能研究的抽象事物，

And at the same time, this also makes it clear to people

你也不需要成为古生物学家 才能理解它是什么。

that evolution is not just some abstract thing

它是一种非常普通的生物进程，

that you need to travel to the Galapagos to study,

无处不在，无时不在发生。

or that you need to be a paleontologist to understand what it is.

在你的后院，在你居住的街道上，

It's a very ordinary biological process

在这个剧场外面。

that's taking place all the time, everywhere.

但当然了，我的热情也有另一面。

In your backyard, in the street where you live,

当我回到我长大的小村子时，

right outside of this theater.

我再也找不到儿时 熟悉的田野和沼泽了。

But there is, of course, a flip side to my enthusiasm.

When I go back to the village where I grew up,

这个村庄已经并入了

不断发展壮大的鹿特丹，

I no longer find those fields and swamps that I knew from my youth.

取而代之的是购物中心、

郊区和公共车道。

The village has now been absorbed

by the growing conglomeration of Rotterdam,

许多我习以为常的动物 和植物都消失了，

and instead, I find shopping malls

或许也包括那些蚁巢甲虫。

and I find suburbs and bus lanes.

And many of the animals and plants that I was so accustomed to

但令我感到宽慰的是，

今天在这个村庄长大的孩子们

have disappeared, including perhaps that ant beetle.

或许不再能体验伴我成长的

But I take comfort in the fact that the children growing up

传统自然，

但他们周围是一种新的自然、

in that village today

一种新的生态系统，

may no longer be experiencing that traditional nature

对他们而言，这可能和 旧自然对我一样激动人心。

that I grew up with,

but they're surrounded by a new type of nature,

他们生活在新的、 现代的加拉帕戈斯群岛。

a new type of ecosystem,

that, to them, might be just as exciting as the old type was to me.

通过和公民科学家

以及像我这样的进化生物学家组队，

They are living in a new, modern-day Galapagos.

他们也许会成为 21 世纪的、

And by teaming up with citizen scientists

研究城市进化的达尔文。

and with evolutionary biologists like myself,

谢谢。

（掌声）

they might become the Darwins of the 21st century,

studying urban evolution.

Thank you.

(Applause)