Four Laws of Ecology中英对照

1、Four Laws of Ecology1 In broad outline,there are environmental cycles which govern the behavior of the three great global systems:the air,the water,and the soil.Within each of them live many thousands of different species of living things.Each species is suited to its particular environmental niche,

2、and each,through its life processes,affects the physical and chemical properties of its immediate environment. 1概括来讲,地球的三大系统空气、水和土壤的行为由环境循环所决定。每个系统中都生活着成千上万个不同物种的生物,每个物种都有与之相适宜的独特的环境生位,并且每一物种,在其整个生命历程中,都影响着它的周边环境的物理和化学特性。 2 Each living species is also linked to many others.These links are bewilderin

3、g in their variety and marvelous in their intricate detail.An animal,such as a deer,may depend on plants for food;the plants depend on the action of soil bacteria for their nutrients;the bacteria in turn live on the organic wastes dropped by the animal on the soil.At the same time.the deer is food f

4、or the mountain lion. Insects may live on the juices of plants or gather pollen from their flowers.Other insects suck blood from animals.Bacteria may live on the internal tissues of animals and plants.Fungi degrade the bodies of dead plants and animals.All this,many times multiplied and organized sp

5、ecies by species in intricate,precise relationships,makes up the vast network of life on the earth. 2每个生物物种也与许多其他的物种相联系。1.这些联系的多样性令人迷惑不解,其错综复杂的细节令人惊叹不已。某一动物,如一只鹿,可能依靠植物来获取食物;植物依靠土壤细菌的活动来获取其营养;相应地,细菌以陆地上的动物排泄出来的有机废物为生。同时,鹿是美洲狮的食物。昆虫可能以植物的汁液为生,或者从其花朵里采集花粉。其他的昆虫则吸吮动物的血液。细菌可能以动物和植物的内部组织为生。真菌分解死亡的植物和动物的躯

6、体。所有这一切,由各个物种通过复杂而严密的关系多次繁殖和组织,构成了地球上巨大的生命之网。3 The science that studies these relationships and the processes linking each living thing to the physical and chemical environment is ecology.It is the science of planetary housekeeping For the environment is,so to speak,the house created on the earth by

7、 living things for living things.It is a young science and much of what it teaches has been learned from only small segments of the whole network of life on the earth Ecology has not yet explicitly develop the kind of cohesive,simplifying generalizations exemplified by,say,the laws of physics.Nevert

8、heless there are a number generalizations that are already evident in what we now know about the ecosphere and that can be organized into a kind of informal set of laws of ecology.These are described in what follows 3研究这些关系以及把每种生物与物理和化学环境相联系的过程的科学是生态学。它是行星家政科学。2.因为环境,可以说,是地球上由生物创造并为生物所用的家园。这是一门年轻的科学

9、,而且它所讲述的大部分内容都是从地球整个生命之网的仅仅一小部分上所得来的。生态学还没有明确形成,比如说,像物理学定律那样联系紧密的、简化的一般法则。不过,在我们现在对生态圈的认识方面,有许多一般法则已经显而易见,它们可以组成一套通俗的“生态学法则”。这些法则表述如下。The First Law of Ecology:Everything Is Connected to Everything Else生态学的第一条法则每一个事物都与其他事物相关4 Some of the evidence that leads to this generalization has already been dis

10、cussed.It reflects the existence of the elaborate network of interconnections in the ecosphere:among different living organisms,and between populations,species,and individual organisms and their physicochemical surroundings 4得出这条一般法则的一些证据已经讨论过了。它反映了生态圈中存在着相互联系的复杂网络:这个网络存在于不同的生物体中,存在于种群、物种和个体生物与其物理化学

11、环境之间5 The single fact that an ecosystem consists of multipleinter connected parts,which act on one another,has some surprising consequences.Our ability to picture the behavior of such systems has been helped considerably by the development,even more recent than ecology,of the science of cybernetics.

12、We owe the basic concept,and the word itself,to the inventive mind of the lateNorbert wiener. 5一个生态系统由很多相互联系的部分组成,它们相互作用,仅仅这个事实就产生了一些令人惊奇的结果。控制论这一学科的发展极大地提高了我们描述这类系统行为的能力,而它的发展甚至比生态学还晚3我们把这一基本概念以及这个回本身的产生都归功于已故的诸伯特威纳的有创造力的头脑6 The word cybernetics derives from the Greek word for helmsman;it is concer

13、ned with cycles of events that steer,or govern,the behavior of a system.The helmsman is part of a system that also includes the compass,the rudder,and the ship.If the ship veers off the chosen compass course,the change shows up in the movement of the compass needle Observed and interpreted by the he

14、lmsman this event determines a subsequent one:the helmsman turns the rudder,which swings the ship back to its original course. When this happens,the compass needle returns to its original,on course position and the cycle is complete.If the helmsman turns the rudder too far in response to a small def

15、lection of the compass needle,the excess swing of the ship shows up in the compass which signals the helmsman to correct his overreaction by an opposite movement.Thus the operation of this cycle stabilizes the course of the ship. 6控制论一词源于希腊语中的“舵手”一词:它与操纵或控制某一系统行为的事件发生的周期有关。舵手是某一系统的一部分,这个系统还包括罗盘、船舵和船

16、。若船偏离了罗盘所指示的航向,这一变化会在罗盘指针的移动上显示出来。当舵手观察并了解到这个事件后,便决定了一个随之而来的事件:舵手转动船舵,船舵使船拐回其原来的航向。发生这一情况之后,罗盘指针就会转回到其原来的航向位置上,这个周期随即完成。如果罗盘指针只是稍有偏离,而舵手又因此把舵转得过猛,船的过分偏航会在罗盘上显示出来这就提醒舵手把舵往回打以纠正他的过度行为。这样,这个周期的运作就使船的航向稳定了下来。7 In quite a similar way,stabilizing cybernetic relations are built into an ecological cycle.Con

17、sider,for example,the fresh water ecological cycle:fish-organic waste-bacteria of decay inorganic products-algae-fish.Suppose that due to unusually warm summer weather there is a rapid growth of algae.This depletes the supply of inorganic nutrients so that two sectors of the cycle,algae and nutrient

18、s,are out of balance,but in opposite directions.The operation of the ecological cycle,like that of the ship,soon brings the situation back into balance.For the excess in algae increases the ease with which fish can feed on them;this reduces the algal population,increases fish waste production,and ev

19、entually leads to an increased level of nutrients when the waste decays.Thus,the levels of algae and nutrients tend to return to their original balanced position. 7与之非常相似的是,一个生态循环里也有起稳定作用的控制论关系。以淡水的生态循环为例:鱼一有机废物腐败细菌无机物藻类一鱼。假如由于夏季天气异常炎热,藻类迅速生长。这使得无机营养物的供应得以耗尽,结果这个循环中的两个环节藻类和营养物失衡,而向相反的方向发展。这个生态循环的运作,

20、就像那艘船的运作样,不久就会使这种形势回归到平衡的状态。因为过多的藻类会使鱼更容易获得食物,这就减少了藻类的数量,增加了鱼的排泄,最后导致营养物水平因鱼粪的腐烂而增长。这样一来,藻类和营养物的水平往往会回到它们原先的平衡状态。8 In such cybernetic systems the course is not maintained by rigid control,but flexibly.Thus the ship does not move unwaveringly its path,but actually follows it in a wavelike motion that

21、 swings equally to both sides of the true course.The frequency of these swings depends on the relative speeds of the various steps in the cycle,such as the rate at which the ship responds to the rudder.8在这样的控制系统里,航向不是通过严格的控制而是通过灵活的手段来维持的。因此,船在航行中的航向并不是始终不变的,而实际上是沿着真航向或左或右波状行进,这些波动的频率取决于这个循环中各个步骤的相对速

22、度,如船在船舵转动时的反应速度9 Ecological systems exhibit similar cycles,although these are often obscured by the effects of daily or seasonal variations in weather and environmental agents.The most famous examples of such ecological oscillations are the periodic fluctuations of the size of fur-bearing animal pop

23、ulations.For example,from trapping records in Canada it is known that the populations of rabbits and lynx follow ten-year fluctuations.When there are many rabbits,the lynx prosper;the rising population of lynx increasingly ravages the rabbit population,reducing it;as the latter become scarce,there i

24、s insufficient food to support the now numerous lynx;as the lynx begin to die off,the rabbits are less fiercely hunted and increase in number.And so on.These oscillations are built into the operation of the simple cycle,in which the lynx population is positively related to the number of rabbits and

25、the rabbit population is negatively related to the number of lynx. 9生态系统也呈现出类似的循环,虽然这些循环由于天气和环境因素的日常或季节性变化的影响而常常变得模糊不清。此类生态学波动的最为著名的例子就是毛皮动物数量的周期性波动。例如,从加拿大的狩猎记录上可以得知,野兔和猞猁在数量上的波动以10年为一个周期。当野兔很多时,猞猁大量繁殖;越来越多的猞猁不断掠食野兔,使野兔的数量减少;当野兔变得稀少时,也就没有足够的食物来养活此时数量庞大的猞猁了;当猞猁开始相继死去时,野兔被捕杀的威胁也就不再那么严重,于是其数量又增加了。如此循环

26、往复。这些波动存在于这个简单循环的运作中。在这个循环中,猞猁的数量与野兔的数量为正相关关系,而野兔的数量与猞猁的数量为负相关关系10 In such an oscillating system,there is always the danger thatthe whole system will collapse when an oscillation swings so wide of the balance point that the system can no longer compensate for it.Suppose,for example,in one particular

27、 swing of the rabbit-lynx cycle,the lynx manage to eat all the rabbits(or,for that matter,all but one).Now the rabbit population can no longer reproduce.As usual,the lynx begin to starve as the rabbits are consumed;but this time the drop in the lynx population is not followed by an increase in rabbi

28、ts.The lynx then die off.The entire rabbit-lynx system collapses. 10在这样一个波动系统中总是存在着风险即当某一波动的幅度过大,超出了平衡点以至于系统无法再修复它时,整个系统就会崩溃。例如,假定在野兔一猞猁循环周期的次特定的波动中,猞猁设法吃掉了所有的野兔(或者,就此而言,只剩下一只),此时,野兔的种群就不能再繁殖了。在通常情况下,当野兔被吃完时,猞猁就要开始挨饿;但这一次,猞猁种群的数量减少之后,野兔的数量并没有增加。接着,猞猁相继死去。整个野兔一猞猁系统也就崩溃了11 This is similar to the ecolo

29、gical collapse which accompanies what is called eutrophication.If the nutrient level of the water becomes so high as to stimulate the rapid growth of algae,the dense algal population cannot be long sustained because of the intrinsic limitations of photosynthetic efficiency.As the thickness of the al

30、gal layer in the water increases,the light required for photosynthesis that can reach the lower parts of the algal layer becomes sharply diminished,so that any strong overgrowth of algae very quickly dies back,releasing organic debris.The organic matter level may then become so great that its decay

31、totally depletes the oxygen content of the water.The bacteria of decay then die off,for they must have oxygen to survive.The entire aquatic cycle collapses. 11这种崩溃类似于伴随着所谓的富营养化的生态崩溃。如果水中的营养物水平变得很高,就会刺激藻类迅速生长,稠密的藻类群体就会因为自身光合作用效力的限制,不能被长久地维持下来。随着水中藻类层厚度的增加,光合作用所需要的、能够达到藻类层较低部位的光则急剧减少,结果,任何大量疯长的藻类都会很快枯

32、萎,留下有机残骸。接着,有机物的含量会变得如此之大以至于它的分解完全耗尽了水中所含的氧于是腐败细菌相继死去,因为它们必须靠氧才能存活。整个水生循环陷入崩溃。12 The dynamic behavior of a cybernetic system-for example, the frequency of its natural oscillations,the speed with which it responds to external changes,and its overall rate of operation depends on the relative rates of

33、its constituent steps.In the ship system,the compass needle swings in fractions of a second;the helmsmans reaction takes some seconds;the ship responds over a time of minutes.These different reaction times interact to produce, for example,the ships characteristic oscillation frequency around its tru

34、e course. 12一个控制系统的动态行为,例如它自然波动的频率,它对外部变化的反应速度和它的总体运作速度,都取决于其各个步骤的相对速度。5.在船的控制系统里,罗盘指针的动不到1秒钟;航手的反应雪要几秒钟:船的反应需要数分钟。这些不同的反应时间相互作用,产生了,例如,船以其真航向为中心的特有的波动频率13 In the aquatic ecosystem,each biological step also has a characteristic reaction time,which depends on the metabolic and reproductive rates of t

35、he organisms involved.The time to produce a new generation of fish may be some months;of algae,a matter of days;decay bacteria can reproduce in a few hours.The metabolic rates of these organisms that is,the rates at which they use nutrients,consume oxygen,or produce waste are inversely related to th

36、eir size.If the metabolic rate of a fish is 1,the algal rate is about 100,and the bacterial rate about 10,000. 13在水生生态系统里,每一个循环步骤也都有一个特有的反应时间,这取决于参与循环有机物的新陈代谢和繁殖速度。繁育新代鱼的时间可能是几个月;新一代水藻的生长可能是几天的事;腐败细菌的繁殖可能需要几个小时。这些有机物新陈代谢的速度,即它们利用营养物、消耗氧或排泄废物的速度与它们的大小逆向相关。7.如果鱼类的新陈代谢速度是1,那么藻类的新陈代谢速度大约是100,而细菌的新陈代谢速度大

37、约是10000。14 If the entire cyclical system is to remain in balance,the overall rate of turnover must be governed by the slowest step-in this case,the growth and metabolism of the fish.Any external effect that forces part of the cycle to operate faster than the overall rate leads to trouble.So,for exam

38、ple,the rate of waste production by fish determines the rate of bacterial decay and the rate of oxygen consumption due to that decay.In a balanced situation,enough oxygen is produced by the algae and enters from the air to support the decay bacteria.Suppose that the rate at which organic waste enter

39、s the cycle is increased artificially,for example,by dumping sewage into the water.Now the decay bacteria are supplied with organic waste at a much higher level than usual;because of their rapid metabolism they are able to act quickly on the increased organic load.As a result,the rate of oxygen cons

40、umption by the decay bacteria can easily exceed the rate of oxygen production by the algae(and its rate of entry from the air)so that the oxygen level goes to zero and the system collapses.Thus,the rates of the separate processes in the cycle are in a natural state of balance which is maintained onl

41、y so long as there are no external intrusions on the system.When such an effect originates outside the cycle,it is not controlled by the self-governing cyclical relations and is a threat to the stability of the whole system. 14如果整个循环系统要保持平衡,代谢的整体速度必须由最慢的步骤控制,就上面的案例而言,则是由鱼类的生长和新陈代谢控制任何外界作用迫使循环的部分运作速度

42、超出整体速度,都会产生问题。比如说,鱼的排泄速度决定了细菌分解的速度及由于细菌分解而导致的氧的消耗速度。在平衡的状态下,藻类产生充足的氧,这些氧从空气中进入,支持细菌的分解,假设有机排泄物进入循环的速度被人为地增加了,例如通过向水里排污水,那么此时提供给腐败细菌的有机排泄物的水平会大大高于一般水平。因为腐败细菌的新陈代谢速度快,所以它们能够迅速地对增加的有机物起作用。结果腐败细菌消耗氧的速度会轻易超过藻类产氧的速度(以及氧从空气中进人的速度),以至于水里的氧含量降到了零,导致了系统的崩溃。因此,只有在该系统没有外界侵入的情况下,循环的各个不同的进程的速度才能保持一种自然的平衡状态。当该循环体的

43、外部产生这样的效力时,它是不受循环关系的自我调节能力控制的,从而对整个系统的稳定就构成了威胁。15 Ecosystems differ considerably in their rate characteristics and therefore vary a great deal in the speed with which they react to changed situations or approach the point of collapse.For example aquatic ecosystems turn over much faster than soil eco

44、systems Thus,an acre of richly populated marine shoreline or an acre of fish pond produces about seven times as much organic material as an acre of alfalfa annually.The slow turnover of the soil cycle is due to the rather low rate of one of its many steps-the release of nutrient from the soils organ

45、ic store,which is very much slower than the comparable step in aquatic systems. 15各种生态系统在它们的速度特征上千差万别,因而它们对环境改变做出反应或者接近崩溃点的速度也大相径庭。例如,水生生态系统的循环要比土壤生态系统的循环快得多。所以,1英亩种群丰饶的海岸线地带或者1英亩鱼池每年所产生的有机物大约是1英亩首蓿每年所产生的有机物的7倍土壤循环的循环速度慢,是因为它的许多步骤中有一步的速度非常慢一即从土壤的有机物贮存中释放养分的那一步,比在水生系统中类似的那一步慢得多。16 The amount of stres

46、s which an ecosystem can absorb before it is driven to collapse is also a result of its various interconnections and their relative speeds of response.The more complex the ecosystem,the more successfully it can resist a stress.For example in the rabbit-lynx system,if the lynx had an alternative sour

47、ce of food they might survive the sudden depletion of rabbits.In this way, branching-which establishes alternative pathways-increases the resistance of an ecosystem to stress.Most ecosystems are so complex that the cycles are not simple circular paths,but are crisscrossed with branches to form a net

48、work or a fabric of interconnections.Like a net,in which each knot is connected to others by several strands such a fabric can resist collapse better than a simple, unbranched circle of threads-which,if cut anywhere,breaks down as a whole.Environmental pollution is often a sign that ecological links

49、 have been cut and that the ecosystem has been artificially simplified and made more vulnerable to stress and to final collapse. 16一个生态系统在被迫崩溃前所能承受的压力的大小,也是其各种相互联系以及与之相关的反应速度的结果。8.生态系统越复杂它抵抗压力的能力就越强。例如,在野兔猞猁这个系统中,如果猞猁有一种可替代的食物来源,它们就有可能在野兔突然死光后继续存活。用这样的办法,另辟蹊径,即建立其他的途径,提高了一个生态系统的抗压能力。9.大多数生态系统都非常复杂,以

50、至于循环并不是单一的循环链,而是由许多支线交叉在一起,形成一个相互关联的网络或结构。像一张网一样,网中的每个节点都是通过几股支线与其他节点连接在一起,这结构比单一无支线的线圈更能抵御崩溃,而后者如果其任何地方被切断就会全部崩溃。环境污染常常是一个讯号,即生态链被切断和生态系统已经被人为简化,并且因此变得难以抵御压力而最终崩溃。17 The feedback characteristics of ecosystems result in amplification and intensification processes of considerable magnitude.For exampl

51、e,the fact that in food chains small organisms are eaten by bigger ones and the latter by still bigger ones inevitably results in the concentration of certain environmental constituents in the bodies of the largest organisms at the top of the food chain.Smaller organisms always exhibit much higher m

52、etabolic rates than larger ones,so that the amount of their food which is oxidized relative to the amount incorporated into the body of the organism is thereby greater.Consequently,an animal at the top of food chain depends on the consumption of an enormously greater mass of the bodies of organisms

53、lower down in the food chain.Therefore,any non-metabolized material present in the lower organisms of this chain will become concentrated in the body of the top one.Thus,if the concentration of DDT(a highly effective pesticide with many dangerous side effects,which Is not readily metabolized,in the

54、soil is I unit,earthworms living in the soil will achieve a concentration of from 10 to 40 units,and In woodcocks feeding on the earthworms the DDT level will rise to about 200 units. 17生态系统的反馈特性导致了非常重大的扩大和强化过程。例如,在食物链中,小的有机体被较大的有机体吃掉,而后者又被更大的有机体吃掉,这个事实不可避免地导致食物链顶端最大的有机体体内产生一定的环境因素的聚集。较小的有机体的新陈代谢率总是

55、比较大的有机体显得高得多,所以,它们氧化的食物量比它们身体吸收的量要大得多。因此,处在食物链顶端的动物要靠消耗更大量的位于食物链较低端的有机体的躯体来维持生存。因而这个链中较低端的有机体中存在的任何无法新陈代谢的物质,都会集中在位于该链顶端的有机体的躯体里。所以,如果不易新陈代谢的DDT(一种具有很多危险副作用的高效杀虫剂)在土壤中的浓度是1个单位,它在土壤中生活的蚯蚓的体内就会达到10到40个单位,而在以蚯蚓为食的山鹬体内,DDT的浓度就会高达约200个单位。18 All this results from a simple fact about ecosystems:everything

56、is connected to everything else:the system is stabilized by its dynamic self-compensating properties;these same properties,if overstressed,can lead to a dramatic collapse;the complexity of the ecological network and its intrinsic rate of turnover determine how much it can be stressed,and for how lon

57、g,without collapsing;the ecological network is an amplifier,so that a small perturbation in one place may have large,distant,long-delayed effects. 18所有这一切都源于一个与生态系统有关的简单的事实:每一个事物都与其他事物相关:系统因其动态的、自我补偿的特性而保持稳定;这些相同的特性如果承受的压力过大,就可能导致突然崩溃;生物网的复杂性和其内在的代谢速度决定了它能承受多大的压力和多长时间内不崩溃;生物网是一个扩大器,因此,在一个地方出现的小混乱可能产

58、生巨大的、深远的、拖延已久的影响。The Second Law of Ecology:Everything Must Go Somewhere.生态学的第二条法则:一切事物都必然要有其去向19 This is,of course,simply a somewhat informal restatement of a basic law of physics that matter is indestructible.Applied to ecology,the law emphasizes that in nature there is no such thing as waste.In ev

59、ery natural system,what is excreted by one organism as waste is taken up by another as food Animals release carbon dioxide as a respiratory waste;this is an essential nutrient for green plants.Plants excrete oxygen,which is used by animals.Animal organic wastes nourish the bacteria of decay.Their wastes,inorganic materials such as nitrate,phosphate,and carbon dioxide,become algal nutrients. 19当然,这只是对物理学的一个基本法则一