Carrying small sensors, they could be the most sensitive and informative weather instruments of all
攜帶小型感測器，它們可能是所有中，最靈敏、最多資訊的氣象儀器。
The world’s scientists rely on an elaborate network of satellites, ocean buoys, weather stations, and balloons to help predict the weather and assess the impact of global climate change across land, air, and sea.
世界各地的科學家們仰賴衛星、海洋浮標、氣象站及氣球的複雜網路，來協助預測天氣及評估，全球氣候變遷對陸地、大氣及海洋的影響。
But they are overlooking some of the most sensitive and informative instruments of all – the world’s animals – argue researchers at Yale’s Center for Biodiversity and Global Change and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.
不過，美國耶魯大學生物多樣性暨全球變遷中心，及德國馬克斯普朗克動物行為研究所的研究人員們表明，他們正在進行察看，一些最敏感、最多資訊之工具(世界上的動物)。
Equipping fish, birds, seals, and terrestrial animals with sophisticated sensors can give researchers localized and timely data on environmental conditions impacted by climate change that current technology cannot, they say.
他們表示，為魚類、鳥類、海豹及陸生動物配備先進感測器，能賦予研究人員們，有關遭氣候變遷影響之環境狀況，具地方性且適時性的數據。
圖1.攜帶感測器的白鸛能監測，在沿著其遷徙路線之諸多地方的地面狀況。
White storks carrying sensors can monitor on-the-ground conditions in locations along their migratory route.
“We can literally turn animals into flying, swimming, and walking weather stations,’’ said Diego Ellis Soto, a graduate student at Yale and first author on the paper. “Animals equipped with modern sensors could be seen as the twenty-first century canary in the coal mines.”
該論文首要撰文人，耶魯大學研究生，Diego Ellis Soto宣稱：「我們確實能將動物變成飛行、游泳及行走的氣象站。配備現代感測器的動物能被視為，二十一世紀，於煤礦中的金絲雀。」
In the paper, the scientists describe the shortcomings of current methods of collecting weather and climate data. They then outline the benefits of equipping animals with sensors that can measure air temperature, ocean salinity, and air pollution as well as an animal’s metabolism.
在論文中，此些科學家描述了，目前收集天氣及氣候數據方法的諸多缺點。之後他們概述了，為動物配備能測量空氣溫度、海洋鹽度、空氣污染及動物新陳代謝的感測器益處。
For instance, satellites can gauge temperatures at the surface of a cloud-covered jungle canopy, but not conditions on the ground. However, a monkey with modern GPS tracking sensors can; and its stress levels caused by warming temperatures can also be monitored.
譬如，衛星能測量，於雲層覆蓋之叢林樹冠表面的溫度。不過，無法測量地面狀況。然而，攜帶現代全球定位系統(GPS：Global Positioning System)之追蹤感應器的猴子可以;也能監測，其因溫度升高，引起的壓力程度。
Most weather stations are built upon flat land and in developed areas of the world, but they are seldom placed in the mountainous regions that are most affected by climate change. However, sensors on mountain goats moving up and down slopes are able to characterize the temperature profile at great detail.
大多數氣象站，建於平地及世界已開發地區。不過很少建於，遭氣候變遷影響最嚴重的多山地區。然而在山坡上，上、下移動之山羊身上的感測器，能非常詳細描述溫度概況。
Over the Atlantic Ocean, expensive weather balloons give pilots warnings of turbulence on their routes, but over the Pacific Ocean “flying from Japan to Chile there is little to no such information available,” Ellis Soto said.
在大西洋上空，昂貴的氣象氣球，向飛行員們發出，於其航線上有湍流的警告。不過，在太平洋上空，Ellis Soto宣稱：「從日本飛往智利，鮮少有到沒有，此類資訊可資取得。」
That’s why the government of Japan has begun to equip high-flying birds with sensors to gauge windspeed strength at a variety of altitudes as well as integrating ocean measurements from turtles into oceanographic models for weather forecasts.
那是為何日本政府開始，除了將來自海龜之諸多海洋測量，整合到天氣預報的海洋模型中之外，也為高空飛翔的鳥類配備感測器，來測量於不同高度之風速強度的原因。
“Animals can be our fine-tuned biological weather stations,” said Martin Wikelski, a director at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and co-author of the perspective piece.
該觀點文章合撰人，馬克斯普朗克動物行為研究所所長，Martin Wikelski宣稱：「動物會是，咱們微小改變的生物氣象站。」
Thanks to initiatives of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, thousands of birds and animals are already equipped with sensors that are designed to track where and why wildlife is thriving, and where they are struggling along their migratory routes impacted by climate change.
由於馬克斯普朗克動物行為研究所的倡議，數千的鳥類及動物已經配備了，旨在追蹤野生動物，在哪裡及為何正茁壯生長，及它們正在其遭氣候變遷影響的遷徙路線中，奮力前進之地方的感測器。
These animal-borne sensors can not only be used to help predict the impact that extreme weather events will have on animals; they can also give a living measure of the impacts of climate change itself in near real time.
此些動物承載的感測器，不僅能被使用來協助預測，極端天氣事件對動物會有的影響；它們也能以近乎即時產生一種，氣候變遷本身活動中的影響測量。
For instance, tagged elephant seals already provide 80 percent of available information on ice depth and ocean salinity in Antarctica, which helps predict sea level rise under current and future climate change, Ellis Soto said.
Ellis Soto表示，譬如，經標記的象鼻海豹已經提供了，有關南極洲冰層深度及海洋鹽度，80%可資取得的資訊。這有助於預測，在當前及未來氣候變遷下的海平面上升。
Satellites can give a rough approximation of conditions in sub-Saharan Africa at a resolution of one square kilometer, but “a white stork with sensors gives us a bird’s eye view of conditions on the ground in seconds,” he added.
衛星能以一平方公里的分辨率給予，於撒哈拉沙漠以南之非洲地區的粗略估計。不過，他補充說：「攜帶感測器的白鸛賦予了我們一種，在幾秒鐘內鳥瞰的地面狀況。」
Ocean sea grass is one of nature’s crucial ways to capture carbon emissions that fuel climate change. Scientists have been able to find many concentrations of oceanic sea grass by following movements of sensor-carrying tiger sharks, which are known to be attracted to mangroves and sea grass.
海洋海草是自然捕獲，加劇氣候變遷之碳排放的至關重要途徑之一。科學家們藉由追蹤，攜帶感測器之眾所周知，會被紅樹林及海草吸引的虎鯊活動，已經能發現諸多海洋海草的聚集密度。
Thus, by combining knowledge of animals’ ecologies with technological advances, researchers are can remotely monitor hard-to-access regions across the world.
And benefits are not limited to purely wild areas of the world.
因此，藉由結合動物生態的知識與技術上的進展，研究人員們能遠端監控世界各地，難以進入的地區。因此，益處並不被限於，世界上全然的野生地區。
In a world afflicted by extreme heat during summer, tagged carrier pigeons could help identify dangerous urban heat islands and air pollution levels in heavily populated areas.
在夏季期間，遭受酷熱折磨的世界中，經標記的信鴿能協助識別，危險的城市熱島，及於人口稠密地區的空氣污染水平。
“We are advocating for an existing byproduct of many modern GPS tracking devices that few meteorologists and biologists are using,” Ellis Soto said. “It is an untapped gold mine of detailed meteorological information with relevance for weather forecasting and biology alike.”
Ellis Soto宣稱：「我們正在提倡使用，很少氣象學家及生物學家們使用之諸多GPS追蹤裝置，現有的副產品。這是一種，同樣對天氣預報及生物學具有重大關係之詳細氣象資訊，未經開發的金礦。」
網址：https://www.mpg.de/20828038/0912-ornr-animals-may-be-the-best-monitors-of-global-climate-change-987453-x?c=2249
翻譯：許東榮
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