黃石公園的野牛會(huì)自己割草，并給自己的食物施肥

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，黃石公園的野牛會(huì)自己割草，并給自己的食物施肥

A study of grazing in Yellowstone National Park found that bison essentially mow and fertilize their own food. This allows them to graze in one area for two to three months during the spring and summer while other hoofed mammals must keep migrating to higher elevations to follow new plant growth.

一項(xiàng)在黃石國(guó)家公園放牧的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，野?；旧鲜亲约焊畈莶⑹┓?。這使得它們可以在春季和夏季在一個(gè)地區(qū)吃上兩到三個(gè)月的草，而其他有蹄哺乳動(dòng)物必須不斷遷移到更高的海拔去追隨新的植物生長(zhǎng)。

Hundreds of bison grazing in an area stimulates the growth of nutritious grasses, in part because their waste acts as a fertilizer, according to research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

本周發(fā)表在《美國(guó)國(guó)家科學(xué)院院刊》(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)雜志上的一項(xiàng)研究稱，在一個(gè)地區(qū)放牧的數(shù)百頭野牛會(huì)刺激營(yíng)養(yǎng)草的生長(zhǎng)，部分原因是它們的糞便可以充當(dāng)肥料。

“They add fertilizer through urinating and defecating, they drop nutrients back on the landscape, which are then available to plants,” Yellowstone scientist Chris Geremia said Wednesday.

黃石公園的科學(xué)家克里斯·格米亞于本周三說(shuō):“它們通過(guò)排便和撒尿來(lái)施肥，然后把養(yǎng)分撒回地面，供植物利用。”

“It’s almost like the bison become this giant fleet of lawnmowers moving back and forth across the landscape,” he said.

他說(shuō):“這就像野牛變成了龐大的割草機(jī)艦隊(duì)，在陸地上來(lái)回移動(dòng)。”

When more bison grazed an area more intensely, the area greened up earlier and faster and the grass stayed greener and had a higher nutritional quality for a much longer time, Geremia said.

Geremia說(shuō)，當(dāng)更多的野牛在更密集的地區(qū)吃草時(shí)，該地區(qū)會(huì)更早、更快地變綠，草也會(huì)更綠，而且在更長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間內(nèi)具有更高的營(yíng)養(yǎng)價(jià)值。

Many other migratory animals in Yellowstone — pronghorn, bighorn sheep, mule deer and elk — do not form these large groups while they migrate and graze, Geremia said.

Geremia說(shuō)，黃石公園的許多其他遷徙動(dòng)物，如叉角羚、大角羊、騾鹿和麋鹿，在遷徙和放牧?xí)r并沒(méi)有形成這些大群體。

“Bison don’t just move to find food, kind of the classic way that we think of animal migration,” Geremia said, “but they create good food by how they move and how they graze.”

“野牛不只是移動(dòng)來(lái)尋找食物，這是我們認(rèn)為動(dòng)物遷徙的一種典型方式，”Geremia說(shuō)，“它們通過(guò)移動(dòng)和放牧的方式來(lái)創(chuàng)造優(yōu)質(zhì)食物。”

From 2012 to 2017, researchers fenced off plots of grass along bison migration corridors and compared them to the grazed areas.

從2012年到2017年，研究人員沿著野牛遷徙走廊隔離了一小塊草地，并將它們與放牧地區(qū)進(jìn)行了比較。

“The data showed that grasses heavily grazed by bison were more productive compared to exclosures where bison were not allowed to graze,” said Matthew Kauffman, unit leader of the US Geological Survey’s Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Wyoming. “The mowed-down forage had higher ratios of nitrogen to carbon, a standard measure of nutritional quality.”

美國(guó)地質(zhì)調(diào)查局懷俄明魚(yú)類與野生動(dòng)物合作研究小組組長(zhǎng)馬修·考夫曼說(shuō):“數(shù)據(jù)顯示，與不允許野牛放牧的禁獵區(qū)相比，那些被野牛大量放牧的草地產(chǎn)量更高。”“經(jīng)過(guò)刈割的飼料具有更高的氮碳比，這是衡量營(yíng)養(yǎng)質(zhì)量的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)指標(biāo)。”

Trampling and nibbling by the bison kept the plants shorter and denser and forced the plants to keep growing, giving the bison a steady supply of fresh, nutritious grass.

野牛的踐踏和啃咬使植物變得更短、更密，并迫使植物繼續(xù)生長(zhǎng)，給野牛提供了穩(wěn)定的新鮮、有營(yíng)養(yǎng)的草。