死亡再野化：德国计划恢复尸体生物群落

In parts of Europe, plans to replenish the "necrobiome" may benefit wildlife from golden eagles and wolverines, to copious plants, fungi and insects.

在欧洲部分地区，补充“尸体生物群落”计划可能有利于野生生物，包括金雕、狼獾、大量的植物、真菌、昆虫。

I’ve walked extensively across the UK's national parks, marvelling at the rolling hills and panoramic views, occasionally surprised by a deer bounding out of the brush. What I have never seen is a large dead animal.

我走遍了英国的国家公园，赞叹绵延起伏的山峦和尽收眼底的视野，偶尔意外地发现从灌木丛里跳出一只鹿，我从未看见过大型动物尸体。

The widespread eradication of top predators across Europe and the systematic removal of wild and domestic herbivores for food or sport, coupled with our fear of disease and squeamishness have gone a long way to sanitise the land of the spectacle of death.

欧洲各地的顶级捕食性动物普遍灭绝，野生和家养的食草动物被有计划有步骤地捕杀以供食用或打猎，再加上害怕疾病和受到惊吓，很大程度上净化了这片充斥死亡惨景的土地。

But in removing unsightly bodies from natural spaces, a key part of the ecosystem has also been scrubbed out. Animal carcasses and the species that depend on them are collectively known as the necrobiome. Scientists are still fully getting to grips with this complex system, including understanding its impact on animals, birds, invertebrates, fungi and microorganisms involved in decay and decomposition. And crucially, whether leaving more carcasses out in the open could help us to nourish ailing ecosystems.

但在清除自然环境中不雅尸体的同时，生态系统的一个关键环节也被清除了。动物尸体和依赖它们的物种被统称为“尸体生物群落”。科学家仍在全力研究这个复杂的系统，包括了解该系统对动物、鸟类、无脊椎动物、真菌、以及参与尸体腐烂和分解的微生物所产生的影响。

The many species of the necrobiome perform essential roles returning organic matter and nutrients to the food chain, and removing potential sources of infectious disease. Some play other important roles in the ecosystem, for example as pollinators.

许多“尸体生物群落”的物种具有至关重要的作用，它们将有机物和养分返还给食物链，消除潜在的传染病源头。有些物种在生态系统中具有其他重要作用，例如传粉昆虫。

Organisms such as fungi break down dead organic matter, helping the ecosystem to recycle nutrients

真菌等生物能分解尸体的有机物，帮助生态系统回收养分。

For Eric Benbow, a forensic entomologist and microbial ecologist who coined the term necrobiome and edited a landmark book on carrion ecology, studying decomposition is a challenge in more ways than one. In closely observing death and decay, there is the inevitable sense of confronting our own mortality. And then, of course, there's the smell. "Decomposing vertebrate carcasses are just naturally repulsive to most people," says Benbow. "Even for those of us who study it, it's not pleasant."

埃里克·本博是一名法医昆虫学家和微生物生态学家，他提出了“尸体生物群落”概念，编纂过一本关于腐肉生态学的划时代书籍，他认为研究尸体分解存在多方面挑战。在仔细观察死亡和腐烂的过程中，难免使人想到自己的死亡。当然，还要面对气味。“大多数人天生就对分解脊椎动物尸体感到厌恶”，本博说道。“即使我们这些研究人员也会感到不适”。

There are also practical difficulties. The speed of the decomposition process is one problem, says Jennifer Pechal, an entomologist at Michigan State University and a colleague of Benbow's. Nature is very efficient at removing and breaking down dead bodies, which makes them tricky to study and puts them out of sight from the wider public. Scavengers also are naturally resourceful and can damage or remove bodies while they are being researched, and replicating experiments accurately can be tricky, says Pechal.

另外还存在实际困难，分解过程中的速度是个问题，密歇根州立大学的昆虫学家、本博的同事詹妮弗·配哈尔说道。大自然清理和分解尸体的效率很高，这使研究变得困难，尸体无处可寻。还有天生足智多谋的食腐动物，它们在你研究时就会破坏或清理尸体。复制试验很难做到准确无误，配哈尔说道。

For all these reasons, carrion has "not historically been a hot topic for ecological studies" and it can be difficult to get funding to research it. A study she co-authored concluded that there is a lack of data on the volume of carrion biomass for most biomes and animal species with "no clear pathway towards improved knowledge in this area".

基于这些原因，腐肉“历来不是生态研究的热门话题”，很难获得科研资金。她与别人合著的一篇研究报告得出结论，大多数生物群落和动物种类的腐肉生物量都缺少数据，“没有明确的道路完善该领域的知识”。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Animals that feed on carrion, including vultures, rely on the dead bodies of animals remaining available to them

秃鹫等食腐动物依靠残留的动物尸体为生。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Despite such hurdles, in recent years the field has blossomed. Early studies in the 1950s and 60s found a general and predictable process of decomposition as a carcass moves from death to bones, and there are now researchers in every environment and biome – from deep sea abysses to mountain ranges – studying how carrion decomposes, and the effects of that decomposition on ecosystems.

虽然面临这些困境，但近年来该领域已经蓬勃发展。上世纪五六十年代的早期研究发现，尸体从死亡到尸骨的分解过程具有普遍性和可预测性。目前从深海到山脉，每一种环境和生物群落都有人研究腐肉的分解过程及其对生态系统的影响。

Pechal says technological advancements in biology, chemistry and computational sciences have helped. "[These] have vastly improved our capabilities to answer specific questions with increased accuracy and precision."

配哈尔说，生物学、化学、计算机科学的技术进步提供了帮助。“它们极大提高了我们解答特定问题的能力和精确性”。

From what we do know, there is reason to worry. A paper in Global Change Biology examining scavenger studies from around the world found that hunting and the loss and modification of habitats had a big impact on the number and diversity of vertebrates feeding on animal carcasses.

就我们所知，我们有理由感到担忧。在《全球变化生物学》杂志的一篇论文中，研究人员查阅了世界各地的食腐动物研究报告，发现人类猎杀以及栖息地的消失和变化对食腐性脊椎动物的数量和多样性产生了巨大影响。

The researchers warn that scavengers are unlikely to be performing their roles in the ecosystem as well as they could be, and make the case for management and conservation actions to preserve scavengers worldwide.

研究人员警告说，食腐动物可能无法在生态系统中发挥应有作用，有必要对全世界的食腐动物采取管理和保护行动。

In national parks across Germany, from the mountainous Alps in the south to the mud flats in the north to the dense forests of Bavaria, a plan is being hatched to address this. By leaving animal carcasses decaying on the ground, researchers want to gather evidence about the impact of carrion on a variety of ecosystems to see how important they are as a food source for scavengers, for wider biodiversity and soil health.

在德国各地的国家公园里，从南部的阿尔卑斯山脉，到北部的海滨泥地，再到巴伐利亚的茂密森林，人们正在制定一项计划来解决这个问题。研究人员让动物尸体在地面腐烂，从而收集有关腐肉对各种生态系统造成影响的证据，看看它们对食腐动物、广泛的生物多样性、土壤健康具有哪些重要意义。

Peter Südbeck, head of the Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer (Lower Saxony Wadden Sea) national park and a lead proponent of the project, says there have not been any systematic studies on the impact of carrion in Germany, but it is a clear gap in the ecosystem. "There are no animals lying out in the field anywhere at the moment," says Südbeck. "The motto of German national parks is 'let nature be nature', but we skipped out this natural process of what's happening with a dead animal."

德国下萨克森瓦登海国家公园的负责人、该计划的主要支持者彼得·苏德贝克说，德国尚无任何有关腐肉影响的系统研究，但这是生态系统的一个明显缺口。“目前任何地方都没有曝尸荒野的动物”，苏德贝克说道。“德国国家公园的格言是让大自然顺其自然，但我们忽视了动物尸体的这种自然变化过程”。

From September 2022 – as long as full funding can be found – roe deer and other locally significant species will be left in chosen places in the parks and researchers will study what happens using camera traps for bigger scavengers and pitfall traps for invertebrates, as well as soil sampling and genetic tests.

自2022年9月起，只要资金充足，狍子及其他重要的当地物种将被放入公园的指定区域，研究人员将研究发生的情况，他们利用相机陷阱研究大型食腐动物，利用诱捕陷阱研究无脊椎动物，此外还有土壤采样和基因检测方式。

The project will build on research undertaken in the Bavarian national forest, led by ecologist Christian von Hoermann, into the best ways of supporting carrion species. Von Hoermann has found that deliberately leaving carcasses out attracts a wide range of scavengers and endangered species – especially in the winter. The scavengers are not too picky about the species left out, or whether the carcass had been fresh or frozen – but size does matter. And leaving carcasses in regular fixed places instead of random ones attracts a greater diversity of carrion insects.

这项计划将以巴伐利亚国家森林公园开展的研究为基础，由生态学家克里斯蒂安·文·赫尔曼主持开展，旨在找到救助食腐物种的最佳方式。文·赫尔曼发现，故意丢弃动物尸体能吸引各种食腐动物和濒危物种，尤其在冬季。食腐动物对尸体物种、新鲜还是冰冻不太挑剔，但大小很重要。将动物尸体丢弃在固定而非随意地点能吸引更多种类的食腐昆虫。

Von Hoermann describes carcasses as "biodiversity hotspots" and hopes Germany's project will answer important questions about the necrobiome and how human activities are changing it. We do not know, for example, how sensitive carrion species are to changes in the volume or variety of carcasses. Nor has research explored how climate change will affect the composition and abundance of scavenger species or the rate of decomposition.

文·赫尔曼将动物尸体形容为“生物多样性热点”，他希望德国的计划将解答有关尸体生物群落的重大问题，以及人类活动正在以何种方式改变尸体生物群落。例如，我们不知道食腐动物对尸体数量或种类的变化有多敏感。研究也没有探索气候变化将以何种方式影响食腐物种的组成和数量以及分解速度。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

The Dutch nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen became a natural experiment in death ecology when a large portion of its grazers died one winter

位于荷兰的Oostvaardersplassen自然保护区为死亡生态学提供了一次天然试验，这年冬季发生了大量食草动物死亡事件。

One accidental experiment in death ecology might hold lessons for the German project.

死亡生态学领域的一次偶然试验可能对这项德国计划有借鉴意义。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

In the Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve in the Netherlands – one of the oldest rewilding sites in Europe – the sudden death of thousands of large herbivores during a cold snap several years ago showed researchers that large carcasses can significantly increase the numbers of invertebrates. It benefits vegetation too; the research found a big increase in plant matter around the carcasses months after the animals had died. But the deaths also sparked public concerns about animal rights and the number of animals in the reserve has since been limited.

位于荷兰的Oostvaardersplassen自然保护区是欧洲最古老的“再野生化”区域之一，几年前的一场寒流使几千头大型食草动物突然死亡，研究人员发现大型动物尸体使无脊椎动物的数量激增。植物也能从中受益，研究发现动物死去几个月后，尸体周围的植物激增。但这次死亡事件也引起公众对动物权利的担忧，从此该保护区里的动物数量受到限制。

Separate research into a herd of reindeer killed by lightning in Norway in 2016 found that the animal carcasses provided a hugely important temporary source of nutrients for a wide range of species including golden eagles, ravens and wolverines. The strategy of artificially supplying carrion "is not without controversy", the study noted.

2016年，挪威有一群驯鹿被闪电击死，研究发现这些动物尸体为各种物种提供了极其重要的临时性营养来源，包括金雕、渡鸦、狼獾等。该研究提到：“人工提供腐肉的策略并非没有争议”。

"One of the problems is it's not fully understood how the food webs work, how nutrients are cycled and how important the carcasses are in lixing all these things together," says Debbie Fielding, a research assistant in community ecology at the James Hutton Institute. "There's quite a lot of perceived benefits, but there's not actually that much evidence for it. And that's not necessarily because there aren't the benefits [but] it's unlikely to be a win-win situation."

“其中一个问题是我们不了解这种食物网的规律，养分是怎样循环的，动物尸体将这一切联系起来有多重要”，詹姆斯·赫顿研究所群落生态学研究助理黛比·菲尔丁说道。“许多益处显而易见，但实际上没有太多证据。这未必是因为没有益处（但）不太可能各得其所”。

Fielding was part of a research team that left red deer carcasses on a variety of upland estates in Scotland to study their impacts on local ecology. Although the project was curtailed due to lack of funds, it did find that carcasses on estates focused on conservation were quickly taken away by scavengers such as foxes while on more heavily managed estates with greater predator control the process of decomposition was slower and dominated by insects.

菲尔丁所属的研究团队将马鹿尸体放入英格兰的各种高地庄园里，研究它们对当地生态产生的影响。虽然该项目由于缺乏资金而中断，但研究发现在注重自然保护的庄园里，马鹿尸体很快就被狐狸等食腐动物瓜分走了；而在管理比较严格的庄园，食肉动物受到较大的限制，动物尸体的分解过程比较缓慢，并以昆虫为主。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

She stresses that cultural factors make leaving carcasses out a complex decision. "In Scotland the deer are traditionally hunted for trophy hunting and venison. If they're going to shoot it, they want to make sure that it's being used properly so they want to recover it; just to leave a carcass out on the hill rotting is seen to be very disrespectful."

她强调，文化因素使丢弃动物尸体成为复杂的抉择。“在苏格兰的传统中，人们猎鹿是为了获取战利品和鹿肉。如果他们射杀鹿，希望确保尸体得到妥善处理，所以他们希望找回尸体；如果将鹿的尸体丢弃在山上腐烂，这被视为严重的失礼”。

Projects also need to be careful to avoid unintended consequences. Some vulture "restaurants" in southern Africa, for example, led to complaints from tourists, attracted unwanted scavengers, caused problems for farmed animals and even resulted in illness as people ate food left out for birds that was unfit for human consumption.

实施这些计划还应谨慎避免意外后果。举例来说，南非的一些秃鹫“餐馆”引发游客投诉，因为它们引来了不受欢迎的食腐动物，给畜牧动物造成问题，甚至有人由于误食不适合人类食用的鸟食而生病。

A study in Norway found that animals' bodies became an important source of food to a range of animals

挪威的一项研究表明，动物尸体成为各种动物的重要食物来源。

Südbeck admits the German project, which is "a little bit dirty", will involve some public relations work and sensitive discussions with the hunting community. "We have to talk about what does it mean in terms of nature conservation, in terms of the national park's overarching aims, and of course in terms of society," he says.

苏德贝克承认德国的这项计划“有点令人厌恶”，这需要一些公关工作，并与狩猎界进行敏感讨论。“我们必须探讨该计划对于自然保护、国家公园的首要目标、以及社会有什么意义”，他说道。

Since earlier attempts to deliberately leave carcasses out in projects across the world were criticised for ignoring the wider social and economic context, Südbeck says the national parks will share details online and in information centres, and some will also install webcams. Live feeds from cameras on carrion spots in the Bavarian forest have already shown animals such as lynx feeding and proved very popular with the public.

在此之前，世界各地的计划都尝试过故意丢弃动物尸体，但被批评为罔顾广泛的社会和经济环境，所以苏德贝克说，国家公园将在网上和信息中心分享相关细节，有些国家公园将安装摄像头。在巴伐利亚森林的腐肉地点，摄像头直播已经显示猞猁等动物的进食画面，并证明深受民众的喜爱。

Decisions about where to leave carcasses also need to be handled sensitively. In Wattenmeer, carcasses will be left on uninhabited islands rather than busy beaches where holidaymakers are sunbathing.

动物尸体的丢弃地点也需要慎重决定。在德国下萨克森瓦登海国家公园里，动物尸体将被丢弃在荒无人烟的海岛上，而不是假日游客享受阳光浴的繁华海滩上。

Südbeck hopes the German carcass project will be the first step in demonstrating the value of moving towards a healthier ecosystem. Having studied ornithology, he admits it is easier to justify making changes on behalf of charismatic species like sea eagles than it is for tiny beetles, "but the responsibility of national parks is to look at the whole biodiversity".

苏德贝克希望，德国的这项动物尸体计划将开始证明促进生态系统健康发展的价值。研究过鸟类学的他坦言，相比小甲虫，为海雕等有魅力的物种做出改变更名正言顺，“但国家公园的职责是关注所有生物的多样性”。

Von Hoermann stresses that leaving carcasses out is a rather artificial way of dealing with the problem, and says that, once the benefits have been demonstrated, the job should be really done by natural predators like lynx and wolves. "In the Yellowstone National Park, they produce carcasses all over the year in a natural way and support the diversity of other carrion-associated species from bacteria, fungi, insects up to vertebrate scavengers."

生态学家文·赫尔曼强调，丢弃动物尸体是一种人工解决办法，他还说一旦证明了益处，应该真正由猞猁、狼等天敌完成这项任务。“在美国黄石国家公园，这些动物常年以自然方式丢弃尸体，有助于维持其他食腐物种的多样性，诸如细菌、真菌、昆虫、脊椎类食腐动物等”。

Ultimately, he believes that people will come to terms with dead animals in national parks, just as they are increasingly with deadwood. Although it focuses on exploring the ecosystem benefits of leaving carcasses to support the necrobiome, Germany's experiment is perhaps as much about changing perceptions of the place of death in nature. As von Hoermann puts it, it is about getting the public used to "the very natural situation of dying animals in the landscape".

他相信，人们最终将接受国家公园里出现动物尸体，就像他们越来越接受朽木一样。这项德国试验重在探索丢弃尸体来支持尸体生物群落所带来的生态效益，但也是为了改变人们对大自然中死亡地带的看法。正如文·赫尔曼所言，目的是让民众对“景观中有动物尸体这种天然状况”习以为常。