静听鲸语

When humpback whales migrated to Glacier Bay in Alaska this year to spend the long summer days feeding, they arrived to something unusual: quieter waters.

今年，当座头鲸迁移到阿拉斯加的冰川湾度过漫长的夏季时，它们来到了一个不同于往常的地方:安静的水域。

As the COVID-19 pandemic slows international shipping and keeps cruise ships docked, scientists are finding measurably less noise in the ocean.

由于新冠大流行减缓了国际航运，使邮轮停靠在码头，科学家们发现海洋中的噪音明显减少了。

That could provide momentary relief for whales and other marine mammals that are highly sensitive to noise.

这可以暂时缓解鲸鱼和其他对噪音高度敏感的海洋哺乳动物的压力。

Through networks of underwater hydrophones, scientists are hoping to learn how the mammals' communication changes when the drone of ships is turned down, potentially informing new policies to protect them.

通过水下听音器网络，科学家们希望了解当船只的嗡嗡声变小后，这种哺乳动物的交流方式会发生怎样的变化，从而有可能出台保护它们的新政策。

"More needs to be done," says Jason Gedamke, who manages the ocean acoustics program at NOAA Fisheries.

“需要做的还有很多，”在美国海洋与气候协会渔业部门管理海洋声学项目的詹森·格达姆克说。

"When you have animals that for millions of years have been able to communicate over vast distances in the ocean, and then once we introduce noise and have increased sound levels and they can't communicate over those distances, clearly there's going to be some impact there."

“数百万年来，动物已经能够在海洋中进行远距离交流，但一旦我们引入噪音，提高声音级别，它们就无法再远距离交流，这显然会产生一些影响。”

While many scientists have canceled field work this year because of the pandemic, wildlife biologists in Glacier Bay National Park have kept it up by taking solo boat trips to track the humpback population.

今年，许多科学家因为新冠疫情而取消了野外工作，而冰川湾国家公园的野生生物学家们则继续独自乘船追踪座头鲸的数量。

The data they collect --counting and identifying whales — continues record-keeping that goes back 35 years.

他们收集的数据——计数和识别鲸鱼——已经持续记录了35年。

"One of the groups is a mother and calf," says wildlife biologist Christine Gabriele, as she watches whales surface on a cool May morning.

“其中一组是母鲸和幼鲸，”野生生物学家克里斯汀·加布里说，她在五月一个凉爽的早晨看着鲸鱼浮出了水面。

"Our seventh for the year. So that's really good news."

“这是我们今年第七个了。这真是个好消息。”

These humpbacks are still recovering from a stretch of bad years when few calves were born.

这些座头鲸仍然在从一段很少幼崽出生的艰难岁月中慢慢恢复过来。

In the Pacific, warmer ocean temperatures known as "the blob" dramatically disrupted the food web.

在太平洋，被称为“温水团”的海洋温度上升极大地破坏了食物网。

This year, the signs are more encouraging.

今年的情形则更加令人鼓舞。

Gabriele can tell because she recognizes individual whales, especially the ones that have been returning for decades.

加布里埃尔可以分辨出来，因为她能辨认出单个的鲸鱼，尤其是那些已经洄游了几十年的鲸鱼。

"They're really homebodies," she says.

“它们真的是很恋家，”她说。

"They go back to the same feeding spots year after year."

“年复一年地，它们都会回到同一个地方来进食。”

But below the surface, Gabriele and her colleagues are learning far more with a hydrophone, continually recording the underwater soundscape.

但在水下，加布里埃尔和她的同事们正在用一个水下录音器不断地记录水下的声音。

Humpbacks are a chatty bunch.

座头鲸是一群健谈的家伙。

In addition to their well-known, melodious songs, they make "whups" and other noises, either to coordinate feeding or simply to stay in touch with each other.

除了众所周知的悠扬的歌曲，它们还会发出“呜呜”声和其他声音，或者是为了协调进食，或者只是为了彼此保持联系。

Sound can travel for miles underwater, sometimes hundreds of miles, much farther than a whale can see.

声音在水下可以传播数英里，有时甚至数百英里，远超过鲸鱼所能看到的范围。

"Whales use sound in almost every aspect of their daily life," she says.

“鲸鱼几乎在日常生活的每个方面都会用到声音，”她说。

"Studying the underwater sound environment is really important because it helps us see the world the way the whales actually use it."

“研究水下声音环境真的很重要，因为它可以让我们看到在水下世界里鲸鱼真的在使用它。”

The whales also share Glacier Bay with cruise ships, boats and catamarans, which are regulated to limit their numbers.

这些鲸鱼还与游船、小船和双体船共享着冰川湾，这些船只都受到管制，以限制它们的数量。

When vessel noise is loud, Gabriele and her colleagues found that the whales have to accommodate it, a lot like people would at a loud party.

当船只噪音很大时，加布里埃尔和她的同事们发现鲸鱼必须进行调整适应，就像人们在嘈杂的派对上一样。

"In order to communicate with each other, they might have to be close together," she says.

她说:“为了相互交流，它们可能不得不游得很近。”

"They might have to repeat themselves. Or they might have to wait for a quieter moment before they start vocalizing."

“它”们可能不得不重复说过的话。或者它们可能需要等待更安静的时刻才开始发声。”

But this year, boat traffic has been way down.

但今年，船运量一直在下降。

"It's much quieter," Gabriele says.

“水下安静多了，”加布里埃尔说道。

"Just by listening to it you can tell."

“光靠耳朵听都知道。”

An analysis from Cornell University found the loudest sounds underwater in Glacier Bay in May 2020 were less than half as loud as those in May 2018.

康奈尔大学的一项分析发现，2020年5月冰川湾水下最响亮的声音还不到2018年5月的一半。

So, Gabriele and her team are eagerly listening to humpback calls to see how they might change.

因此，加布里埃尔和她的团队正在急切地倾听座头鲸的叫声，看看它们会如何改变。

"The pandemic has created this unexpected opportunity for science, kind of a once in a lifetime chance to look at whale communication behavior in its natural, undisturbed form," Gabriele says.

“疫情为科学创造了这个意想不到的机会，这是一个千载难逢的机会来观察鲸鱼在自然、不受干扰的状态下的交流行为，”加布里埃尔说。

问题

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