撰文播音 克里斯多佛•因塔利亚塔（Christopher Intagliata）

翻译 许楠

审校 张清越

More than 2,500 scientists signed a letter saying that an expanded U.S.–Mexico border wall would threaten both biodiversity and scientific research. Christopher Intagliata reports.

2500多名科学家签署了信件，陈述美国-墨西哥边界墙会对生物多样性和科学研究产生威胁。克里斯多佛•因塔利亚塔（Christopher Intagliata）报道。

The U.S.–Mexico border is a hotspot for biodiversity. "You have deserts, you have grasslands, you have mountain ranges." Paul Ehrlich, an evolutionary biologist and ecologist at Stanford. "It is a borderland between the temperate zone and the tropics."

美国-墨西哥边境是生物多样性的热门地带。“有沙漠，有草原，有山脉。”保罗·欧立希（Paul Ehrlich）是斯坦福大学的进化生物学家和生态学家。“它是温带与热带的边界地带。”

The border is also—if the Trump administration has its way—a future construction zone, the site of an expanded wall. Which Ehrlich, and more than 2,500 scientists from around the world, say could threaten some 1,500 native plants and animals along the border, 62 of which are endangered.

如果按特朗普政府得偿所愿，那么这里就是美国未来的建筑区，超长的围墙将耸立于此。欧立希和来自世界各地的2500多名科学家认为这可能会威胁到边境沿线的约1500种本土植物和动物，其中62种是濒临灭绝的物种。

"When you build barriers you first-of-all prevent organisms from migrating in response to the climate change we're causing. That leads to extinctions. We also divide populations which then makes them smaller and more susceptible to extinction. And we of course destroy them directly by wrecking their habitat."

“在建造围墙时，首先阻碍了生物在人类造成的气候变化下迁徙的活动。这会导致物种灭绝。还会分离种群，使它们变得更小，更容易灭绝。这会通过破坏栖息地而毁灭它们。”

The species at risk include bighorn sheep, gray wolves, pronghorn antelope and jaguars. Even low-flying creatures could be blocked by a 30-foot wall, he says… like the ferruginous pygmy-owl and the endangered checkerspot butterfly.

受到威胁的物种包括大角羊、灰狼、叉角羚和美洲虎。他说，甚至低空飞行的生物都会被30英尺高的墙壁挡住，比如铁头侏儒猫头鹰和濒临灭绝的棋盘格蝴蝶。

"The butterflies pretty much won't fly over a five-to-10-foot bush. They're organisms that are used to flying in grasslands. And they view forest or bushlands as barriers." The article by Ehrlich, colleagues and scientist signatories is in the journal BioScience. [Peters et al., Nature Divided, Scientists United: U.S.-Mexico Border Wall Threatens Biodiversity and Binational Conservation]

蝴蝶通常不会飞过五到十英尺高的灌木丛。它们是在草原上飞行的生物，以森林和灌木丛为生存屏障。这篇由欧立希团队和科学家们签署的文章发表在《生物科学》（BioScience）上[Peters et al., Nature Divided, Scientists United: U.S.-Mexico Border Wall Threatens Biodiversity and Binational Conservation]。

As for whether President Trump will read their article?

至于特朗普总统是否会阅读他们的文章?

"I think he's got other problems at the moment."

“我认为他目前还有更多要担心的问题。”