Ecologists needed a way to more easily keep track of populations of amphibians, and green glow sticks lit the way.

生态学家们一直需要一种更容易追踪两栖动物群体的方式，而绿色发光棒正好照亮了它们的路。

撰文/播音 Annie Sneed 安妮·斯内德

翻译 张心茹

审校 张清越 

Populations of frogs, salamanders and other amphibians are declining around the world—even in protected areas, like U.S. national parks. Ecologists needed a simple method to track the animals’ numbers. Now, researchers have found an effective way to keep tabs on amphibians—using that concert and party favorite: glow sticks. Green glow sticks, to be specific.

青蛙、蝾等两栖动物在世界范围内减少，甚至在包括美国国家公园在内的保护区。生态学家们需要一种追踪这些动物数量的简单方法。现在，研究者们已经找到一种有效方法来固定两栖动物身上的标记——用在音乐会和聚会上常用的发光棒，尤其是绿色发光棒。

“What we do know is that their eyes are particularly sensitive to green light.”

David Munoz, a PhD candidate in the ecology program at Penn State University.

“我们现在已知的是它们的眼睛对绿光尤其敏感”，宾夕法尼亚州大学生态学在读博士生大卫·穆尼奥斯说。

To test the idea, Munoz and colleagues set up minnow traps with and without glow sticks at a dozen vernal pools in Centre County, Pennsylvania. The critters gather at the pools to breed. 

为了检验这个想法，穆尼奥斯和同事们趁着春天，在中心城市宾夕法尼亚的12个湖里分别设置了有和没有发光棒的桃花鱼陷阱。小动物聚集在湖里繁殖。

For a month, they trapped and tracked numbers of the Jefferson salamander, the spotted salamander, the wood frog and the eastern red-spotted newt. “Right before we left for the day, around 4 P.M., we’d activate the glow stick and hang it on the little minnow trap, come back the next day to see what we got.”

一个月的时间里，他们诱捕杰斐逊钝口螈、斑点钝口螈、木蛙以及绿红东美螈，并追踪其数量。“每天我们离开前，下午四点左右，我们会打开发光棒，将它们挂在小桃花鱼陷阱处，次日我们返回此地收集成果”。

Traps with glow sticks were vastly more productive. “We were really surprised by how strong of an effect our glow sticks had on our captures. So, by just putting a glow stick in one of these minnow traps we increased the capture rates for our spotted salamanders and our Jefferson salamanders between on average two to four times.” And for the eastern red-spotted newt, the glow stick traps lured six times as many. [Michael Antonishak, David A. W. Miller and David J. Munoz, Using Glow Sticks to Increase Funnel Trap Capture Rates for Adult Vernal Pool Amphibians, in Herpetological Review]

有发光棒的陷阱周围（两栖动物）通常繁殖力更强。“我们真的被发光棒对捕获量的影响震惊。只要在其中一个陷阱周围摆上发光棒，我们捕捉到斑点钝口螈和杰斐逊钝口螈的几率平均增大两到四倍”。而对于绿红东美螈，发光棒诱捕高达（无发光棒时的）六倍之多。[Michael Antonishak, David A. W. Miller and David J. Munoz, Using Glow Sticks to Increase Funnel Trap Capture Rates for Adult Vernal Pool Amphibians, in Herpetological Review]

“You know, these salamanders and these amphibians are going to these sites to breed. And so what are they looking for? They’re looking for other individuals…and so what we think is that the glow stick is either making the movement of other salamanders more apparent, or it's potentially just a simple visual cue…their eyes are sensitive to this type of light, so they might be attracted to it.”

“你知道，这些蝾螈和两栖动物会前往这些繁殖地点。那么它们在寻找什么呢？它们在寻找其他个体。因此我们认为，发光棒要么使其它蝾螈的行踪更加明显，要么发光棒只是一个简单可见的潜在线索。它们的眼睛对这种类型的光很敏感，所以可能被它吸引”。

Regardless of the reason, Munoz hopes his team’s glowing discovery will benefit amphibians. “In order to help manage those species, and help bring them back, or reverse those declines, we need to understand what’s causing those declines. And the way we do that is by monitoring populations.”

不管原因为何，穆尼奥斯都希望他的团队在发光棒上的发现能对两栖动物有利。“为了帮助管理这些物种，也帮助它们恢复数量，扭转下降趋势，我们需要了解他们数量下降的原因。我们采取的方法便是监测它们”

Another nice thing about glow sticks: they’re cheap. “It gives scientists a new tool, and essentially a better tool to help achieve that monitoring on a cost effective basis.”

发光棒的另一优点是，它们很廉价。“这给科学家们提供一种新的、更好的、有助于低成本高效监测的工具”。