Four Laws of Ecology中英对照

Four Laws of Ecology

1 In broad outline,there are environmental cycles which govern the behavior of the three great global systems:the air,the water,and the soil.Within each of them live many thousands of different species of living things.Each species is suited to its particular environmental niche,and each,through its life processes,affects the physical and chemical properties of its immediate environment.

1概括来讲,地球的三大系统—空气、水和土壤的行为由环境循环所决定。每个系统中都生活着成千上万个不同物种的生物,每个物种都有与之相适宜的独特的环境生位,并且每一物种,在其整个生命历程中,都影响着它的周边环境的物理和化学特性。

2 Each living species is also linked to many others.These links are bewildering in their variety and marvelous in their intricate detail.An animal,such as a deer,may depend on plants for food;the plants depend on the action of soil bacteria for their nutrients;the bacteria in turn live on the organic wastes dropped by the animal on the soil.At the same time.the deer is food for the mountain lion. Insects may live on the juices of plants or gather pollen from their flowers.Other insects suck blood from animals.Bacteria may live on the internal tissues of animals and plants.Fungi degrade the bodies of dead plants and animals.All this,many times multiplied and organized species by species in intricate,precise relationships,makes up the vast network of life on the earth.

2每个生物物种也与许多其他的物种相联系。1.这些联系的多样性令人迷惑不解,其错综复杂的细节令人惊叹不已。某一动物,如一只鹿,可能依靠植物来获取食物;植物依靠土壤细菌的活动来获取其营养;相应地,细菌以陆地上的动物排泄出来的有机废物为生。同时,鹿是美洲狮的食物。昆虫可能以植物的汁

液为生,或者从其花朵里采集花粉。其他的昆虫则吸吮动物的血液。细菌可能以动物和植物的内部组织为生。真菌分解死亡的植物和动物的躯体。所有这一切,由各个物种通过复杂而严密的关系多次繁殖和组织,构成了地球上巨大的生命之网。

3 The science that studies these relationships and the processes linking each living thing to the physical and chemical environment is ecology.It is the science of planetary housekeeping For the environment is,so to speak,the house created on the earth by living things for living things.It is a young science and much of what it teaches has been learned from only small segments of the whole network of life on the earth Ecology has not yet explicitly develop the kind of cohesive,

simplifying generalizations exemplified by,say,the laws of physics.Nevertheless there are a number generalizations that are already evident in what we now know about the ecosphere and that can be organized into a kind of informal set of laws of ecology.These are described in what follows

3研究这些关系以及把每种生物与物理和化学环境相联系的过程的科学是生态学。它是行星家政科学。2.因为环境,可以说,是地球上由生物创造并为生物所用的家园。这是一门年轻的科学,而且它所讲述的大部分内容都是从地球整个生命之网的仅仅一小部分上所得来的。生态学还没有明确形成,比如说,像物理学定律那样联系紧密的、简化的一般法则。不过,在我们现在对生态圈的认识方面,有许多一般法则已经显而易见,它们可以组成一套通俗的“生态学法则”。这些法则表述如下。

The First Law of Ecology:Everything Is Connected to Everything Else

生态学的第一条法则每一个事物都与其他事物相关

4 Some of the evidence that leads to this generalization has already been discussed.It reflects the existence of the elaborate network of interconnections in the ecosphere:among different living organisms,and between populations,species,and individual organisms and their physicochemical surroundings

4得出这条一般法则的一些证据已经讨论过了。它反映了生态圈中存在着相互联系的复杂网络:这个网络存在于不同的生物体中,存在于种群、物种和个体生物与其物理化学环境之间

5 The single fact that an ecosystem consists of multipleinter connected parts,which act on one another,has some surprising consequences.Our ability to picture the behavior of such systems has been helped considerably by the development,even more recent than ecology,of the science of cybernetics.We owe the basic concept,and the word itself,to the inventive mind of the late

Norbert wiener.

5一个生态系统由很多相互联系的部分组成,它们相互作用,仅仅这个事实就产生了一些令人惊奇的结果。控制论这一学科的发展极大地提高了我们描述这类系统行为的能力,而它的发展甚至比生态学还晚3我们把这一基本概念以及这个回本身的产生都归功于已故的诸伯特·威纳的有创造力的头脑

6 The word cybernetics derives from the Greek word for helmsman\";it is concerned with cycles of events that steer,or govern,the behavior of a system.The helmsman is part of a system that also includes the compass,the rudder,and the ship.If the ship veers off the chosen compass course,the change shows up in the movement of the compass needle Observed and interpreted by the helmsman this event determines a subsequent one:the helmsman turns the

rudder,which swings the ship back to its original course. When this happens,the compass needle returns to its original,on course position and the cycle is complete.If the helmsman turns the rudder too far in response to a small deflection of the compass needle,the excess swing of the ship shows up in the compass which signals the helmsman to correct his overreaction by an opposite movement.

Thus the operation of this cycle stabilizes the course of the ship.

6控制论一词源于希腊语中的“舵手”一词:它与操纵或控制某一系统行为的事件发生的周期有关。舵手是某一系统的一部分,这个系统还包括罗盘、船舵和船。若船偏离了罗盘所指示的航向,这一变化会在罗盘指针的移动上显示出来。当舵手观察并了解到这个事件后,便决定了一个随之而来的事件:舵手转动船舵,船舵使船拐回其原来的航向。发生这一情况之后,罗盘指针就会转回到其原来的航向位置上,这个周期随即完成。如果罗盘指针只是稍有偏离,而舵手又因此把舵转得过猛,船的过分偏航会在罗盘上显示出来—这就提醒舵手把舵往回打以纠正他的过度行为。这样,这个周期的运作就使船的航向稳定了下来。

7 In quite a similar way,stabilizing cybernetic relations are built into an ecological cycle.

Consider,for example,the fresh water ecological cycle:fish-organic waste-bacteria of decay inorganic products-algae-fish.Suppose that due to unusually warm summer weather there is a rapid growth of algae.This depletes the supply of inorganic nutrients so that two sectors of the cycle,algae and nutrients,are out of balance,but in opposite directions.The operation of the ecological cycle,like that of the ship,soon brings the situation back into balance.For the excess in algae increases the ease with which fish can feed on them;this reduces the algal population,

increases fish waste production,and eventually leads to an increased level of nutrients when the waste decays.Thus,the levels of algae and nutrients tend to return to their original balanced position.

7与之非常相似的是,一个生态循环里也有起稳定作用的控制论关系。以淡水的生态循环为例:鱼一有机废物—腐败细菌—无机物—藻类一鱼。假如由于夏季天气异常炎热,藻类迅速生长。这使得无机营养物的供应得以耗尽,结果这个循环中的两个环节藻类和营养物—失衡,而向相反的方向发展。这个生态循环的运作,就像那艘船的运作样,不久就会使这种形势回归到平衡的状态。因为过多的藻类会使鱼更容易获得食物,这就减少了藻类的数量,增加了鱼的排泄,最后导致营养物水平因鱼粪的腐烂而增长。这样一来,藻类和营养物的水平往往会回到它们原先的平衡状态。

8 In such cybernetic systems the course is not maintained by rigid control,but flexibly.Thus the ship does not move unwaveringly its path,but actually follows it in a wavelike motion that swings equally to both sides of the true course.The frequency of these swings depends on the relative speeds of the various steps in the cycle,such as the rate at which the ship responds to the rudder.

8在这样的控制系统里,航向不是通过严格的控制而是通过灵活的手段来维持的。因此,船在航行中的航向并不是始终不变的,而实际上是沿着真航向或左或右波状行进,这些波动的频率取决于这个循环中各个步骤的相对速度,如船在船舵转动时的反应速度

9 Ecological systems exhibit similar cycles,although these are often obscured by the effects of daily or seasonal variations in weather and environmental agents.The most famous examples of such ecological oscillations are the periodic fluctuations of the size of fur-bearing animal populations.For example,from trapping records in Canada it is known that the

populations of rabbits and lynx follow ten-year fluctuations.When there are many rabbits,the lynx prosper;the rising population of lynx increasingly ravages the rabbit population,reducing it;as the latter become scarce,there is insufficient food to support the now numerous lynx;as the lynx begin to die off,the rabbits are less fiercely hunted and increase in number.And so on.These oscillations are built into the operation of the simple cycle,in which the lynx population is positively related to the number of rabbits and the rabbit population is negatively related to the number of lynx.

9生态系统也呈现出类似的循环,虽然这些循环由于天气和环境因素的日常或季节性变化的影响而常常变得模糊不清。此类生态学波动的最为著名的例子就是毛皮动物数量的周期性波动。例如,从加拿大的狩猎记录上可以得知,野兔和猞猁在数量上的波动以10年为一个周期。当野兔很多时,猞猁大量繁殖;越来越多的猞猁不断掠食野兔,使野兔的数量减少;当野兔变得稀少时,也就没有足够的食物来养活此时数量庞大的猞猁了;当猞猁开始相继死去时,野兔被捕杀的威胁也就不再那么严重,于是其数量又增加了。如此循环往复。这些波动存在于这个简单循环的运作中。在这个循环中,猞猁的数量与野兔的数量为正相关关系,而野兔的数量与猞猁的数量为负相关关系

10 In such an oscillating system,there is always the danger that

the whole system will collapse when an oscillation swings so wide of the balance point that the system can no longer compensate for it.Suppose,for example,in one particular swing of the rabbit-lynx cycle,the lynx manage to eat all the rabbits(or,for that matter,all but one).Now the rabbit population can no longer reproduce.As usual,the lynx begin to starve as the rabbits are consumed;but this time the drop in the lynx population is not followed by an increase in rabbits.The lynx then die off.The entire rabbit-lynx system collapses.

10在这样一个波动系统中总是存在着风险即当某一波动的幅度过大,超出了平衡点以至于系统无法再修复它时,整个系统就会崩溃。例如,假定在野兔一猞猁循环周期的次特定的波动中,猞猁设法吃掉了所有的野兔(或者,就此而言,只剩下一只),此时,野兔的种群就不能再繁殖了。在通常情况下,当野兔被吃完时,猞猁就要开始挨饿;但这一次,猞猁种群的数量减少之后,野兔的数量并没有增加。接着,猞猁相继死去。整个野兔一猞猁系统也就崩溃了

11 This is similar to the ecological collapse which accompanies what is called eutrophication.If the nutrient level of the water becomes so high as to stimulate the rapid growth of algae,the dense algal population cannot be long sustained because of the intrinsic limitations of photosynthetic efficiency.As the thickness of the algal layer in the water increases,the light required for photosynthesis that can reach the lower parts of the algal layer becomes sharply diminished,so that any strong overgrowth of algae very quickly dies back,releasing organic debris.The organic matter level may then become so great that its decay totally depletes the oxygen content of the water.The bacteria of decay then die off,for they must have oxygen to survive.The entire aquatic cycle collapses.

11这种崩溃类似于伴随着所谓的富营养化的生态崩溃。如果水中的营养物水平变得很高,就会刺激藻类迅速生长,稠密的藻类群体就会因为自身光合作用效力的限制,不能被长久地维持下来。随着水中藻类层厚度的增加,光合作用所需要的、能够达到藻类层较低部位的光则急剧减少,结果,任何大量疯长的藻类都会很快枯萎,留下有机残骸。接着,有机物的含量会变得如此之大以至于它的分解完全耗尽了水中所含的氧于是腐败细菌相继死去,因为它们必须靠氧才能存活。整个水生循环陷入崩溃。

12 The dynamic behavior of a cybernetic system-for example, the frequency of its natural oscillations,the speed with which it responds to external changes,and its overall rate of operation depends on the relative rates of its constituent steps.In the ship system,the

compass needle swings in fractions of a second;the helmsman's reaction takes some seconds;the ship responds over a time of minutes.These different reaction times interact to produce, for example,the ship's characteristic oscillation frequency around its true course.

12一个控制系统的动态行为,例如它自然波动的频率,它对外部变化的反应速度和它的总体运作速度,都取决于其各个步骤的相对速度。5.在船的控制系统里,罗盘指针的动不到1秒钟;航手的反应雪要几秒钟:船的反应需要数分钟。这些不同的反应时间相互作用,产生了,例如,船以其真航向为中心的特有的波动频率

13 In the aquatic ecosystem,each biological step also has a characteristic reaction time,which depends on the metabolic and reproductive rates of the organisms involved.The time to produce a new generation of fish may be some months;of algae,a matter of days;decay bacteria can reproduce in a few hours.The metabolic rates of these organisms that is,the rates at which they use nutrients,consume oxygen,or produce waste are inversely related to their size.If the metabolic rate of a fish is 1,the algal rate is about 100,and the bacterial rate about 10,000.

13在水生生态系统里,每一个循环步骤也都有一个特有的反应时间,这取决于参与循环有机物的新陈代谢和繁殖速度。繁育新代鱼的时间可能是几个月;新一代水藻的生长可能是几天的事;腐败细菌的繁殖可能需要几个小时。这些有机物新陈代谢的速度,即它们利用营养物、消耗氧或排泄废物的速度与它们的大小逆向相关。7.如果鱼类的新陈代谢速度是1,那么藻类的新陈代谢速度大约是100,而细菌的新陈代谢速度大约是10000。

14 If the entire cyclical system is to remain in balance,the overall rate of turnover must be governed by the slowest step-in this case,the growth and metabolism of the fish.Any external

effect that forces part of the cycle to operate faster than the overall rate leads to trouble.So,for example,the rate of waste production by fish determines the rate of bacterial decay and the rate of oxygen consumption due to that decay.In a balanced situation,enough oxygen is produced by the algae and enters from the air to support the decay bacteria.Suppose that the rate at which organic waste enters the cycle is increased artificially,for example,by dumping sewage into the water.Now the decay bacteria are supplied with organic waste at a much higher level than usual;because of their rapid metabolism they are able to act quickly on the increased organic load.As a result,the rate of oxygen consumption by the decay bacteria can easily exceed the rate of oxygen production by the algae(and its rate of entry from the air)so that the oxygen level goes to zero and the system collapses.Thus,the rates of the separate processes in the cycle are in a natural state of balance which is maintained only so long as there are no external intrusions on the system.When such an effect originates outside the cycle,it is not controlled by the self-governing cyclical relations and is a threat to the stability of the whole system.

14如果整个循环系统要保持平衡,代谢的整体速度必须由最慢的步骤控制,就上面的案例而言,则是由鱼类的生长和新陈代谢控制任何外界作用迫使循环的部分运作速度超出整体速度,都会产生问题。比如说,鱼的排泄速度决定了细菌分解的速度及由于细菌分解而导致的氧的消耗速度。在平衡的状态下,藻类产生充足的氧,这些氧从空气中进入,支持细菌的分解,假设有机排泄物进入循环的速度被人为地增加了,例如通过向水里排污水,那么此时提供给腐败细菌的有机排泄物的水平会大大高于一般水平。因为腐败细菌的新陈代谢速度快,所以它们能够迅速地对增加的有机物起作用。结果腐败细菌消耗氧的速度会轻易超过藻类产氧的速度(以及氧从空气中进人的速度),以至于水里的氧含量降到了零,导致了系统的崩溃。因此,只有在该系统没有外界侵入的情况下,循环的各个不同的进程的速度才能保持一种自然的平衡状态。当该循环体的外部产生这样的效力时,它是不受循环关系的自我调节能力控制的,从而对整个系统的稳定就构成了威胁。

15 Ecosystems differ considerably in their rate characteristics and therefore vary a great deal in the speed with which they react to changed situations or approach the point of collapse.For example aquatic ecosystems turn over much faster than soil ecosystems Thus,an acre of richly populated marine shoreline or an acre of fish pond produces about seven times as much organic material as an acre of alfalfa annually.The slow turnover of the soil cycle is due to the rather low rate of one of its many steps-the release of nutrient from the soils organic store,which is very much slower than the comparable step in aquatic systems.

15各种生态系统在它们的速度特征上千差万别,因而它们对环境改变做出反应或者接近崩溃点的速度也大相径庭。例如,水生生态系统的循环要比土壤生态系统的循环快得多。所以,1英亩种群丰饶的海岸线地带或者1英亩鱼池每年所产生的有机物大约是1英亩首蓿每年所产生的有机物的7倍土壤循环的循环速度慢,是因为它的许多步骤中有一步的速度非常慢一即从土壤的有机物贮存中释放养分的那一步,比在水生系统中类似的那一步慢得多。

16 The amount of stress which an ecosystem can absorb before it is driven to collapse is also a result of its various interconnections and their relative speeds of response.The more complex the ecosystem,the more successfully it can resist a stress.For example in the rabbit-lynx system,if the lynx had an alternative source of food they might survive the sudden depletion of rabbits.In this way, branching-which establishes alternative pathways-increases the resistance of an ecosystem to stress.Most ecosystems are so complex that the cycles are not simple circular paths,but are crisscrossed with branches to form a network or a fabric of interconnections.Like a net,in which each knot is connected to others by several strands such a fabric can resist collapse better than a simple, unbranched circle of threads-which,if cut anywhere,breaks down as a whole.Environmental pollution is often a sign that ecological links have been cut and that the ecosystem has been artificially simplified and made more

vulnerable to stress and to final collapse.

16一个生态系统在被迫崩溃前所能承受的压力的大小,也是其各种相互联系以及与之相关的反应速度的结果。8.生态系统越复杂它抵抗压力的能力就越强。例如,在野兔猞猁这个系统中,如果猞猁有一种可替代的食物来源,它们就有可能在野兔突然死光后继续存活。用这样的办法,另辟蹊径,即建立其他的途径,提高了一个生态系统的抗压能力。9.大多数生态系统都非常复杂,以至于循环并不是单一的循环链,而是由许多支线交叉在一起,形成一个相互关联的网络或结构。像一张网一样,网中的每个节点都是通过几股支线与其他节点连接在一起,这结构比单一无支线的线圈更能抵御崩溃,而后者如果其任何地方被切断就会全部崩溃。环境污染常常是一个讯号,即生态链被切断和生态系统已经被人为简化,并且因此变得难以抵御压力而最终崩溃。

17 The feedback characteristics of ecosystems result in amplification and intensification processes of considerable magnitude.For example,the fact that in food chains small organisms are eaten by bigger ones and the latter by still bigger ones inevitably results in the concentration of certain environmental constituents in the bodies of the largest organisms at the top of the food chain.Smaller organisms always exhibit much higher metabolic rates than larger ones,so that the amount of their food which is oxidized relative to the amount incorporated into the body of the organism is thereby greater.Consequently,an animal at the top of food chain depends on the consumption of an enormously greater mass of the bodies of organisms lower down in the food chain.Therefore,any non-metabolized material present in the lower organisms of this chain will become concentrated in the body of the top one.Thus,if the concentration of DDT(a highly effective pesticide with many dangerous side effects,which Is not readily metabolized,in the soil is I unit,earthworms living in the soil will achieve a concentration of from 10 to 40 units,and In woodcocks feeding on the earthworms the DDT level will rise to about 200 units.

17生态系统的反馈特性导致了非常重大的扩大和强化过程。例如,在食物链中,小的有机体被较大的有机体吃掉,而后者又被更大的有机体吃掉,这个事实不可避免地导致食物链顶端最大的有机体体内产生一定的环境因素的聚集。较小的有机体的新陈代谢率总是比较大的有机体显得高得多,所以,它们氧化的食物量比它们身体吸收的量要大得多。因此,处在食物链顶端的动物要靠消耗更大量的位于食物链较低端的有机体的躯体来维持生存。因而这个链中较低端的有机体中存在的任何无法新陈代谢的物质,都会集中在位于该链顶端的有机体的躯体里。所以,如果不易新陈代谢的DDT(一种具有很多危险副作用的高效杀虫剂)在土壤中的浓度是1个单位,它在土壤中生活的蚯蚓的体内就会达到10到40个单位,而在以蚯蚓为食的山鹬体内,DDT的浓度就会高达约200个单位。

18 All this results from a simple fact about ecosystems:everything is connected to everything else:the system is stabilized by its dynamic self-compensating properties;these same properties,if overstressed,can lead to a dramatic collapse;the complexity of the ecological network and its intrinsic rate of turnover determine how much it can be stressed,and for how long,without collapsing;the ecological network is an amplifier,so that a small perturbation in one place may have large,distant,long-delayed effects.

18所有这一切都源于一个与生态系统有关的简单的事实:每一个事物都与其他事物相关:系统因其动态的、自我补偿的特性而保持稳定;这些相同的特性如果承受的压力过大,就可能导致突然崩溃;生物网的复杂性和其内在的代谢速度决定了它能承受多大的压力和多长时间内不崩溃;生物网是一个扩大器,因此,在一个地方出现的小混乱可能产生巨大的、深远的、拖延已久的影响。

The Second Law of Ecology:Everything Must Go Somewhere.

生态学的第二条法则:一切事物都必然要有其去向

19 This is,of course,simply a somewhat informal restatement of a basic law of physics that matter is indestructible.Applied to ecology,the law emphasizes that in nature there is no such thing as waste\".In every natural system,what is excreted by one organism as waste is taken up by another as food Animals release carbon dioxide as a respiratory waste;this is an essential nutrient for green plants.Plants excrete oxygen,which is used by animals.Animal organic wastes nourish the bacteria of decay.Their wastes,inorganic materials such as nitrate,phosphate,and carbon dioxide,become algal nutrients.

19当然,这只是对物理学的一个基本法则一质量守恒定律—有点非正式的重述。10.当该法则运用到生态学时,它强调的是自然界没有诸如“废物”之类的东西。在每个自然系统里,由一种有机体当做废物排泄出来的东西会被另一种有机体当做食物吃掉。动物所释放的二氧化碳是呼吸系统里的一种废物;这是绿色植物必不可少的养分。植物排出氧气,氧气则被动物所利用。动物的有机粪滋养着腐败细菌。腐败细菌的废物,诸如硝酸盐、磷酸盐和二氧化碳之类的无机物成了藻类的养分

20 A persistent effort to answer the question,\"Where does it go?\"can yield a surprising amount of valuable information about an ecosystem.Consider,for example,the fate of a household item which contains mercury a substance with environmental effects that have just recently surfaced.A dry-cell battery contain in mercury is purchased,used to the point of exhaustion,and then thrown out.But where does it really go?First it is placed in a container of rubbish;this is collected and taken to an incinerator. Here the mercury is heated;this produces mercury vapor which is emitted by the incinerator stack,and mercury vapor is toxic Mercury vapor is carried by the wind,eventually brought to earth in rain or snow.Entering a mountain lake,let us say,the mercury condenses and sinks to the bottom.Here it is acted on by bacteria which convert it to methyl mercury.This is soluble and taken up by fish;since it is not metabolized,the mercury accumulates in the organs and flesh of the fish.The fish is caught

and eaten by a man

and the mercury becomes deposited in his organs,where it might be harmful.And so on.

20不断努力地回答“物质到哪里去了?”这个问题,可以获得关于生态系统的惊人数量的有价值的信息。以含汞的家用产品的命运为例。汞这一物质对环境的影响不久前才被披露。买了一节含汞的干电池,用完后“扔掉”。然而电池事实上去了哪里呢?首先,它被扔到垃圾箱里,然后被收集起来送到垃圾焚烧炉。在这里,汞被加热,这就会产生汞蒸汽,从焚烧炉的烟囱排了出去,而汞蒸汽是有毒的。汞蒸汽被风刮走,最后通过雨或雪回到了地面。比如说,进入一个高山湖泊里,汞凝聚并沉入湖底。在此处,在细菌的作用下,汞转化成甲基汞。这种汞是可以溶于水的,并会被鱼吸收。由于汞是不能被新陈代谢的,它会在鱼的器官和肉里累积起来。鱼被人捕捞吃掉,汞就存积在人的器官里,而它对人的器官可能是有害的。此类例子不再逐一列举。

21 This is an effective way to trace out an ecological path.It is also an excellent way to counteract the prevalent notion that something which is regarded as useless simply goes away\"when it is discarded Nothing goes away;it is simply transferred from place to place,converted from one molecular form to another,acting on the life processes of any organism in which it becomes,for a time,lodged. One of the chief reasons for the present environmental crisis is that great amounts of materials have been extracted from the earth, converted into new forms,and discharged into the environment without taking into account that everything has to go somewhere. The result,too often,is the accumulation of harmful amounts of material in places where,in nature,they do not belong.

21这是一个有效的探寻生态路径的方法。这也是一种消除人们普遍持有的观念的绝佳方法。这种观念认为,某种东西被当做无用之物扔掉后就完全“消失了”。什么都没有“消失”,它只是从一个地方

转移到了另一个地方,从一种分子形式转换成另一种分子形式,暂时寄住在任何有机体内,作用于有机体的生命过程。11造成当前环境危机的主要原因之一是人类从地球中索取了大量的物资,并将其转换成新的形式,然后又排放到环境中。在这一过程中,人类没有考虑“一切事物都必然要有其去向”。结果常常是,大量有害物质堆积在事实上并不属于它们的地方。

The Third Law of Ecology:Nature Knows Best

生态学的第三条法则:自然界所懂得的是最好的

1 In my experience this principle is likely to encounter considerable resistance,for it appears to contradict a deeply held idea about the unique competence of human beings.One of the most pervasive features of modern technology is the notion that it is intended to\"improve on nature-to provide food,clothing,shelter,and means of communication and expression which are superior to those available to man in nature.Stated baldly the third law of ecology holds that any major man-made change in a natural system is likely to be detrimental to that system.This is a rather extreme claim nevertheless I believe it has a good deal of merit if understood in a properly defined context.

1根据我的经验,这条法则可能会遭到强烈反对,因为它似乎与一种根深蒂固的观念相矛盾,这种观念认为“人类具有无与伦比的能力”。现代技术的一个最普遍的特征就是这样一种观念,即它旨在“改造自然”—提供粮食、衣物、住所以及通讯和表达手段,这些东西要比人类可在自然中获得的那些更好1.直截了当地说,生态学的第三条法则认为,自然系统里的任何人为的重大改变都可能损害那个系统。这是一种非常极端的说法,然而我认为,如果在一个适当的特定语境中理解,它还是很有价值的。

2 I have found it useful to explain this principle by means of an analogy.Suppose you were

to open the back of your watch,close your eyes,and poke a pencil into the exposed works.The almost certain result would be damage to the watch.Nevertheless,this result is not absolutely certain.There is some finite possibility that the watch was out of adjustment and that the random thrust of the pencil happened to make the precise change needed to improve it. However,this outcome is exceedingly improbable.The question issue is:why?The answer is self-evident:there is a very considerable amount of what technologists now call\"research and development (or,more familiarly,\"R&D\")behind the watch.This means that over the years numerous watchmakers,each taught by a predecessor, have tried out a huge variety of detailed arrangements of watch works,have discarded those that are not compatible with the over all operation of the system and retained the better features.In effect,the watch mechanism,as it now exists,represents a very restricted selection,from among an enormous variety of possible arrangements of component parts,of a singular organization of the watch works.Any random change made in the watch is likely to fall into the very large class of inconsistent,or harmful,arrangements which have been tried out in past watch-making experience and discarded.One might say,as a law of watches,that\"the watchmaker knows best”.

2我发现用类比的方法来解释这个法则很有用。假设你要打开你的手表的后盖,闭上你的眼睛,然后把一支铅笔插进裸露的活动部件中。几乎可以肯定的是,结果会是这只手表被弄坏了。然而,这个结果并非绝对可靠。有可能这只手表本来就没有校正,而铅笔的随意插入碰巧使它得到了所需的能提高其性能的精准校正。然而,这种结果极其不可能。问题的焦点是:为什么呢?答案不言而喻:手表的制造投入了相当数量的现在技术人员称之为“研究和开发”的工作(或者,更为通俗地说,“研发”)。这就意味着,数年来,无数师从前辈的钟表匠已经试验过大量的手表活动部件的精细组装方式,抛弃了那些与系统的整体运作不兼容的部分,并保留了那些较好的特性。2.事实上,手表的结构,正如其现在这样,是从大量对零部件的可能组装方式中严格筛选出来的手表活动部件的唯一组装方式。对手表的任何随意改变都有可能造成大

量的组装不一致或损坏,而这些组装在过去的手表制造经历中都已经被试验过并且被淘汰了。可以说,“钟表匠所懂得的是最好的”是手表行业的一条法则。

3 There is a close,and very meaningful,analogy in biological systems.It is possible to induce a certain range of random,inherited changes in a living thing by treating it with an agent,such as x-irradiation,that increases the frequency of mutations.Generally, exposure to x-rays increases the frequency of all mutations which have been observed,albeit very infrequently,in nature and can therefore be regarded as possible changes.What is significant,for our purpose,is the universal observation that when mutation frequency is enhanced by x-rays or other means,

nearly all the mutations are harmful to the organisms and the great majority so damaging as to kill the organism before it is fully formed.

3在生物系统中,有一种接近而且非常有意义的类似情况。如果使用一种能增加突变频率的物质,如X射线,对某一生物进行治疗,就有可能在该生物体内引发一系列随意的遗传变化。通常来讲,受X光照射会增加所有突变的频率,虽然这些突变在自然界中非常罕见。因此,这些突变可以被看做是可能的变化。对我们的论题有意义的是人们普遍观察到,当突变频率由于X射线或其他方式提高了时,几乎所有的突变都对有机体有害,而且大多数突变的危害如此之大,以至于能在有机体完全形成之前就把它毁灭。

4 In other words,like the watch,a living organism that is forced to sustain a random change in its organization is almost certain to be damaged rather than improved.And in both cases,the explanation is the same a great deal of\"R D.\"In effect there are some two to three billion years of R D behind every living thing.In that time,a staggering number of new individual living things have been produced,affording in each case the opportunity to try out

the suitability of some random genetic change.If the change damages the viability of the organism,it is likely to kill it before the change can be passed on to future generations.In way,living things accumulate a complex organization of compatible parts;those possible arrangements that are not compatible with the whole are screened out over the long course of evolution.Thus,the structure of a present living thing or the organization of a current natural ecosystem is likely to be\"best\"in the sense that it has been so heavily screened for disadvantageous components that any new one is very likely to be worse than the present ones.

4换句话说,像手表一样,强迫一个活的有机体承受其组织内的一个随意改变,几乎可以肯定地说,这个有机体会受到损害,而不是得到改善。在上述两个案例中,解释是一样的—大量的“研发”。实际上,每一种生物都经过了大约20亿年至30亿年的“研发”。在那段时期,数目惊人的新的生物个体出现了,每一次都提供了试验某种随机的基因变化的适宜性的机会。如果这种变化损害了有机体的生存能力,它就有可能在该变化遗传给有机体后代之前毁灭这个有机体。以这样的方式,生物积聚起一个复杂的、各部分可共存的组织;那些可能与整体不能共存的组合体便在长期的进化过程中被海汰3.图此,现有生物的结构或者现在的自然生系统的组级可能是最好的”某种意义上在干它已经经过了严格的筛选,淘汰了不利的成分,以至于任何新的成分非常有可能都不如现有的成分

5 This principle is particularly relevant to the field of organic chemistry.Living things are composed of many thousands of different organic compounds,and it is sometimes imagined that at least some of these might be improved upon if they were replaced by some man-made variant of the natural substance.The third law of ecology suggests that the artificial introduction of an organic compound that does not occur in nature,but is man-made and is nevertheless active in a living system,is very likely to be harmful.

5这条法则与有机化学领域尤其相关。生物是由成千上万种不同的有机化合物组成。有时人们设想如果用些自然物质的人造变体来代替它们,至少有一些可能会得到改善,4生物学的第三条法则认为人为引进自然界原本不存在的而是人造的但却活跃于一种生物系中的有机化合物很有可能是有害的。

6 This is due to the fact the varieties of chemical substances actually found in living things are vastly more restricted than the Possible varieties.Obviously there are a fantastically large number of protein types that are not made by living cells.And on the basis of the foregoing,one would reason that many of these possible protein types were once formed in some particular living things,found to be harmful,and rejected through the death of the experiment.In the same way,living cells synthesize fatty acids(a type of organic molecule that contains carbon chains of various lengths)with even-numbered carbon chain lengths(i.e,4,6,8,etc,carbons)but no fatty acids with odd-numbered carbon chain lengths.This suggests that the latter have once been tried out and found wanting Similarly,organic compounds that contain attached nitrogen and oxygen atoms are singularly rare in living things.This should warn us that the artificial introduction of substances of this type would be dangerous.This is indeed the case,for such substances are usually toxic and frequently carcinogenic.And,I would suppose from the fact that DDT is nowhere found in nature,that somewhere,at some time in the past,some unfortunate cell synthesized this molecule and died.

6这归因于这样一个事实,即生物体中实际发现的化学物质的种类要比可能存在的种类少得多,显然,有非常多的蛋白质种类并不是由活细胞制造的。综上所述,人们会推断出,这些可能存在的蛋白质种类中有很多曾经在一些特定的生物中形成,却被发现有害,由于实验失败而被淘汰掉。同样,活细胞合成含偶数(如4个碳,6个碳,8个碳等)碳链长度的脂肪酸(一种含有不同长度碳链的有机分子),而不合成含奇数碳链长度的脂肪酸。这表明后者曾被试验过并被发现不够好。同样,含有附加的氮原子和氧原子的有机化合

物很少存在于生物中。这就警示我们,人为引进这类物质会很危险。情况确实如此,因为这类物质通常都是有毒的而且经常是致癌的。另外,基于在自然界中无法找到DDT这一事实,我认为,在过去的某个地方某个时期,某个不幸的细胞合成了这个分子,之后死亡了。

7 One of the striking facts about the chemistry of living systems is that for every organic substance produced by a living organism,there exists,somewhere in nature,an enzyme capable of breaking that substance down.In effect,no organic substance is synthesized unless there is provision for its degradation;recycling is thus enforced.Thus,when a new man-made organic substance is synthesized with a molecular structure that departs significantly from the types which occur in nature,it is probable that no degradative enzyme exists,and the material tends to accumulate

对每种由活的有机体产生的有机物质,在自然界的某处都存在一种能够分解那种物质的酶,这是生命系统化学的一个明显的事实。实际上,有机物质如不能降解就不可能合成;再循环因此得以强化。所以,当用种与自然界中存在的分子类型大相径庭的分子结构合成一种新的人造有机物时,可能不存在能分解它的酶,那么这一物质就会积聚起来。

8 Given these considerations,it would be prudent,I believe, to regard every man-made organic chemical not found in nature which has a strong action on any one organism as potentially dangerous to other forms of life.Operationally,this view means that all man-made organic compounds that are at all active biologically ought to be treated as we do drugs,or rather as we should treat them:prudently,cautiously.Such caution or prudence is,of course impossible when billions of pounds of the substance are produced and broadly disseminated into the ecosystem where it can reach and affect numerous organisms not under our observation.Yet this is precisely what we have done with detergents, insecticides,and

herbicides.The often catastrophic results lend considerable force to the view that“Nature knows best.”

基于这些考虑,我认为,道慎的做法是,把每聚起来。种人工制造的、不是在自然界中发现的对任何一种有机物都有强烈作用的有机化学品看成是对其他生命形式存在潜在危险的物质。从操作角度来讲,这个观点意味着对待所有人造的、完全具有生物活性的有机化合物就像我们对待药物一样,或者更确切地说,我们应该谨慎地、小心地对待它们。当亿万磅这种物质被生产出来并被广泛地散布到生态系统中,对我们观察不到的无数有机体产生影响时,这样的小心或谨慎当然是不可能做到的。然而这正是我们对待洗涤剂、杀虫剂和除草剂的方式。这些经常出现的灾难性后果强有力地支持了“自然界所懂得的是最好的”这一观点。

The Fourth Law of Ecology:There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

生态学的第四条法则:没有免费的午餐

9 In my experience,this idea has proven so illuminating for environmental problems that I have borrowed it from its original source,economics.The\"law’’ derives from a story that economists like to tell about an oil-rich potentate who decided that his new wealth needed the guidance of economic science.Accordingly he ordered his advisers,on pain of death,to produce a set of volumes containing all the wisdom of economics.When the tomes arrived,the potentate was impatient and again issued an order-to reduce all the knowledge of economics to a single volume.The story goes on in this vein,as such stories will,until the advisers are required,if they are to survive,to reduce the totality of economics science to single sentence.This is the origin of the\"free lunch\"law

根据我的经验,这个观点已经被证明对环境问题很有启示性,所以我把它丛它的本源—经济学一借用过来了。这个“法则”源于一个经济学家们喜欢讲的故事,说的是一位石油大国的统治者认为,他的新财富必须要靠经济科学来指导。因此,他命令他的顾问们编写一套包含所有经济学智慧的多卷本书,违者处死。当这部巨著呈上来时,这位统治者却没耐心看,而是又发出道命令一一把所有的经济学知识只缩减成一卷。这个故事就顺着这一脉络发展下去,像这类故事一样,直到这些顾问们被要求把所有经济科学理论缩减成一句话,如果他们想要活命的话。这就是“免费午餐”法则的起源。

10 In ecology,as in economics,the law is intended to warn that every gain is won at some cost.In a way,this ecological law embodies the three previous laws.Because the global ecosystem is a connected whole,in which nothing can be gained,or lost and which is not subject to over-all improvement,anything extracted from it by human effort must be replaced.Payment of this price cannot be avoided;it can only be delayed.The present environmental crisis is a warning that we have delayed nearly too long.

在生态学中,如同在经济学中一样,这一法则旨在警告人们,每一分收获都要付出一些代价。在某种程度上,这条生态学法则体现了前三条法则。因为全球的生态系统是个相互联系的整体,在这个系统中,没有得或失,该系统也不可能得到全面改善,因此人类努力从生态系统中获取的任何东西都必须补回去。这种代价的付出是不可避免的;它只可能会被拖延。当前的环境危机警告我们:我们已经拖延太久了。

11 The preceding pages provide a view of the web of life on the earth.An effort has been made to develop this view from available facts,through logical relations,into a set of comprehensive generalizations.In other words,the effort has been scientific.

以上所述给出了一个地球生命之网的观点。我根据已有的事实,运用逻辑关系,努力把这一观点发展成了一套综合性的概述。也就是说,这一努力一直是科学的。

12 Nevertheless,it is difficult to ignore the embarrassing fact that the final generalizations which emerge from all this the four laws of ecology-are ideas that have been widely held by many people without any scientific analysis or professional authorization The complex web in which all life is enmeshed,and man's place in it,are clearly-and beautifully-described in poems of Walt Whitman.A great deal about the interplay of the physical features of the environment and the creatures that inhabit it can be learned from Moby Dick.Mark Twain is not only a marvelous source of wisdom about the nature of the environment of the United States from the Mississippi westward,but also a rather incisive critic of the irrelevance of science which loses connection to the realities of life.As the critic Leo Marx reminds us,Anyone familiar with the

work

of

the

classic

American

writer(I

am

thinking

of

men

like

Cooper,Emerson,Thoreau,Melville,Whitman,and Mark Twain) is likely to have developed an interest in what we recently have learned to call ecology.\"

然而,难以忽略的令人难堪的事实是,从所有这些——生态学四法则——中得出的最终的概括性结论是已经被许多没有任何科学分析或专业授权的人所广泛认可的理念沃尔特·惠特曼的诗歌清晰而巧妙地描述了令所有生命都陷入其中的复杂之网以及人类在其中的地位。大量有关环境和生活在其中的生物的物理特性之间的相互影响的知识可以从《白鲸》一书中了解到。马克吐温不但对美国密西西比河以西的环境的特征了如指掌,而且对科学与生活现实相脱节的问题进行了相当尖锐的批评。正如批评家利奥·马克斯提醒我们的那样:“任何熟悉美国经典作家(我想到的人有:库柏、爱默生、梭罗、梅尔维尔、惠特曼和马克·吐温)作品的人,都可能对我们近来学着称之为生态学的东西产生兴趣。”

13 Unfortunately,this literary heritage has not been enough to save us from ecological disaster.After all,every American technician, industrialist,agriculturist,or public official who has condoned or participated in the assault on the environment has read at least some of Cooper,Emerson,Thoreau,Melville,Whitman,and

Mark

Twain

Many

of

them

are

campers,birdwatchers,or avid fishermen,and therefore to some degree personally aware of the natural processes hat the science of ecology hopes to elucidate.Nevertheless,most of them were taken unawares by the environmental crisis,failing to understand,apparently,that Thoreau's woods,Mark Twains rivers, and Melville,s oceans are today under attack.

不幸的是,这种文学遗产并不足以把我们从生态灾难中拯救出来。毕竟,每一个纵容或者参与破坏环境的美国的技术员、工业家、农业家或公务人员都至少读过一些库柏、爱默生、梭罗、梅尔维尔、惠特曼和马克·吐温的作品。他们中的很多人还是野营者、观鸟者或者钓鱼爱好者,因此,在某种程度上,他们对生态科学想要阐明的自然进程有着切身的认识。7然而,他们中的大多数人却对环境危机感到意外,显然不了解梭罗笔下的森林、马克·吐温书中的河流、梅尔维尔描写的海洋如今正在遭受破坏。

14 The rising miasma of pollution has helped us to achieve this understanding.For,in Leo Marxs words,The current environmental crisis has in a sense put a literal,factual,often quantifiable base under this poetic idea[i.e,the need for human harmony with nature].This is perhaps the major value of the effort to show that the simple generalizations which have already emerged from perceptive human contact with the natural world have a valid base in the facts and principles of a science,ecology.Thus linked to science,these ideas become tools for restoring the damage inflicted on nature by the environmental crisis.

污染所带来的日益污浊难闻的空气有助于我们了解到这一点。因为,如利奥·马克斯所说:“在某种意义上,当今的环境危机为这种诗意的想法(如人与自然和谐的必要性)提供了一种实实在在的、真实的、常常是可以量化的基础。”8.证明通过人类和自然界进行有意识的接触已经得出的这些简单的概括性结论在生态科学的事实和法则方面有坚实的基础,这或许就是这一努力的主要价值。因此,这些观点与科学相结合就成为修复由环境危机给自然带来的破坏的工具。(摘自《封闭的循环:自然、人和技术》

(from The Closing Circle:Nature,Man Technology)