Small farms with natural trees and forests that block sunlight can provide a refuge for some bird populations, a study in Costa Rica found. For 18 years, bird expert James Zook has been collecting records on nearly 430 kinds of tropical birds found on farms and natural forests in the Central American country. While birds do best in natural rainforests, Zook said some species usually found in forests can establish populations in “diversified farms.” Diversified farms are farms that contain areas similar to a natural forest environment.

哥斯达黎加的一项研究发现，拥有遮挡阳光的天然树木和森林的小农场可以为一些鸟类提供庇护所。 18 年来，鸟类专家 James Zook 一直在收集在这个中美洲国家的农场和天然森林中发现的近 430 种热带鸟类的记录。祖克说，虽然鸟类在天然雨林中表现最好，但一些通常在森林中发现的物种可以在“多样化农场”中建立种群。多样化农场是指拥有类似于天然森林环境的区域的农场。

“How you farm matters,” said Nicholas Hendershot. He is a Stanford University environmental scientist. He helped write the study published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “In these diversified farms, you see growth over the long term in bird species with specialized needs,” Hendershot said. These specialized needs include safe and protected areas from the sun for birds to build their homes and different kinds of food sources. That kind of farming is very different to industrial agriculture or agriculture where only one crop like pineapple or bananas are planted, he said.

“如何耕种很重要，”尼古拉斯·亨德肖特说。他是斯坦福大学的环境科学家。他帮助撰写了最近发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上的这项研究。亨德肖特说：“在这些多元化的农场中，您会看到具有特殊需求的鸟类物种的长期增长。”这些特殊需求包括供鸟类建造家园的安全和受阳光照射的保护区以及不同种类的食物来源。他说，这种农业与工业化农业或只种植菠萝或香蕉等一种作物的农业非常不同。

Natalia Ocampo-Penuela is a University of California, Santa Cruz environmental scientist who was not involved in the study. She said the findings may seem to make sense without research. But she added that it is very rare to have detailed data over a long time from tropical areas to show that diversified farming can support some forest bird populations.“With 18 years of data, you can show the species is persisting in that area, not simply passing by,” she said. Of the 305 species found in diversified farms, 75 percent showed stable or growing populations over the time of study. These include birds like the collared aracari as well as several members of the manakin family – colorful birds known for their complex mating dances.

纳塔莉亚·奥坎波-佩努埃拉是加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的环境科学家，她没有参与这项研究。她说，如果不进行研究，这些发现似乎也有意义。但她补充说，很少有来自热带地区的长期详细数据表明多样化农业可以支持一些森林鸟类种群。“通过 18 年的数据，你可以表明该物种在该地区持续存在，而不是只是路过，”她说。在多元化农场发现的 305 个物种中，75% 在研究期间表现出数量稳定或不断增长。其中包括像项圈巨蜥这样的鸟类，以及侏儒鸟家族的一些成员——色彩缤纷的鸟类以其复杂的交配舞蹈而闻名。

Ruth Bennett is a scientist at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. She was not involved in the research. She said, “It’s a huge contribution to have documented that some birds aren’t just going there, but staying there and populations are growing,” Still, such safe environments, called habitats, do not balance out overall population losses from the creation of large industrial farms from natural forests, the writers warned. Zook compared a large pineapple farm to a “bird desert.”

露丝·贝内特 (Ruth Bennett) 是史密森尼候鸟中心的科学家。她没有参与这项研究。她说：“记录了一些鸟类不仅会去那里，而且会留在那里并且种群数量不断增长，这是一个巨大的贡献。”尽管如此，这种被称为栖息地的安全环境并不能抵消因鸟类创造而造成的总体种群损失。作者警告说，大型工业农场来自天然森林。祖克将大型菠萝农场比作“鸟类沙漠”。

Increasingly, scientists say saving species will require paying attention to areas affected by humans, not just untouched areas. Ocampo-Penuela said modern efforts to save species have to happen not only inside protected areas, but also within agricultural areas and even cities. She said these efforts have to happen where there is at least a possibility that some species could live there.

科学家们越来越多地表示，拯救物种需要关注受人类影响的地区，而不仅仅是未受影响的地区。奥坎波-佩努埃拉表示，现代拯救物种的努力不仅必须发生在保护区内，而且还必须发生在农业区甚至城市内。她说，这些努力必须发生在至少有可能某些物种可以生活在那里的地方。