译/赖鹏玉 审订/张政

What Is Species Extinction? 什么是物种灭绝？

译/赖鹏玉 审订/张政

With species like the Barbary lion and western black rhino featuring in the lengthy list of animals that have become extinct in the last 100 years, it is no longer plausible to turn a blind eye to the alarming rate at which extinctions are occurring of late.

[2] Extinction, in ecology, refers to the end of a specific group of organisms. Simply put, the death of the last individual of a particular species is considered the moment of extinction of that species. Over the years, the planet has witnessed the extinction of several species—right from tiny frogs to huge dinosaurs. While some of these animals fell prey to mass extinctions, others were slowly brought to the brink of extinction by humans, and eventually wiped off the planet.

随着北非狮和西部黑犀牛等列入近100年内灭绝动物的长长名单中，人们再也不能对近年来物种灭绝的惊人速度视而不见。

[2]生物学中的灭绝是指某个特定生物种群的消亡。简言之，某一物种最后一个个体死亡即视为该物种的灭绝。多年来，地球上已有若干物种灭绝——从个头微小的蛙类，到体型庞大的恐龙。其中一些是集群灭绝的牺牲品，另一些则被人类一步步推到灭绝边缘，最后从地球上消失。

[3] It is estimated that around 99 percent of the animals to have ever existed on Earth are extinct today.Though the concept of extinction is not new for the planet, the alarming rate at which animals are disappearing over the last century or so, has left the scientists worried. At the ongoing rate, we are set to lose some of the most important species in the ecosystem, which, in turn, will result in severe ecological imbalance and bring about the downfall of all the plants and animals related to that particular species. More importantly, we need to understand that we are a part of this ecosystem and therefore, the loss of any species is bound to affect us directly or indirectly,sooner or later!

Note:It is very difficult to figure out the exact moment at which the animal became extinct, and therefore,the concerned organizations have to wait for a significant period after the last sighting to declare it extinct.Simultaneously, thorough research is carried out to ascertain whether the species has really become extinct or it still exists in the wild.

The western black rhinoceros, for instance, was declared extinct in 2011,i.e., almost a decade after the last sighting, when all attempts to find it in the wild failed. If the species is not found in the wild, but exist in captivity, it is enlisted as Extinct in the Wild (EW).

[3]据估计，地球上出现过的动物，约99%都已灭绝。虽然物种灭绝的概念在这颗星球上并不新鲜，但是从上个世纪前后开始，物种的惊人灭绝速度引起了科学家的担忧。长此下去，我们注定要失去生态系统中某些最重要的物种，随之生态严重失衡，所有与之相关的动植物种群就会灭绝。更重要的是，我们必须明白，人类也是生态系统的一部分，因此任何物种的灭绝都将直接或间接影响到我们，只不过是早晚的事情！

提示：查明某动物灭绝的具体时间点极为困难，所以相关组织在最后一次发现该动物后，须等待很长时间才能宣布其灭绝。在此期间，要进行全面调查，确定该物种是否真正灭绝或仍在野外存活。

例如，西部黑犀牛于2011年宣告灭绝，距最后一次发现已近10年，所有的野外搜寻毫无结果。如果某一物种在野外绝迹，但仍有人工圈养，则列为野外灭绝。

（译者单位：北京师范大学）