氣候變化讓蜘蛛變得兇惡

氣候變化讓蜘蛛變得兇惡

And the angry spiders shall inherit the Earth.

憤怒的蜘蛛將來到地球。

At least, that's the conclusion Canadian scientists came to after watching how spiders in storm-prone regions responded to extreme weather events.

至少，這是加拿大科學家在觀察了易受暴風雨襲擊地區(qū)的蜘蛛對極端天氣事件的反應后得出的結(jié)論。

Spiders aren't happy about climate change either. (Photo: RCH Photography/Shutterstock)

Although climate change may not spell more storms, scientists suspect it may ratchet up the intensity — and lead to more extreme weather outbursts known as "black swan" events.

盡管氣候變化可能不會帶來更多風暴，但科學家們懷疑，它可能會加劇風暴強度，并導致更多被稱為“黑天鵝”事件的極端天氣爆發(fā)。

"It is tremendously important to understand the environmental impacts of these 'black swan' weather events on evolution and natural selection," lead author Jonathan Pruitt of McMaster University notes in a release.

“了解這些‘黑天鵝’天氣事件對進化和自然選擇的環(huán)境影響是非常重要的，”麥克馬斯特大學的首席作者喬納森·普魯特在一份新聞稿中指出。

For creepy-crawler kind, it's nothing short of a tsunami, devastating colonies. And who should be left to pick up the pieces? Certainly, not the mellow spiders. Researchers noted the aggressive ones — the spiders that had no qualms about cannibalizing their own kind, hoarding supplies and attacking anyone that got in their way — were the ones to rebuild.

對于爬行動物來說，這簡直就是海嘯，毀滅性的殖民地。誰應該留下來收拾殘局呢?當然，成熟的蜘蛛不會。研究人員指出，攻擊性強的蜘蛛——對同類的蠶食毫不猶豫，囤積物資，攻擊任何擋道的人——才是重建家園的人。

In other words, it was survival of the meanest.

換句話說，這是最卑鄙的生存。

The scientists compared colonies before and after they were hit by three major tropical storms in 2018. The team also monitored a control group of spiders that didn't experience any extreme weather. They were the lucky ones.

科學家們比較了2018年三場主要熱帶風暴襲擊前和襲擊后的蟻群。研究小組還對一組沒有經(jīng)歷過任何極端天氣的蜘蛛進行了監(jiān)測。它們是幸運的。

Anelosimus studiosus can share its web with hundreds in a colony — until the going gets tough. (Photo: Judy Gallagher [CC BY 2.0]/Flickr)

When the storms broke out, smashing their house of silk, it was no more Mr. Nice Spider. Communal living, researchers note, went out the window, as two types of spiders emerged: the aggressive, downright mean ones and the peace-loving hippies.

當暴風雨襲來，把他們的絲屋砸得粉碎時，那不再是尼斯先生了。研究人員指出，隨著兩種蜘蛛的出現(xiàn)，群居的生活方式消失了:好斗、刻薄和愛好和平的嬉皮士。

Most spider colonies already have representatives of each, often determining the overall aggressiveness of a colony. But when push comes to tsunami, the mellow members of the population get shoved aside — and the killing and marauding and eating-each-other's-babies begins.

大多數(shù)蜘蛛群落已經(jīng)有各自的代表，通常決定了一個群落的整體攻擊性。但當海嘯來襲時，溫和的居民被推到一邊，殺戮、掠奪和吃掉彼此的嬰兒就開始了。

It's "Hunger Games," spider-style. But most importantly, it's a survival mechanism. The scientists noted that the aggro-spiders were "better at acquiring resources when scarce but are also more prone to infighting when deprived of food for long periods of time or when colonies become overheated."

這是蜘蛛俠風格的《饑餓游戲》。但最重要的是，這是一種生存機制。科學家們指出，aggroo -spider“在資源匱乏時更善于獲取資源，但在長時間缺乏食物或群落過熱時也更容易發(fā)生內(nèi)訌。”

And to better equip future generations for "black swan" events, spiders passed on those survival tools — a.k.a. the killing and pillaging gene — to their offspring.

為了讓后代更好地應對“黑天鵝”事件，蜘蛛把這些生存工具——也就是獵殺和掠奪基因——傳給了后代。

"Tropical cyclones likely impact both of these stressors by altering the numbers of flying prey and increasing sun exposure from a more open canopy layer," Pruitt explains. "Aggressiveness is passed down through generations in these colonies, from parent to daughter, and is a major factor in their survival and ability to reproduce."

普魯伊特解釋說:“熱帶氣旋可能通過改變飛行獵物的數(shù)量和增加從更開闊的林冠層暴露在陽光下的時間來影響這兩種壓力源。”“攻擊性在這些殖民地代代相傳，從父母傳給女兒，是它們生存和繁殖能力的一個重要因素。”

In other words, climate change is giving us an angry new world. And spiders are learning how to navigate it, no matter what it takes.

換句話說，氣候變化給了我們一個憤怒的新世界。蜘蛛正在學習如何在這片水域中航行，不管需要付出什么代價。