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Of Bombs and Butterflies

2021/10/15
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Latif Nasser
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Nick Haddad
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Thomas Kroll
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Nick Haddad：起初，我乐观地认为拯救圣弗朗西斯萨特蝴蝶很容易，但事实证明并非如此。我最初采取了‘放任自流’的保护方法，但由于水灾和野火等因素，蝴蝶数量急剧下降。之后，我意识到需要采取积极的干预措施，包括移除河狸、砍树、筑坝和放火等，以改善蝴蝶的栖息地。在炮兵靶场，我发现爆炸和军事活动意外地帮助了蝴蝶的生存，因为它们创造了更适合蝴蝶生存的环境。最终，通过积极的干预措施，蝴蝶数量有所回升，但仍然面临着挑战。我坚信，保护圣弗朗西斯萨特蝴蝶是基于伦理道德的考虑，我们人类不应成为物种灭绝的原因。 Thomas Kroll：我发现了圣弗朗西斯萨特蝴蝶，并撰写了相关的论文。但我认为论文夸大了蝴蝶的濒危程度，并且我曾在布拉格堡以外的地方也发现过这种蝴蝶，它们也与其他物种杂交。我认为蝴蝶的减少是自然选择的结果，而不是真正的濒危。我不认为值得为数量如此少的蝴蝶投入大量资源，应该优先保护对生态系统贡献更大的物种。 Latif Nasser：这个故事展现了保育工作中的复杂性与挑战。一方面，Nick Haddad 的努力和发现揭示了生态系统中意想不到的联系，以及积极干预措施的重要性。另一方面，Thomas Kroll 的说法引发了对保育策略和资源分配的思考。圣弗朗西斯萨特蝴蝶的命运，也反映了人类活动对自然环境的影响，以及我们对物种保护的伦理责任。

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Ecologist Nick Haddad receives a surprising call from the U.S. Army asking for his help to save an endangered butterfly, the only known habitat of which is on their base at Fort Bragg.

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Ecologist Nick Haddad was sitting in his new office at North Carolina State University when the phone rang. On the other end of the line was... The U.S. Army. The Army folks told him, “Look, there’s this endangered butterfly on our base at Fort Bragg, and it’s the only place in the world that it exists. But it’s about to go extinct. And we need your help to save it.” Nick had never even heard of the butterfly. In fact, he barely knew much about butterflies in general. Nonetheless, he said yes to Uncle Sam. “How hard could it be?” he wondered. Turns out, pretty hard. He'd have to trick beavers, dodge bombs, and rethink the fundamental nature of life and death in order to rescue this butterfly before it disappeared forever.

***CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Army moved a beaver; in truth, they killed it.  We also overstated the current tally of St Francis Satyrs off range; they are around 200, not 800. The audio has been adjusted to reflect these changes.***This episode was reported by Latif Nasser, and produced by Rachael Cusick. Original music by Jeremy Bloom. Mixing by Arianne Wack.

Special thanks to: Snooki Puli, Cita Escalano, Jeffrey Glassberg, Margot Williams, Mark Romyn, Elizabeth Long, Laura Verhegge, the Public Affairs and Endangered Species Branches at Fort Bragg.

Want to learn more? you can ...... read Nick Haddad’s book The Last Butterflies: A Scientist’s Quest to Save a Rare and Vanishing Creature)... take a peek at Thomas Kral’s original 1989 paper about the Saint Francis Satyr)... visit Fort Bragg's webpage about the Saint Francis Satyr) 

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