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New research says that 610 bird species have died off over the past 130,000 years.
一项新的研究表明，在过去的13万年里，610种鸟类已经灭绝。
For instance, the Kaua’i ’ō’ō, a Hawaiian songbird, was declared extinct just last year.
例如，夏威夷鸣鸟考阿岛(Kaua‘i’ō‘ō)去年刚刚被宣布灭绝。
The recent research also suggested that an “ongoing biodiversity crisis” that requires urgent study is taking place.
最近的研究还表明，一场需要紧急研究的“持续的生物多样性危机”正在发生。
Bird species have a special purpose within the environment.
鸟类在环境中有特殊的用途。
When a bird species disappears, nothing remains to do its job, suggested Tom Matthews of the University of Birmingham in England.
英国伯明翰大学的汤姆·马修斯认为，当一种鸟类消失时，它所做的工作就后继无人了。
Matthews was the lead writer of the study that appeared recently in the publication Science.
马修斯是最近发表在《科学》杂志上的这项研究的主要作者。
Matthews said that birds do many important jobs in an environment.
马修斯说，鸟类在环境中做许多重要的工作。
These jobs include spreading seeds, eating insects, or reusing dead material. Vultures, for example, eat the flesh of dead animals.
这些工作包括播种、吃昆虫或重复利用废弃的材料。例如，秃鹫会吃死掉的动物的肉。
Matthews said a good example of the importance of birds is "on the islands of Mauritius and Hawaii, where all or almost all the native…birds that eat fruit…have gone extinct."
马修斯说，有个很好的例子来说明鸟类的重要性，在毛里求斯和夏威夷群岛上，所有或几乎所有以水果…为食的本地…鸟类都已经灭绝。
He explained, "In eating the fruits and then moving around, birds will disperse the seeds of the plants the fruits belong to.”
他解释说：“吃完水果后，四处走动的时候，鸟儿会散播水果所属植物的种子。”
The lack of seed spreading can have secondary effects, Matthews said. For example, Mauritius now has many threatened tree species.
缺乏种子传播可能会产生连锁影响。例如，毛里求斯现在有许多受威胁的树种。
Most of the documented extinctions have taken place on islands.
大多数有记录的物种灭绝都发生在岛屿上。
The loss of living areas for birds can have big effects given the limited area involved.
由于该区域范围有限，鸟类栖息地的丧失可能会产生很大的影响。
Many island birds are flightless, meaning they cannot fly away to escape predators.
许多岛鸟不会飞，这意味着它们无法飞走以躲避捕食者。
As a result, flightless birds are easily hurt by new predators, such as rats or cats, Matthews suggested.
因此，马修斯建议，不会飞的鸟类很容易受到新的捕食者的伤害，比如老鼠或猫。
Human hunting of birds was a big reason behind the disappearance of different bird species in the past.
人类捕猎鸟类是过去不同鸟类消失的一大原因。
Bird hunting remains a big problem in some areas.
在一些地区，猎鸟仍然是一个大问题。
Capturing birds for the songbird trade is a big problem, particularly in Southeast Asia, Matthews said.
马修斯说，从事鸣禽贸易的人捕获鸟类是一个大问题，特别是在东南亚。
Some areas and species had more exact reasons for bird disappearances.
一些地区和物种有更确切的鸟类消失原因。
For example, avian malaria, introduced by people, has resulted in large numbers of extinctions in Hawaii where the birds possessed no natural immunity.
例如，由人类引入的禽类疟疾已经导致夏威夷的大量鸟类灭绝，那里的鸟类没有自然免疫力。
Matthews suggested that the effects of a changing climate on birds remains a “big unknown.”
马修斯认为，气候变化对鸟类的影响仍然是一个“巨大的未知数”。
Many birds have been lost over time.
随着时间的推移，许多鸟类已经消失了。
The large flightless “elephant birds” were native to Madagascar.
这种不会飞的大型“象鸟”原产于马达加斯加。
The bird is believed to have disappeared after people arrived. That includes Aepyornis maximus.
据信，这种鸟在人类到达后消失了。这其中就包括最大的Aepyorns。
It was about 3 meters tall and was possibly the largest bird that ever existed.
它大约有3米高，可能是有史以来最大的鸟。
The flightless moa birds, native to New Zealand, including the South Island giant moa, also disappeared after humans came to the islands.
不会飞的沼鸟原产于新西兰，包括南岛巨型沼鸟，在人类来到这些岛屿后也消失了。
North America's passenger pigeon numbered in the billions but was hunted to extinction.
北美的旅鸽数量曾经高达数十亿只，但已被猎杀至灭绝。
The researchers said the 610 bird species combined represented 3 billion years of evolutionary history.
研究人员说，这610种鸟类加起来代表了30亿年的进化史。
Each lost species is like cutting off a branch from the tree of life.
每一个失去的物种都像是从生命之树上砍下了一根树枝。
The number 610 is "likely a large underestimate" of avian extinctions, Matthews said.
马修斯说，610这个数字“可能大大低估了”鸟类的灭绝数量。
This is because of a lack of data from some areas and the fact some lost species may not have left behind bones or other evidence.
因为有些地区的数据还没统计进来，还有一些消失的物种可能没有留下骨骼或其他证据。
Matthews added, "the vast majority of extinctions over the last 50,000 years are attributable to human actions."
马修斯补充道：“在过去的5万年里，绝大多数物种灭绝都是由人类行为造成的。”
About 11,000 bird species now exist.
目前大约还有11000种鸟类。
The researchers projected future extinctions of more than 1,000 species over the next two hundred years.
研究人员预测，在接下来的200年里，将会有1000多个物种灭绝。
"So even if you don't care about the moral and ethical concerns regarding the loss of species, these extinctions are important for other reasons, such as the loss of species that helped the environment to function effectively," Matthews added.
马修斯补充说：“所以，即使你不关心物种灭绝的道德和伦理问题，这些物种的灭绝依然很重要，比如人类会失去帮助环境有效运作的物种。”
I’m John Russell.
我是约翰 · 罗素。
