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说到野生动物减少，人们常常首先想到气候变化。赫尔辛基大学（University of Helsinki）的研究团队在《自然·通讯》（Nature Communications）发表研究，于 10 月 23 日见诸报道：他们分析了芬兰全境 503 种陆生动物 20 年间的 300 多万条观测记录，比较气候与栖息地哪个更能决定动物在哪里生活、数量多少。出乎研究者意料的是，对大多数动物类群来说，栖息地的解释力更强，蝴蝶、鸟类和小型哺乳动物尤其如此；大型哺乳动物和蛾类则两者大致相当。气候更能解释逐年变化和南北之间的大范围差异，栖息地则在局部地区更重要；物种的繁殖速度和特化程度也会影响结果。研究者并不否认气候变化的作用，而是强调两者共同影响物种，并呼吁保护和恢复现有栖息地。文章按“发现—证据—解释”展开，阅读时可留意 but、while、because 如何连接对比与原因，以及 may、suggests 如何为结论设定边界。

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When people ask why wild animals are disappearing, climate change is often the first answer. But a new study from Finland suggests that for many animals, the kind of land they live on may matter even more. The study, led by researchers at the University of Helsinki, was published in the journal Nature Communications and reported on October 23.

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人们追问野生动物为何正在消失时，第一个答案往往是气候变化。但芬兰的一项新研究表明，对许多动物来说，它们所生活的土地类型可能更加重要。这项研究由赫尔辛基大学的研究人员领衔，发表在《自然·通讯》期刊上，并于 10 月 23 日见诸报道。

The researchers wanted to know which factor does more to decide where animals live and how many of them there are: climate or habitat. By habitat, they mean things such as how natural an area still is and how much of the land has been shaped by human activity. The team studied 503 kinds of land animals across the whole of Finland, covering all of its climate zones. They used advanced statistical methods to analyse more than 3 million observations collected over 20 years.

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研究人员想弄清楚，在决定动物生活在哪里、数量有多少这件事上，气候和栖息地哪个因素作用更大。他们所说的栖息地，包括一个地区仍保持多少自然状态、有多少土地受到人类活动的改造等。研究团队考察了芬兰全境的 503 种陆生动物，覆盖其所有气候带。他们运用先进的统计方法，分析了 20 年间收集的 300 多万条观测记录。

The result surprised the team. For most animal groups, habitat explained where species were found and how common they were better than climate did. “The habitat proved to be of special importance to butterflies, birds and small mammals,” said lead author Emy Guilbault. For large mammals and moths, the two factors were about equally important.

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结果出乎研究团队的意料。对大多数动物类群而言，栖息地比气候更能解释物种分布在哪里以及有多常见。论文第一作者埃米·吉尔博（Emy Guilbault）说：“事实证明，栖息地对蝴蝶、鸟类和小型哺乳动物尤为重要。”对大型哺乳动物和蛾类来说，这两个因素的重要性大致相当。

Climate still played a clear role, but at a different scale. It best explained changes from year to year and the differences between large areas, such as southern and northern Finland. Habitat mattered more when the researchers looked at smaller local areas. A forest, a farm and a wetland support different groups of animals, and species are lost when their habitats are changed.

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气候仍然发挥着明显作用，只是体现在不同的尺度上。它最能解释逐年的变化，以及芬兰南部与北部等大范围地区之间的差异。而当研究人员观察较小的局部地区时，栖息地的作用更大。森林、农田和湿地养育着不同的动物群落，栖息地一旦改变，物种就会随之消失。

The answer also depended on the animals themselves. In almost all groups, species that reproduce slowly were more sensitive to climate than those that reproduce quickly. Among mammals, small species that need a special habitat or food depended on climate, while larger, less specialized species depended more on habitat. For birds, butterflies and moths, body size and specialization made no difference.

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答案还取决于动物自身的特点。几乎在所有类群中，繁殖较慢的物种都比繁殖较快的物种对气候更敏感。在哺乳动物中，需要特定栖息地或食物的小型物种依赖气候，而体型较大、特化程度较低的物种则更依赖栖息地。对鸟类、蝴蝶和蛾类来说，体型大小和特化程度没有造成差别。

The researchers do not say that climate change is unimportant. They point out that the two forces work together, because species must deal with a changing climate and damaged habitats at the same time. Professor Jarno Vanhatalo said more effort should go into protecting and restoring the habitats that remain, since keeping habitats varied also helps species cope with climate change. The team also sees some hope in the results. Land use and habitat protection can be handled locally, which may be easier than tackling climate change around the world.

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研究人员并没有说气候变化不重要。他们指出，这两种力量共同起作用，因为物种必须同时应对变化的气候和遭到破坏的栖息地。亚尔诺·万哈塔洛（Jarno Vanhatalo）教授表示，应投入更多努力保护和恢复尚存的栖息地，因为保持栖息地的多样性也有助于物种应对气候变化。研究团队也从结果中看到了一些希望：土地利用和栖息地保护可以在本地处理，这可能比在全球范围内应对气候变化更容易。

新闻来源

• Phys.org (University of Helsinki) · Habitat explains Finnish animal distributions better than climate, study finds (23 Oct 2026)

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