This morning we're gonna head off down into the wetland, into a very specific kind of wetland called the Prairie fen.
早上我们会进入湿地,进入一片我们称之为“草原沼泽”的特别湿地。
This time of year, you can find Nate Fuller counting butterflies. The director of the Sarett Nature Center
这个时节你会看到内特·福乐尔数蝴蝶,他是萨里特自然中心主人,
needs an accurate count of Mitchell's satyr butterflies, to help preserve one of their last known habitats.
他需要“米切尔萨特”蝴蝶的确切数字,从而保护它们最后的栖息地。
They're very particular in the kind of habitat where they can live,
在它们生活的栖息地,它们是极为特殊的,
which is part of what makes them so rare and amazing indicators for our water quality.
这也让它们的数量很稀少,而且能够表示出水的质量。
Today satyr expert Ashley Cole-Wick with Michigan's Natural Features Inventory helps fuller count.
如今,萨特蝴蝶专家,来自密西根自然特征目录的雅士利帮助进行全面计算。
When I first started working on the butterfly in 2013, we had 18 populations and this year in 2019 we have 10.
我是2013年开始从事蝴蝶方面工作,当时的数量是18,如今2019年为10。
Finding the small brown butterflies with golden ring dye spots can be difficult. There just aren't many around.
寻找小型,棕色,翅膀上带有金色斑点的蝴蝶是很难的,数量很少。
The Mitchell's satyr went on the endangered species list in 1991. Initially it was thought that loss of wetlands contributed to their decline.
1991年,这种蝴蝶成为了濒危物种,起初人们认为湿地的减少让这种物种减少。
It's not just habitat availability, its groundwater and the amount in the quality of groundwater coming into these wetlands
不仅仅是栖息地减少,还有地下水,以及进入湿地的地下水质量,
seem to be a challenge for the butterfly. They say nothing has all been sorted out exactly.
这些让蝴蝶的生存面临了挑战,他们说还不知道确切的原因。
While the decline is likely a combination of factors, the fact that water quality might contribute is unsettling,
减少的因素或许很多,但水质量是原因之一的事实让人不安,
because the wetlands are the headwaters for the Midwest's rivers and streams.
因为湿地是中西部河流和溪水的源头。
A captive breeding program was started four years ago at the Toledo Zoo to help get to the bottom of the mystery.
四年前,托莱多动物园的圈养繁殖计划希望找到这一神秘的原因。
Today Dr. Ryan Walsh who heads the program says it's been the only successful captive program.
莱恩博士领导该项目,他称这是唯一一个成功的圈养项目。
So we're starting a captive colony. We'll occasionally collect them to add new genetics to the captive population.
我们开始了一个圈养殖民地,我们会是不是地收集蝴蝶来加入到新的遗传中。
And we can really breed a large number of the butterflies.
我们可以繁殖大量蝴蝶。
The rest of them, the ones that won't be left back for captive breeding will be released out into the wild.
剩余的蝴蝶,那些不会被用作圈养繁殖的蝴蝶会被放回野外。
The caterpillars spend the winter in a special weather-controlled chamber.
毛虫会在特别的气温控制室中过冬。
That helped determine the Mitchell's satyrs don't do well below 4.4 degrees Celsius,
从而知道了“米切尔萨特”蝴蝶无法适应4.4摄氏度以下的温度。
a temperature that prevents the fen wetlands from the hard freezes which kill the insects.
这个温度不会让“草原沼泽”经历严寒,这样会让蝴蝶死亡。
With that knowledge, the program produced 1,300 new eggs this summer,
根据这一了解,该项目一个夏天产生了1300个卵,
a development that may go a long way toward restoring the population.
这一进展或帮助恢复这一蝴蝶数量。
And if all goes well may one day earn the Mitchell's satyr butterfly a ticket off the Endangered Species List.
如果一切顺利,将来这种蝴蝶会被移出濒危物种名单。
For VOA news I'm Erika Celeste in Benton Harbor, Michigan
我是艾丽卡·斯莱斯特,VOA新闻,密西根本顿港报道。