教堂成鸟儿避难所

Most churches are focused on heaven, but in Poland, they seem to be providing a more earthly benefit: sanctuary for dozens of species of birds.

大部分的教堂都关注着天堂，但在波兰，它们似乎提供了一种更接地气的好处：为几十种鸟提供庇护所。

That’s what biologists found when they surveyed the properties of 101 churches and an equal number of farmsteads in villages in southern Poland.

这是生物学家们在调查波兰南部的101座教堂和同等数量农场的性质时发现的。

Previous research had found that farms in Eastern Europe support large numbers of different kinds of birds, providing important sanctuaries for the species in areas where their more natural habitat was lost.

此前的研究发现，东欧的农场供养着大量不同种类的鸟类，在这些鸟类失去了更自然的栖息地的地区为它们提供了重要的避难所。

But the new study, which examined the features of in-use churches and farms, as well as their surrounding grounds, shows churches had 1.6 times more species on average than farms, and about twice as many birds overall, the researchers report this month in Biological Conservation.

研究人员在本月的《生物保护》(Biological Conservation)杂志上发表了一篇研究报告，报告称，这项新的研究调查了正在使用的教堂和农场的特点，以及它们周围的场地，结果显示，教堂的物种平均比农场多1.6倍，鸟类的总数大约是农场的两倍。

Tall, old churches with separate bell towers hosted the highest bird diversity.

有着独立钟塔的高大古老的教堂是鸟类多样性最高的地方。

That may be because they mimic the isolated, rocky hills that abound in the Polish landscape, the authors say.

作者说，这可能是因为它们模仿了波兰大陆上的孤立的、多岩石的山丘。

Another reason: Birds have had centuries to incorporate the oldest of the churches into their habitats.

另一个原因是:鸟类已经有几个世纪的时间把最古老的教堂纳入它们的栖息地。

Finally, there were fewer cats—which are notorious bird predators—at most of the surveyed churches.

最后，在大多数被调查的教堂里，有更少的猫——它们是臭名昭著的鸟类捕食者。

The numbers mean churches may be important for maintaining bird diversity in Poland, which is home to more than 10,000 churches, the authors say.

研究报告的作者说，这些数字意味着，在波兰，教堂对于保持鸟类多样性可能很重要。波兰有1万多座教堂。

They even suggest ecominded pastors could boost conservation efforts by preserving structures attractive to birds, including building nooks and bell towers.

他们甚至建议，通过保护对鸟类有吸引力的建筑，包括建造角落和钟楼，有能力的牧师可以促进保护工作。