Punxatawney Phil, the central character of the annual rite of winter known as Groundhog’s Day, isn’t great at his job. His predictions are wrong more often than they are right. Theresa Crimmins, the director of the U.S. National Phenology Network, said that while Punxatawney Phil is not a reliable predictor of spring’s arrival, phenology does offer scientific backing for other seemingly superstitious axioms about the natural world. Phenology is the study of how seasonal events in the lives of plants and animals shift according to the weather and climate, such as how fish or migratory birds respond to the temperature of water and air. While folklore often supposes animal behavior portends future weather events, in reality, flora and fauna react to weather and climate. Numerous tried-and-true proverbs about the natural world come from Native American populations. “One example is planting corn when oak leaves are the size of a squirrel’s ear,” notes an article on phenology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Native Americans made the observation centuries ago that the soil was warm enough to prevent seeds from rotting, yet it was still early enough to reap a suitable harvest if corn was planted at this time.” Crimmins points out that there are plenty of other predictors for coming ecological events spelled out in the leaves, berries and flowers of plants. For example, the shadblow serviceberry is a small tree that is native to parts of eastern North America, and it’s believed that its name came from the fact that it bears flowers at the same time of year that shad fish begin their river migration. The Lenape and other Native American populations made note of the phenomenon long ago and prepared to fish when the plant began to bloom. There is research out there that suggests some animals may possess an innate sense that helps them detect when a disaster is on the way. Golden-winged warblers, for example, evacuated an area of Tennessee more than 24 hours before a devastating string of tornadoes hit the area, according to a December 2014 study published in the journal Current Biology. The study authors predicted the migrant birds listened to infrasound — sound at frequencies too low for humans to hear — associated with the storms and heeded it as a warning sign. Researchers in Germany also looked into whether various species of animals could detect an oncoming earthquake. The scientists found that, collectively, animals including cows, sheep and dogs exhibited more activity before an earthquake up to 20 hours in advance, according to a report from Germany’s Max Planck Society, a nonprofit association of research institutes. There is also truth to the notion that crickets can act as nature’s thermometer. The insects are ectotherms, meaning their body temperature changes with that of their surrounding environment — and they routinely chirp faster in warmer weather. According to Dolbear’s Law, a formula describing this association between crickets and weather, “you can count the number of chirps per 15 seconds, add 40, and that will give you the temperature in Fahrenheit,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration notes. Frogs also deliver unique calls when it’s about to rain. “Many twentieth-century herpetologists have confirmed and clarified the traditional observation that various species of frogs sometimes utter a distinctive vocalization, a ‘rain call,’ a short time before wet weather,” said Dr. Gordon Miller, a professor emeritus of environmental studies at Seattle University. The calls “are perhaps triggered by a rise in humidity prior to precipitation,” Miller said. (SD-Agencies) Words to Learn 相關(guān)詞匯 【物候?qū)W】wùhòuxué phenology the study of how seasonal events in the lives of plants and animals change according to the weather and climate 【靠譜的】kàopǔ de tried-and-true used many times in the past and proven to work well 普蘇塔尼鎮(zhèn)的土撥鼠菲爾是每年冬天“土撥鼠日”的主角，但他并不勝任天氣預(yù)報(bào)員的工作，因?yàn)樗念A(yù)報(bào)多數(shù)時(shí)候不準(zhǔn)。 美國(guó)國(guó)家物候?qū)W網(wǎng)絡(luò)主任特雷莎?克里米明斯說(shuō)，雖然菲爾不能預(yù)測(cè)春天什么時(shí)候來(lái)，但物候?qū)W為有些看似迷信的自然諺語(yǔ)提供了科學(xué)依據(jù)。 物候?qū)W研究天氣和氣候變化如何影響動(dòng)植物在不同季節(jié)的行為，例如魚或候鳥對(duì)水溫和氣溫變化會(huì)做出反應(yīng)。 雖然民間通常認(rèn)為動(dòng)物行為預(yù)示未來(lái)的天氣事件，但實(shí)際上，動(dòng)植物是對(duì)天氣和氣候做出反應(yīng)。許多關(guān)于自然的諺語(yǔ)來(lái)自美洲原住民。 威斯康星大學(xué)麥迪遜分校的一篇物候?qū)W的文章指出：“其中一個(gè)例子是，當(dāng)橡樹的葉子長(zhǎng)到松鼠耳朵那么大時(shí)就可以種植玉米了。幾個(gè)世紀(jì)前，美洲原住民觀察到，那個(gè)時(shí)候土壤的溫度足以防止種子腐爛，而且玉米成熟時(shí)有足夠的時(shí)間收獲。” 克里米明斯說(shuō)，植物的葉、漿果和花也提供了預(yù)示未來(lái)生態(tài)事件的線索。 例如，滸苔藪莓是一種原產(chǎn)于北美東部部分地區(qū)的小喬木，它的名字來(lái)源非常有趣，每年滸苔魚開始洄游的時(shí)候，藪莓就會(huì)開花。雷納佩族和其他美洲原住民很早就注意到了這一現(xiàn)象，這種植物開花了，他們就準(zhǔn)備捕魚。 研究表明，某些動(dòng)物可能擁有一種與生俱來(lái)的感知力，幫助它們察覺即將發(fā)生的災(zāi)難。 例如，根據(jù)2014年12 月發(fā)表在 《當(dāng)代生物學(xué)》雜志上的一項(xiàng)研究，金翅鶯在田納西州某地遭受一連串毀滅性龍卷風(fēng)襲擊前24小時(shí)飛走了。 研究作者估計(jì)這些候鳥聽到了與風(fēng)暴有關(guān)的次聲波（頻率太低，人類無(wú)法聽到），收到了預(yù)警。 德國(guó)的研究人員還研究了動(dòng)物能否感知即將發(fā)生的地震。根據(jù)非營(yíng)利研究機(jī)構(gòu)馬克斯?普朗克科學(xué)促進(jìn)學(xué)會(huì)的報(bào)告，科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)包括牛、羊和狗在內(nèi)的動(dòng)物在地震發(fā)生前20小時(shí)會(huì)表現(xiàn)出煩躁不安。 蟋蟀是大自然的溫度計(jì)，這種說(shuō)法也是有道理的。蟋蟀是外溫動(dòng)物，體溫會(huì)隨周圍環(huán)境的變化而變化 ——溫暖天氣里，蟋蟀叫得更加急促。 美國(guó)國(guó)家海洋和大氣管理局指出，根據(jù)多爾貝爾定律，蟋蟀的叫聲頻率和溫度有線性關(guān)系：用蟋蟀每15秒鳴叫的次數(shù)加上40，就能得出環(huán)境的華氏溫度。 快下雨時(shí)青蛙會(huì)發(fā)出獨(dú)特的叫聲。 西雅圖大學(xué)環(huán)境研究名譽(yù)教授戈登?米勒博士說(shuō)：“許多二十世紀(jì)的爬行動(dòng)物學(xué)家證實(shí)了一個(gè)傳統(tǒng)說(shuō)法，即青蛙有時(shí)會(huì)在潮濕天氣來(lái)臨前發(fā)出獨(dú)特的叫聲，稱為‘雨叫’。” 米勒說(shuō)， “可能是降水前濕度上升引發(fā)了”這種叫聲。 (Translated by Debra) | 