Scientists have been examining recent blood samples collected from wild polar bears and compared them with samples from the same part of the Arctic which were taken back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

科學家們一直在研究最近從野生北極熊身上採集的血液樣本，並將其與上世紀 80 年代末和 90 年代初從北極同一地區採集的樣本進行比較。

Now they found that significantly more of the recent blood samples contained indications that the animals had suffered from infections.

現在，他們發現最近的血液樣本中有更多的跡象表明動物受到了感染。

Let's talk more about this with the lead author of that particular study, the research wildlife biologist with the Alaska Science Centre, Dr Karen Rode, who's been studying polar bears actually since 2006, so very experienced in this field.

讓我們和這項研究的主要作者、阿拉斯加科學中心的野生動物生物學家凱倫-羅德博士進一步談談這個問題，她從2006年開始研究北極熊，在這個領域非常有經驗。

And this is quite alarming, isn't it, this research?

這項研究令人震驚，不是嗎？

Yes, we definitely saw increases that were higher than has been seen in other parts of the Arctic in terms of the proportion of bears that were exposed to different pathogens.

是的，就暴露於不同病原體的黑熊比例而言，我們看到的增長肯定高於北極其他地區。

So what sort of results have you found?

您發現了什麼樣的結果？

Just talk us through some of the details of this.

請和我們談談其中的一些細節。

Yeah, so we looked at six different pathogens and specifically what we were looking at is antibodies in polar bear serum, which indicates whether or not they were ever exposed to that particular pathogen.

是的，我們研究了六種不同的病原體，具體來說，我們研究的是北極熊血清中的抗體，這表明它們是否接觸過這種病原體。

And then comparing between the two time periods, we were seeing increases in five of the six that we looked at, and some of them were more than doubling over time.

然後在兩個時間段之間進行比較，在我們所研究的六項中，有五項都出現了增長，其中一些隨著時間的推移增長了一倍多。

So twice as many bears are exposed to those pathogens than they have in the past.

是以，接觸這些病原體的黑熊數量是過去的兩倍。

And those changes appeared to be associated with increased land use by polar bears in response to sea ice loss, but also changes in the exposure of their prey that then gets transmitted up the food chain.

這些變化似乎與北極熊因海冰消失而增加對陸地的使用有關，同時也與北極熊獵物的暴露程度發生變化有關，而這種變化會沿著食物鏈向上傳遞。

So it sounds really like the whole Arctic ecosystem is changing and changing for the worse as far as these bears are concerned.

是以，就這些熊而言，聽起來整個北極生態系統正在發生變化，而且是向壞的方向變化。

Yeah, I mean, I think it's important to note that this population appears to be a healthy population overall, so the population isn't declining.

是的，我的意思是，我認為重要的是要注意到，這個人口似乎是一個整體健康的人口，所以人口並沒有下降。

So we don't think that these pathogens are necessarily causing, we don't know, we don't have any evidence that they're causing disease in polar bears, which is actually really hard to detect in these animals that range really far out in remote areas.

是以，我們並不認為這些病原體一定會導致北極熊的疾病，我們不知道，我們沒有任何證據表明它們會導致北極熊的疾病。

But we know the population is healthy, but it does mean that as an apex predator at the top of the Arctic food chain, changes that we're seeing in their exposure indicate changes in exposure to other species across the Arctic.

但我們知道，這個種群是健康的，但這確實意味著，作為北極食物鏈頂端的頂級掠食者，我們看到的它們暴露的變化表明整個北極地區其他物種暴露的變化。

And presumably this is something that's just going to keep getting worse and worse as a problem as climate change continues, as global warming increases.

據推測，隨著氣候變化的持續和全球變暖的加劇，這個問題會越來越嚴重。

I think, you know, this is certainly evidence not only in our population, but in two other polar bear populations, that exposure is changing.

我認為，你知道，這不僅是我們種群的證據，也是其他兩個北極熊種群的證據，表明接觸北極熊的情況正在發生變化。

You know, the question is, what's the impact of that exposure?

你知道，問題是，這種暴露會產生什麼影響？

And a big message from our study has been that there's a need for increased surveillance of exposure to an Arctic environment because there's potential changes in the distribution of these pathogens.

我們的研究傳遞出的一個重要資訊是，有必要加強對北極環境暴露的監測，因為這些病原體的分佈可能會發生變化。

And were you surprised by the results of your research?

您對研究結果感到驚訝嗎？

Well, I think, you know, seeing, having known that two other populations had seen increases in pathogen exposure, I think to some degree we expected that that would probably be the case.

嗯，我想，你知道，看到其他兩個人群接觸病原體的機會增加，我想在某種程度上，我們預計情況可能會是這樣。

Certainly the changes were higher than we expected, but I think it's consistent with previous research in other populations.

當然，這些變化高於我們的預期，但我認為這與之前對其他人群的研究結果是一致的。

All right.

好的

Well, Karen Rhoad, thank you very much indeed for being with us with that alarming evidence really about polar bears in the Arctic.

好了，凱倫-羅德，非常感謝你能和我們一起為北極的北極熊提供令人震驚的證據。

Karen Rhoad there, research wildlife biologist with the Alaska Science Centre.

卡倫-羅德（Karen Rhoad），阿拉斯加科學中心野生生物研究員。

Thank you.

謝謝。