Woodpeckers puncture the bark of dead or dying trees,also known as snags, to find the wood-boring insects that makeup their diet, and some species also excavate cavities in thesetrees for their nests.
啄木鸟啄破死树或垂死的树的树皮，觅得吃木头的昆虫为食。有些物种也会在这些树上筑巢。
So where does the fungus come in?
那么真菌是从哪来的呢？
Well, scientists observed that the snags woodpeckersexcavate generally contain decayed wood, which is caused by wood-decay fungi.
恩，科学家们观察到啄木鸟啄洞的断枝通常包含由木腐菌造成的蛀木。
Right. And thisled them to wonder whether woodpeckers are attracted to certain types of decay, or if they'rethe ones actually spreading the fungus that causes the decay.
是的。而且这引起观察家们思考：是某些类型的腐烂吸引了啄木鸟，还是说啄木鸟实际上传播了引起腐烂的真菌呢？
So what did come first?
那么到底哪个在先？
Well, it turns out that the relationship between the two is pretty complex.
恩，事实证明两者关系相当复杂。
When woodpeckers puncture bark, they provide a way for airborne fungal spores to infect the wood.
当啄木鸟啄树皮时，它们为空气传播的真菌孢子感染树木提供了方便，
They also act as vectors, unintentionally picking up fungal spores and other microbes from onesnag and carrying them in their beaks to another.
它们同时也是带菌者，无意中携带了真菌孢子和来自某根断枝的其他细菌，它们的喙载着这些细菌再传播给其他树木。
And not surprisingly, species of woodpeckersthat nest in cavities carry a significantly larger number of these, which is synergistic, because the decay makes it easier for them to excavate.
毫不奇怪的是，那些在树洞里筑巢的啄木鸟携带着更大量的真菌，它们是协同作用着的，因为腐烂使得啄木鸟啄洞更容易了。
So even though we still don't know which came first, this also isn't merely an intellectual exercise.
因此，即使我们不知道先有哪个，这也不仅仅是一种智力测验。
Woodpeckers are pretty important ecologically because the sites they excavate are used forforaging, roosting, and nesting by many other species as well.
从生态学的观点看，啄木鸟的角色相当重要，因为啄木鸟挖掘的树洞可以用于觅食，栖息，还可以被其他物种用来筑巢。
And now that there's debate overwhether snags contribute to forest fires and should be removed, it's especially important to studypotential ramifications.
既然人们关于断枝是否会导致森林火灾而应该被移除争论不休，那么研究一下可能出现的后果就特别重要了。
