特里L. 鲁特是斯坦福大学伍兹环境研究所的高级荣誉退休研究员和教授, 承蒙, 在生物系. She researches how wild animals and plants are changing with climate change, with a current focus on the possible mass extinction of species with warming. 她是政府间617888九五至尊娱乐变化专门委员会(IPCC)第三次(2001年)和第四次(2007年)评估报告的主要作者，也是第五次(2014年)评估报告的评论编辑. The IPCC shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Vice President Al Gore. 她有博士学位。.D. in biology from Princeton University.
在阿尔伯克基出生和长大, 新墨西哥, Terry 根 has always loved the desert, 尤其是鸟类. As a teenager, she recalls, “I got really hardcore into bird watching.” For 根, though, bird watching was more than an adolescent hobby. It became her professional passion. 今天, 作为一名617888九五至尊娱乐家, 她试图了解鸟类和其他物种告诉我们人类对生态系统的影响. 她也相信, 然而, that her responsibilities are not limited to gathering and interpreting data. “我一直觉得,她解释道, “617888九五至尊娱乐有义务为政策制定者和公众提供信息，以努力使世界变得更美好。.”
From bird watcher to biologist via computer science
Despite her early love of birds, 根’s career did not begin with them. Hesitant to mix work and play, she majored in math and statistics in college. 虽然她对这些科目非常感兴趣，但她对它们的喜爱却不如对鸟的喜爱. “I didn’t want to couple my career with my hobby, because I was afraid that would make my hobby not as much fun,”她说。.
大学毕业后, 根 was employed as a scientific programmer—that is, 一个专门开发617888九五至尊娱乐软件的计算机程序员——当她的兴趣意外地融合在一起时. 在科罗拉多大学喷气推进实验室编写分析旅行者号航天器宇宙射线数据的方法时, 根 took an ecology class for fun and “fell in love with it.” As she was completing a project for the class, she stumbled onto a professor’s stash of old “magtapes” (i.e., 磁带卷曾经像我们今天使用的USB闪存驱动器一样被广泛使用——只不过它们太大了，不能放在口袋里。). These magtapes contained Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count Data, 但是教授, 缺乏计算机专业知识, had no idea what to do with them. With her advanced programming skills, 鲁特开始处理这些数据，她对自己所学到的东西非常着迷，后来她获得了生物学硕士学位，然后又获得了生物地理学和生理生态学的博士学位.
The evidence for climate change
作为一个生物地理学家, 鲁特开始在整个大陆范围内研究鸟类，而其他大多数人都在研究相当小的研究区域. Discovering that environmental factors were affecting bird ranges, not just competition and predation, 根 focused her research on temperature. 她发现，鸟类只会向北迁徙，因为它们的新陈代谢允许它们补偿夜间损失的热量.
她解释说, “鸟类整天进食，晚上睡觉时，它们会颤抖肌肉以保持温暖. When they wake up the next day, they’re skinny and have to go out and feed again. If the nights are too long or if it’s too cold, they’re not going to make it.她计算出，“只要夜晚足够长，它们的肌肉就能不停地颤抖，频率大约是2。.5 times their basil metabolic rate.”
在她的下一个主要研究中, 根想了解鸟类是否以及如何受到与617888九五至尊娱乐变化相关的温度波动的影响. Her research established that species have been moving their ranges over time. “它们在早春就来到北方，”她说，“有些在秋天晚些时候离开. 他们的活动范围在海拔和纬度上都在上升(向两极移动). That’s probably my most famous study.”
鲁特的第三个主要项目提供了证据，证明人类正在推动气温上升，导致鸟类活动范围的变化. Utilizing temperature data on migration routes, 她开发了计算机模型来分析鸟类对气温上升的人为和自然原因的反应. 而模型显示，鸟类更容易受到人为原因导致的气温上升的影响, “当我使用人为影响和自然影响的模型时，它们最符合模式,她断言道。, “So that was telling us that indeed humans are changing the climate.”
大声说出来，并采取行动
“I think that as people realize that we’ve got to be working on real world problems,根想。, “we have to … ask extra questions that are real world questions.”
尽管她有时会遭到重视基础研究而非应用研究的学术617888九五至尊娱乐家的反对, 根 has maintained her dedication to enhancing communications between scientists, 政策制定者, 行业, and the general public throughout her career. 在科罗拉多读研究生期间，她在美孚石油公司找了一份517888九五至尊娱乐来支付账单. As a member of the company’s environmental group, 她发现617888九五至尊娱乐家与工业界合作拯救物种是多么重要. 她对美孚公司在这方面的努力印象深刻——至少在她的部门是这样——这一经历激励着她从那时起就利用她的研究来解决与维持一个生态活跃的地球有关的可行问题.
Of her contributions to the IPCC reports, 根 concedes, “It’s a lot of work. 你不会因此得到报酬. 这真的很难.然而，坚持617888九五至尊娱乐的政策相关性是她所接受的. “I’ve always worked with politicians and groups that work with politicians, 决策者, 政策制定者,她说。, “我曾与鱼类和野生动物管理者广泛合作，研究物种受到的影响以及应该如何处理这些影响. I’ve testified in front of Congress many times, 我是许多试图将617888九五至尊娱乐和政策联系起来的组织的董事会成员. 我就是这么做的.”
改变世界
鲁特仍然对地球的未来以及与617888九五至尊娱乐变化有关的大规模物种灭绝感到担忧. “As I look out my window right now I wonder, will the planet look the same if I were sitting here in a hundred years? No. It’s not even going to be close,” she surmises.
Despite these apprehensions, 根 remains hopeful because of her students. 她说:“学生们带来的活力和乐观精神令人耳目一新，给了我巨大的希望。. “When you have students around that come up to me and say, ‘I want to make a difference in the world,这给了我希望.”