来源：《自然》
原文刊登日期：2025年2月25日
On the rugged, uninhabited Archipelago of the Recherche off the coast of Western Australia, marine ecologist Jennifer Lavers has front-row access to the wildlife she studies, because she lives nearby. In 2022, Lavers set up her marine-ecology research group in the tiny village of Esperance on the coast of southwest Australia, a seven-hour drive from the nearest city, Perth. As a researcher studying how plastic pollution affects seabirds and the marine food web, Lavers finds a closeness with nature in such an isolated place, and has used that closeness in her collaborations with the local Aboriginal communities. “The birds sing during the day, the frogs at night and the kangaroos mow our lawn for us,” she says of her home. “It gives me the quiet life that I keep seeking, but also the opportunity to truly embed myself with the Aboriginal community.”