What's hidden among the tallest trees on Earth? - Wendell Oshiro

世界上最高的树上有什么？文戴尔 欧诗洛

翻译人员: Ning Du 校对人员: Simon Sun

Some people can't see the forest for the trees,

有些人一叶障目（只见树木不见森林）

but before Stephen Sillett, no one could see or even imagine the forest in the trees.

但是在史蒂芬斯雷特之前, 没有人能看到或甚至想象到树上的森林

Stephen was an explorer of new worlds from the start.

史蒂芬从小就是个探险家

He spent his boyhood in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

他在宾州的哈里斯堡度过童年

reading Tolkien and playing Dungeons and Dragons with his brother Scott.

那时他常常跟他的兄弟读托尔金，玩龙和地下城游戏。

But when the Sillett family visited their grandparent's cabin near Gettysburg,

当斯利特一家拜访祖父母在盖茨堡的小屋时

their grandmother Helen Poe Sillett,

他们的祖母海伦 波伊 斯利特，

would take the boys into the nearby mountains and forests to bird-watch.

会带着男孩子们去附近的山林中看鸟.

They called Grandma Sillett Poe,

他们叫她斯利特·波伊祖母，

and she taught the boys to identify songbirds, plants and even lichens,

波伊祖母教了这些孩子们如何辨认鸣鸟，植物甚至是地衣。

creatures that often look like splotches of carpet glued to the shady sides of rocks and tree trunks.

以及那些长在石头背面和树干上像地毯上的斑点的生物。

Looking upwards, both boys found their callings.

向上看去，两个孩子觉得有什么东西在召唤他们。

Scott became a research scientist specializing in migratory birds.

斯科特成为了一名研究候鸟的科学家，

Stephen was more interested in the trees.

而史蒂夫对这些树更感兴趣。

The tangle of branches and leaves attracted his curiosity.

混杂的枝叶唤起了他无限的好奇心。

What could be hidden up there?

树顶藏着什么呢？

By the time Stephen was in college, that curiosity pulled him skyward

史蒂夫还在上大学的时候，这种好奇心让他无限向往天空，

to the tallest trees on Earth: the ancient coast redwoods of Northern California.

向往那些高耸入云的大树，那些冠绝世界，长在北加州海边的古老红杉树。

Rising from trunks up to 20 feet in diameter,

红杉能在超过2000年的生命周期中，长到直径20英尺直径

redwoods can grow up to 380 feet, or 38 stories, over a 2,000 year lifetime.

380英尺或38层楼那么高。

But no one had thought to investigate the crowns of these natural skyscrapers.

但是从没有人想到要去研究这些如天然摩天大楼一般的树顶世界。

Were there more than just branches up there?

那会只有树枝么？

Stephen decided to find out firsthand.

史蒂夫决定迈出第一步去探寻。

In 1987, Stephen, his brother Scott and his friend Marwood

1987年, 史蒂夫和他哥哥斯科特以及朋友麦伍德

drove from Reed College in Oregon

从俄勒冈的里德学院开车驶向

to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Northern California.

北加州的草原溪红杉国家公园.

Deep inside the park, Stephen picked the tallest redwood he could find.

在公园深处，史蒂夫选了一棵他能找到的最高的红杉。

Its lowest branches were almost 100 feet up,

最矮的树枝也有100英尺高，

far beyond his reach.

远远超越了他能够到的范围。

But he saw a younger, shorter redwood growing next to the target tree.

但是他看到了一棵更年轻更矮的红杉，就在这棵树边上，

With a running start, he leapt and grabbed the lowest branch,

一个助跑，他一跃而起抓住了最矮的树枝，

pulled himself up and scurried upwards.

把自己拉了上去，然后开始向上攀爬。

He was free climbing without ropes or a harness,

他没借助任何绳子或背带，进行着自由攀爬，

one misstep meant death.

一个失足就可能导致死亡。

But up he went, and when he reached the peak,

但是他一路向上，当他到达树顶的时候，

he swayed and leapt across the gap of space onto a branch of the target tree

他摇晃着跳到过了与目标树之间的缝隙，跳到了目标树的一个树枝上，

and into a world never seen before.

然后进入了一个他前所未见的世界。

His buddy Marwood followed him up,

他的朋友麦伍徳跟着他爬了上来，

and the two young men free climbed high into the redwood's crown.

这两个年轻人通过自由攀爬到达了这棵树的树冠。

Stephen came across lichens like Grandma Poe had shown him as a boy.

史蒂夫看到了童年时波伊祖母教他认识过的地衣，

He noticed that the higher he went, the thicker the branches were,

他开始注意到，他爬的越高，树枝越稀松，

not the case with most trees.

这并非常见的情况。

He found moist mats of soil many inches thick,

他发现潮湿的表面有几英寸厚的土壤是由

made from fallen needles, bark, other plant debris and dust from the sky

掉落的叶子，树皮，其他植物残骸或来自天上的尘埃组成，

piled on the tops of the large branches.

堆在了一些巨大树干的表面。

He even found reiterations:

他甚至发现了一些重复生长的现象：

new redwood tree trunks growing out from the main trunk.

新红杉的树干长在原来的主干上。

The redwood had cloned itself.

红杉进行了自我复制。

When Stephen reached the pinnacle,

当史蒂夫到达顶点的时候，

he rested on a platform of crisscrossing branches and needles.

他在一个由树枝也针叶纵横交织组成的平台上休息。

Growing in the soil mat was a huckleberry bush with ripe berries!

在树冠的土壤上竟然长着越橘类的灌木，甚至还结了果！

He ate some and waited for his friend.

他摘了一些果子吃，然后等着他的朋友爬上来。

Stephen had discovered a new world hundreds of feet above the ground.

史蒂夫在离地几百英尺的高空发现里一个新天地。

His climb led to more excursions, with safety equipment, thank goodness,

这次攀爬让他更热衷于树木攀爬，谢天谢地，之后他都准备了安全措施。

up other ancient redwoods as he mapped and measured the architecture

在这些古老的红杉之上，史蒂夫绘制并测量了

of branches and additional trunks in the canopy of an entire grove.

了树枝的结构以及树顶的“小果园”。

Stephen became an expert in the ecology of the tallest trees on Earth

史蒂夫就此成为了这些地球上最高的树的树顶生态系统专家

and the rich diversity of life in their crowns, aerial ecosystems no one had imagined.

以及树冠生物多样性的专家，而这些空中生态系统是之前没人想象到的。

There are ferns, fungi and epiphytic trees normally found at ground level

其中包括地面常见的蕨类，真菌类以及附生类植物，

like Douglas firs, hemlocks and tan oaks

例如道格拉斯松树，铁杉和谭橡树，

whose roots had taken hold in the rich wet soil mats.

这些植物的根都深深生长在潮湿又营养丰富的土壤中。

Invertebrates such as ants, bumblebees, mites, beetles, earthworms and aquatic crustacean copepods

无脊椎动物，如蚂蚁，黄蜂，螨虫，甲虫，蚯蚓和一些水生甲壳桡足类生物

make their homes alongside flowering plants like

在上面的开花植物中安家，包括

rhododendrons, currant and elderberry bushes.

杜鹃花，红醋栗以及接骨木灌木丛。

Ospreys, spotted owls, and jays search the canopy for food.

鱼鹰，斑点猫头鹰和松鸡在树冠中寻找食物。

Even the marbled murrelet, a Pacific seabird,

甚至云石海雀，一种太平洋海鸟，

flies many miles from the ocean to nest there.

也会从他们海边的巢穴飞越数公里来此。

Squirrels and voles peek out of penthouse burrows.

松鼠和野鼠也会经常从树顶的洞穴出来放风。

And the top predator? The mighty wandering salamander!

那顶级猎食动物呢？ 上面有巨大的蝾螈在四处闲逛寻找机会。

Sillett's research has changed how we think about tall trees,

斯利特的研究彻底改变了我们对于高大树木的看法，

and bolstered the case for their conservation,

同时肯定了他们之前对话中的观点，

not just as impressive individual organisms

树顶世界并非只有个别令人惊奇的生命有机体，

but as homes to countless other species.

而是数以亿计物种的家。

So when you look up into the branches and leaves of a tree,

所以当你看到这些枝叶的时候, 肯定会问到

ask, "What else is up there?"

"里面会是什么样?"

A new world might be just out of reach. So leap for it.

也许新天地只有一步之遥, 何不一跃赴之?