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

世界最高的樹上有什麼？ - 溫德‧奧斯洛

譯者: Yu-Chen Chu 審譯者: Marssi Draw

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

有些人格局不夠，見樹不見林，

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

但能想像，甚至看見樹中自有林， 史提芬‧斯雷特是頭一個。

Stephen was an explorer of new worlds from the start.

史提芬從小就是探險家。

He spent his boyhood in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

他在賓州哈里斯堡度過童年，

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

讀托爾金的作品，和哥哥史考特 玩「龍與地下城」的桌遊。

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

一家人到蓋茨堡附近的小木屋拜訪祖父母時，

their grandmother Helen Poe Sillett,

祖母海倫‧坡‧斯雷特

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

會帶他們到附近的山林賞鳥。

They called Grandma Sillett Poe,

他們暱稱祖母為斯雷特‧坡，

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

她教男孩們認鳴鳥、植物，還有地衣，

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

地衣通常看起來像地上的斑點， 附著在石頭或樹幹的暗處。

Looking upwards, both boys found their callings.

仰著頭認識世界，兩個男孩都找到他們志向。

Scott became a research scientist specializing in migratory birds.

史考特成為研究學者，專攻候鳥。

Stephen was more interested in the trees.

史提芬則對樹比較有興趣。

The tangle of branches and leaves attracted his curiosity.

錯綜的枝葉勾起他的好奇心。

What could be hidden up there?

樹上到底有些什麼？

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

大學時期，好奇心驅使史蒂芬深入天際，

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

研究世上最高大的樹種之一： 北加州海岸的古老紅杉。

Rising from trunks up to 20 feet in diameter,

紅杉直徑可達20英尺， 樹幹聳立可至380英尺高，

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

相當於38層樓高，壽命長達2000年以上。

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

早先沒人想過調查這自然界摩天大樓的樹冠。

Were there more than just branches up there?

樹頂會不會不只是一堆樹枝？

Stephen decided to find out firsthand.

史提芬決定親自一探究竟。

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

1987年，史提芬和哥哥史考特及友人馬伍德

drove from Reed College in Oregon

一路從奧勒岡里德學院

to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Northern California.

開車前往北加州的草原溪紅木州立公園。

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

深入園區，史提芬盡力找出最高的紅杉。

Its lowest branches were almost 100 feet up,

這根樹離地面最近的樹枝 幾乎超過100英尺，

far beyond his reach.

搆也搆不著。

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

但他注意到旁邊剛好有棵較矮的年輕紅杉。

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

他稍稍助跑，一躍攀上最矮的樹枝，

pulled himself up and scurried upwards.

把自己撐上去後敏捷攀登。

He was free climbing without ropes or a harness,

他徒手爬樹，沒有任何的繩索或背帶，

one misstep meant death.

一失足便會粉身碎骨。

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

但他繼續向上攀爬，到樹頂時

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

他一盪躍身到原本大紅杉的樹枝上，

and into a world never seen before.

踏入了前所未見的世界中。

His buddy Marwood followed him up,

他的好友馬伍德也隨即跟進，

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

兩個年輕人徒手爬上紅杉樹冠。

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

史提芬看見地衣，就像祖母小時候教他的。

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

他注意到爬得越高，樹枝反而越粗壯，

not the case with most trees.

不同於一般樹木的生長情形。

He found moist mats of soil many inches thick,

他發現數英寸厚的濕潤土壤層，

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

是從天而降的針葉、樹皮、其他植物的殘骸，

還有塵埃堆積在粗壯的枝幹上。

piled on the tops of the large branches.

He even found reiterations:

他還發現重複生長的情形，也就是說

new redwood tree trunks growing out from the main trunk.

紅杉的主幹會長出新的樹幹，

The redwood had cloned itself.

就像自我複製。

When Stephen reached the pinnacle,

史提芬攀至樹頂後，

he rested on a platform of crisscrossing branches and needles.

在繁密枝葉形成的平台稍作休息。

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

在此的堆積土壤上竟還長著熟成的越橘莓。

He ate some and waited for his friend.

他嚐了一點邊等他的朋友。

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

史提芬發現了數百英尺高空中的新世界。

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

他的嘗試而後有了更多考察， 謝天謝地有帶安全裝備，

up other ancient redwoods as he mapped and measured the architecture

他攀上其他的古老紅杉，勘察及測量

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

整個樹林冠層中樹枝及新生樹幹的結構。

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

史提芬成為高樹的專家， 專精其樹冠豐富多樣的生態，

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

此高空生態精彩樣貌是前人始料未及。

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

有蕨類、真菌和常見於地面的附生植物，

like Douglas firs, hemlocks and tan oaks

好比花旗松、鐵杉、石櫟，

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

這些植物的根緊緊抓住 富饒濕潤的堆積土壤。

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

無脊椎動物如螞蟻、大黃蜂、蟎、甲蟲、

蚯蚓和水生甲殼類動物以此為家，

make their homes alongside flowering plants like

開花植物如杜鵑、醋栗、接骨木也生長於此。

rhododendrons, currant and elderberry bushes.

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

鶚、斑點鴞、松鴉在樹冠覓食。

Even the marbled murrelet, a Pacific seabird,

連太平洋海鳥斑海雀

flies many miles from the ocean to nest there.

也飛越海洋好幾里來此築巢。

Squirrels and voles peek out of penthouse burrows.

松鼠和田鼠也從樹頂密處探出頭來。

And the top predator? The mighty wandering salamander!

那高階掠食動物呢？ 是神氣活現、四處遊走的蠑螈。

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

斯雷特的發現顛覆我們對大樹的想像，

and bolstered the case for their conservation,

進而鼓勵紅杉保育，

not just as impressive individual organisms

不只是保育此巨大的有機個體，

but as homes to countless other species.

更是維護許許多多生物賴以生存的家。

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

下一次抬頭仰望枝葉，

ask, "What else is up there?"

心裡想著：「上面到底有些什麼？」

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

只要奮力縱身一躍，全新的世界觸手可及。