The world’s largest organism - Alex Rosenthal

譯者: 柏陞 郭 審譯者: Helen Chang

This is Goliath, the krill.

這位主人公名叫磷蝦。

Don’t get too attached.

可別急著與牠親近。

Today this 1 centimeter crustacean

因為今天這長一公分的甲殼生物

will share the same fate as 40 million of his closest friends:

將會與牠 4000 萬親密的 同伴共享同個命運:

葬身於世界上最大的藍鯨腹中。

a life sentence in the belly of the largest blue whale in the world.

Let’s call her Leviatha.

我們就稱她莉維塔吧。

Leviatha weighs something like 150 metric tons,

莉維塔約略 150 公噸重，

and she’s the largest animal in the world.

而且她是世上最大的動物。

But she’s not even close to being the largest organism by weight,

但是以她的重量要成為 最大的生物體可還差遠了，

which is estimated to equal about 40 Leviatha’s.

後者估計可是有 莉維塔體重的 40 倍。

So where is this behemoth?

那麼這龐然大物究竟在哪呢?

Here, in Utah.

它在這裡！美國的猶他州。

Sorry, that’s too close.

抱歉，鏡頭離太近了。

Here.

這樣清楚多了。

This is Pando, whose name means “I spread out.”

這是潘多，名字的意思是 「由我衍生。」

Pando, a quaking aspen, has roughly 47,000 genetically identical clone trunks.

潘多這一種白楊樹 據估計有 47000 棵

基因相同的枝幹。

Those all grow from one enormous root system,

它們全都由同一個根系生長，

which is why scientists consider Pando a single organism.

這就是為什麼科學家 把潘多視為一個生物。

Pando is the clear winner of world’s largest organism by weight—

就體重而言，潘多做為世界上 最大的生物無庸置疑––

an incredible 6 million kilograms.

它可是足足有 600 萬公斤。

So how did Pando get to be so huge?

那麼潘多是如何長得如此巨大的呢？

Pando is not an unusual aspen from a genetic standpoint.

就遺傳學的觀點來看 潘多並不只是一顆普通的白楊樹。

Rather, Pando’s size boils down to three main factors:

而潘多何以長成這等規模 主要有三個原因：

its age, its location, and aspens’ remarkable evolutionary adaptation

它的年齡、生長環境， 以及為了適應而發展出的特別機制：

of self-cloning.

無性生殖。

So first, Pando is incredibly expansive because it’s incredibly old.

首先，潘多如此雄偉 正因為它十分古老。

How old exactly?

那究竟有多古老呢?

No one knows.

沒人知道。

Dendrochronologist estimates range from 80,000 to 1 million years.

據樹輪年代學家估計約介於 8 萬至 100 萬年。

The problem is, there’s no simple way to gauge Pando’s age.

問題在於要測量 潘多的年齡並不容易。

Counting the rings of a single trunk will only account for up to 200 years or so,

若是計算一棵樹的年輪 最多也只有 200 年左右，

as Pando is in a constant cycle of growth, death, and renewal.

因為潘多是不斷地成長、 死亡又再生。

平均來說，每棵樹約有 130 年壽命，

On average, each individual tree lives 130 years,

before falling and being replaced by new ones.

就倒下並被新生代取代。

Second: location.

第二點：生長環境。

During the last ice age, which ended about 12,000 years ago,

在最後一次的冰河時期， 也就是大約結束於 12000 年前，

glaciers covered much of the North American climate

冰層的覆蓋影響了北美洲 適合白楊樹生長的氣候。

friendly to aspens.

So if there were other comparably sized clonal colonies,

因此，如果當時有其他 同等規模的潘多樹群落，

they may have perished then.

它們那時大概也滅絕了。

Meanwhile, Pando’s corner of Utah remained glacier-free.

同一時間，在猶他州一隅的潘多樹 則免受冰層侵擾。

The soil there is rich in nutrients that Pando continuously replenishes;

那裏的土壤富含養分 供潘多不斷地補充。

as it drops leaves and trunks,

隨著樹葉和枝幹落下，

the nutrients return to nourish new generations of clones.

養分又回歸土壤 繼續滋養著下一代。

Which brings us to the third cause of Pando’s size: cloning.

這帶我們來到使潘多茁壯的 第三個原因：無性生殖。

Aspens are capable of both sexual reproduction—

白楊樹除了能進行有性生殖

which produces a new organism—

產出一個全新的子代，

and asexual reproduction— which creates a clone.

還能夠無性生殖， 製造一個複製體。

They tend to reproduce sexually when conditions are unfavorable

當條件不利於生長時， 潘多傾向於有性生殖。

and the best strategy for survival is to move elsewhere.

而活下來最好的辦法 就是移動到別處。

Trees aren’t particularly mobile, but their seeds are.

樹雖然不能活動， 但是種子卻可以。

Like the rest of us, sexual reproduction is how Pando came into the world

就如同我們人類，潘多也是透過 有性生殖誕生在世上。

這件事約發生於 數萬或是十幾萬年前。

in the first place all those tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago.

The wind or a pollinator carried pollen from the flower of one of its parents

可能是風或一種授粉媒介 把花粉從雄株帶向另一半，

to the other, where a sperm cell fertilized an egg.

讓精子向卵子授粉。

That flower produced fruit, which split open,

花朵結出果實，果實裂開後撒出 數百顆嬌小輕盈的種子。

releasing hundreds of tiny, light seeds.

The wind carried one to a wet spot of land in what is now Utah,

其中一顆隨著風來到位於 現今猶他州的一處濕潤地，

where it took root and germinated into Pando’s first stem.

在此落地生根後萌芽， 長出第一棵潘多樹。

A couple of years later, Pando grew mature enough to reproduce asexually.

數年之後，潘多便成熟到 能夠進行無性生殖。

Asexual reproduction, or cloning,

不論無性生殖或是複製，

tends to happen when the environment is favorable to growth.

更容易發生在利於生長的環境。

Aspens have long roots that burrow through the soil.

白楊樹的長根善於挖掘土壤，

These can sprout shoots that grow up into new trunks.

因此延伸出的樹苗 又會長成新的枝幹。

And while Pando grew and spread out, so did our ancestors.

隨著潘多成長和散播， 我們的祖先同時也四處遷徙。

As Hunter-gatherers who made cave paintings, survived an ice age,

當創作壁畫的狩獵採集者 倖存過冰河時期。

found their way to North America, built civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia,

他們設法前往北美洲，或是在 埃及和美索不達米亞建立文明。

fought wars, domesticated animals, fought wars, formed nations,

發動戰爭、馴養動物， 再透過戰爭建立國家。

built machines,

打造各種機器、

and invented the internet, and always newer ways to fight wars.

發明網路和不斷地 以更新的方式進行戰爭。

Pando has survived many millennia of changing climates and encroaching ice.

潘多在不斷的氣候變遷 和冰層的侵擾下存活了幾千年。

But it may not survive us.

但它有可能在我們手中滅絕。

New stems are growing to maturity much more slowly than they need to

新生枝幹的成熟速度 應該要更快一些，

in order to replace the trunks that fall.

才能替代那些倒下的舊枝幹。

Scientists have identified two main reasons for this.

科學家認定有兩個原因 導致潘多生長緩慢。

The first is that we’ve deprived Pando of fire.

第一個原因是我們 撲滅了潘多所需的野火。

When a fire clears a patch of forest, Aspen roots survive,

當一把野火燒盡了一片森林， 白楊樹的根依然倖存，

and send shoots bursting up out of the ground by the tens of thousands.

數以萬計衍生的樹苗 藉此破土而出。

And secondly, grazers like herds of cattle and mule deer—

第二個原因，草食動物如 成群家畜或是騾鹿，

whose natural predators we’ve hunted to the point of local elimination—

由於牠們自然的掠食者因 遭我們狩獵而在當地幾近滅絕，

are eating Pando’s fresh growth.

所以牠們會啃食潘多的幼苗。

If we lose the world’s largest organism, we’ll lose a scientific treasure trove.

如果我們失去這世界上最大的生物， 我們也失去了一個科學珍寶。

Because Pando’s trunks are genetically identical,

因為潘多的樹幹基因相同，

they can serve as a controlled setting for studies

它們能做為各類研究中的 一種可控情境，

on everything from the tree microbiome

從樹木微生物群

to the influence of climate on tree growth rates.

到氣候如何影響 樹木的成長速度。

The good news is, we have a chance to save Pando,

好消息是，我們有機會拯救潘多，

by reducing livestock grazing in the area

藉由減少放牧在該地區的家畜

and further protecting the vulnerable young saplings.

和進一步保護脆弱的幼苗。

And the time to act is today.

我們最好即刻行動，

Because as with so many other marvels of our natural world,

因為在我們的自然界中 有太多驚奇的事物，

once they’re gone it will be a very, very long time before they return.

一旦它們消失，要花上 很長一段時間它們才會歸來。