How we're growing baby corals to rebuild reefs | Kristen Marhaver

Prevodilac: Milica Dragićević Lektor: Ivana Korom

What was the most difficult job you ever did?

Šta je za vas bio najteži posao?

Was it working in the sun?

Kad ste radili na suncu?

Was it working to provide food for a family or a community?

Onaj kad ste izdržavali porodicu ili zajednicu?

Was it working days and nights trying to protect lives and property?

Kad ste radili noć i dan kako biste zaštitili ljude i imovinu?

Was it working alone

Onaj kad ste radili sami

or working on a project that wasn't guaranteed to succeed,

ili onaj kad niste bili sigurni da li će projekat uspeti,

but that might improve human health or save a life?

a znate da može da poboljša zdravlje ili spase život?

Was it working to build something, create something, make a work of art?

Da li je to bilo onda kad ste gradili, stvarali nešto, neko umetničko delo?

Was it work for which you were never sure

Ili onda kad niste bili sigurni

you were fully understood or appreciated?

da li vas razumeju i poštuju?

The people in our communities who do these jobs

Ljudi koji rade ove poslove u našoj zajednici

deserve our attention, our love and our deepest support.

zaslužuju pažnju, ljubav i najveću podršku.

But people aren't the only ones in our communities

Ali ljudi nisu jedini koji u našoj zajednici

who do these difficult jobs.

rade te teške poslove.

These jobs are also done by the plants, the animals

Te poslove rade i biljke, životinje

and the ecosystems on our planet,

i eko-sistemi na našoj planeti,

including the ecosystems I study: the tropical coral reefs.

kao i oni eko-sistemi koje ja proučavam, tropski koralni grebeni.

Coral reefs are farmers.

Koralni grebeni su farmeri.

They provide food, income and food security

Oni obezbeđuju hranu i prihod

for hundreds of millions of people around the world.

milijardama ljudi širom sveta.

Coral reefs are security guards.

Koralni grebeni su telohranitelji.

The structures that they build protect our shorelines

Strukture koje oni grade štite obale

from storm surge and waves,

od oluja, talasa

and the biological systems that they house filter the water

i biološki sistemi koji oni imaju prečišćavaju vodu

and make it safer for us to work and play.

da bismo živeli zdravo.

Coral reefs are chemists.

Koralni grebeni su hemičari.

The molecules that we're discovering on coral reefs are increasingly important

Molekule koje pronalazimo na koralnim grebenima veoma su važni

in the search for new antibiotics and new cancer drugs.

za istraživanje antibiotika i novih lekova za rak.

And coral reefs are artists.

Koralni grebeni su i umetnici.

The structures that they build

Strukture koje grade

are some of the most beautiful things on planet Earth.

nešto je najlepše na planeti Zemlji.

And this beauty is the foundation of the tourism industry

I njihova lepota je u osnovi turizma

in many countries with few or little other natural resources.

mnogih zemalja koje nemaju puno drugih prirodnih bogatstava.

So for all of these reasons, all of these ecosystem services,

Zbog svih ovih razloga, i usluga koje nam koralni grebeni pružaju,

economists estimate the value of the world's coral reefs

ekonomisti procenjuju da je njihova vrednost

in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year.

na stotine milijardi dolara godišnje.

And yet despite all that hard work being done for us

Iako za nas rade ove teške poslove,

and all that wealth that we gain,

iako nam donose novac,

we have done almost everything we possibly could to destroy that.

uradili smo skoro sve što smo mogli da ih uništimo.

We have taken the fish out of the oceans

Izbacili smo ribe iz okeana,

and we have added in fertilizer, sewage,

ubacili smo prečišćivače, kanalizaciju,

diseases, oil, pollution, sediments.

bolesti, naftu, zagađivače i sedimente.

We have trampled the reefs physically with our boats, our fins, our bulldozers,

Fizički smo ih oštetili brodovima, podmornicama, buldožerima.

and we have changed the chemistry of the entire sea,

Promenili smo hemijski sastav mora,

warmed the waters and made storms worse.

zagrejali smo vode i pojačali oluje.

And these would all be bad on their own,

I sve to ne bi bilo toliko strašno

but these threats magnify each other

da se problemi uzajamno ne pojačavaju

and compound one another and make each other worse.

i jedni druge ne usložljavaju i pogoršavaju.

I'll give you an example.

Daću vam primer.

Where I live and work, in Curaçao, a tropical storm went by a few years ago.

U Kurasau gde živim i radim, pre par godina došlo je do tropske oluje.

And on the eastern end of the island,

Na istočnom delu ostrva

where the reefs are intact and thriving,

gde su grebeni bili zdravi i netaknuti,

you could barely tell a tropical storm had passed.

nikad ne biste rekli da je oluje bilo.

But in town, where corals had died from overfishing, from pollution,

Ali u gradu, u kome su korali uginuli zbog pecanja i zagađenja

the tropical storm picked up the dead corals

tropska oluja je podigla mrtve korale

and used them as bludgeons to kill the corals that were left.

i sa njima, kao toljagom, ubila korale koji su bili zdravi.

This is a coral that I studied during my PhD --

Koral koga sam izučavala na doktorskim studijama.

I got to know it quite well.

Dobro sam ga upoznala.

And after this storm took off half of its tissue,

Kad je zbog oluje izgubio pola tkiva,

it became infested with algae,

alge su ga naselile.

the algae overgrew the tissue and that coral died.

Narasle su preko tkiva i koral je uginuo.

This magnification of threats, this compounding of factors

Ove mnogobrojne pretnje, ove zajedničke faktore

is what Jeremy Jackson describes as the "slippery slope to slime."

Džeremi Džekson naziva "klizavom nizbrdicom ka mulju".

It's hardly even a metaphor because many of our reefs now

To više nije ni metafora jer su sad mnogi grebeni

are literally bacteria and algae and slime.

naseljeni samo bakterijama, algama i muljem.

Now, this is the part of the talk

Ovo je sad deo govora

where you may expect me to launch into my plea

kad očekujete da vas zamolim

for us to all save the coral reefs.

da čuvate koralne grebene.

But I have a confession to make:

Moram vam nešto priznati:

that phrase drives me nuts.

to me izluđuje.

Whether I see it in a tweet, in a news headline

Da li to bio tvit, naslov u novinama

or the glossy pages of a conservation brochure,

ili strana u brošurama za očuvanje grebena

that phrase bothers me,

ta molba mi smeta

because we as conservationists have been sounding the alarms

jer smo decenijama

about the death of coral reefs for decades.

upozoravali na smrt koralnih grebena.

And yet, almost everyone I meet, no matter how educated,

Međutim, bilo koga upoznam, bez obzira na stepen obrazovanja,

is not sure what a coral is or where they come from.

nije siguran šta je koral ili kako nastaje.

How would we get someone to care about the world's coral reefs

Kako neko može da brine o koralnim grebenovima

when it's an abstract thing they can barely understand?

kad su oni za njih apstraktna stvar koju jedva da razumeju.

If they don't understand what a coral is or where it comes from,

Ako ne razumeju šta je koral i kako nastaje

or how funny or interesting or beautiful it is,

ili kako je smešan, zanimljiv i lep,

why would we expect them to care about saving them?

kako očekujemo da će brinuti o njegovom opstanku.

So let's change that.

Hajde da to promenimo.

What is a coral and where does it come from?

Šta je koral i kako nastaje?

Corals are born in a number of different ways,

Korali nastaju na veliki broj načina,

but most often by mass spawning: all of the individuals of a single species

najčešće mrešćenjem: svi delovi jednog korala

on one night a year,

jednom godišnje

releasing all the eggs they've made that year

u toku jedne noći ispuštaju jaja

into the water column,

u vodeni stub.

packaged into bundles with sperm cells.

Jaja su u zamotuljak spakovana zajedno sa spermom.

And those bundles go to the surface of the ocean and break apart.

Ti zamotuljci penju se na površinu okeana i razdvajaju se.

And hopefully -- hopefully -- at the surface of the ocean,

I ako bude sve u redu, na površini okena

they meet the eggs and sperm from other corals.

srešće jaja i spermu drugih korala.

And that is why you need lots of corals on a coral reef --

I zato je potrebno mnogo korala na koralnom grebenu,

so that all of their eggs can meet their match at the surface.

da bi sva jaja mogla da dođu u kontakt sa svojim pandanom.

When they're fertilized, they do what any other animal egg does:

Kad se oplode, jaja, kao i kod drugih životinja,

divides in half again and again and again.

dele se na pola i opet na pola.

Taking these photos under the microscope every year

Omiljeni i najmagičniji trenutak tokom godine

is one of my favorite and most magical moments of the year.

jeste kad to slikam preko mikroskopa.

At the end of all this cell division, they turn into a swimming larva --

Kad se ćelije podele, pretvaraju se u plivajuću larvu,

a little tiny blob of fat the size of a poppy seed,

malu grudvicu masti veličine makovog zrna,

but with all of the sensory systems that we have.

sa svim senzornim sistemima koje i ljudi imaju.

They can sense color and light, textures, chemicals, pH.

Mogu da opaze boju, svetlost, teksturu, osete hemikalije i pH.

They can even feel pressure waves; they can hear sound.

Mogu čak i da osete pritisak talasa, mogu da čuju zvuk.

And they use those talents

Ove svoje talente koriste

to search the bottom of the reef for a place to attach

kako bi istražili dno grebena, pričvrstili se za njega

and live the rest of their lives.

i bili tu do kraja svog života.

So imagine finding a place where you would live the rest of your life

Zamislite da možete da nađete mesto na kojem ćete živeti do kraja života

when you were just two days old.

kad ste stari samo dva dana.

They attach in the place they find most suitable,

Pričvršćuju se za njima najpogodnije mesto,

they build a skeleton underneath themselves,

razvija im se skelet,

they build a mouth and tentacles,

kao i usta i pipci

and then they begin the difficult work of building the world's coral reefs.

i onda kreću sa teškim poslom izgradnje koralnog grebena.

One coral polyp will divide itself again and again and again,

Stalnim deljenjem, koralni polip

leaving a limestone skeleton underneath itself

ostavlja svoj krečnjački skelet ispod sebe

and growing up toward the sun.

i raste prema suncu.

Given hundreds of years and many species,

Uzimajući u obzir hiljade godina i mnoge vrste,

what you get is a massive limestone structure

stvara se ogromna krečnjačka struktura

that can be seen from space in many cases,

prekrivena tankom kožom ovih vrednih životinja

covered by a thin skin of these hardworking animals.

koja se može nekad videti i iz svemira.

Now, there are only a few hundred species of corals on the planet, maybe 1,000.

Danas ima samo nekoliko stotina vrsta korala, možda hiljadu.

But these systems house millions and millions of other species,

Ali ti sistemi u sebi sadrže na milione drugih vrsta

and that diversity is what stabilizes the systems,

i ta raznovrsnost stabilizuje sisteme

and it's where we're finding our new medicines.

i omogućava nam da pronađemo nove lekove.

It's how we find new sources of food.

Na taj način pronalazimo nove izvore hrane.

I'm lucky enough to work on the island of Curaçao,

Imam sreće što radim na ostrvu Kurasao,

where we still have reefs that look like this.

gde i dalje postoje ovakvi grebeni.

But, indeed, much of the Caribbean and much of our world

Međutim, većina Karipskih ostrva kao i ostatak sveta

is much more like this.

izgleda ovako.

Scientists have studied in increasing detail

Naučnici detaljno analiziraju

the loss of the world's coral reefs,

nestanak koralnih grebena.

and they have documented with increasing certainty the causes.

I sa velikom sigurnošću saznali su razloge za nestanak.

But in my research, I'm not interested in looking backward.

U svom istraživanju, ne zanima me ono što se pre desilo.

My colleagues and I in Curaçao are interested in looking forward

Moje kolege i mene u Kurasau zanima

ono što se može desiti u budućnosti.

at what might be.

And we have the tiniest reason to be optimistic.

I imamo mali razlog za optimizam.

Because even in some of these reefs

Čak i na grebenima

that we probably could have written off long ago,

koje smo mogli da otpišemo pre mnogo godina

we sometimes see baby corals arrive and survive anyway.

možemo videti bebe korale koje dolaze i preživljavaju.

And we're starting to think that baby corals may have the ability

I mislimo da bebe korali mogu da se

to adjust to some of the conditions that the adults couldn't.

adaptiraju uslovima koje odrasli korali ne mogu.

They may be able to adjust

Mogu da se adaptiraju

ever so slightly more readily to this human planet.

za zrnce bolje od ostalih na ovoj planeti.

So in the research I do with my colleagues in Curaçao,

Sa svojim kolegama u Kurasaou pokušavam da saznam

we try to figure out what a baby coral needs

šta je bebi koralu potrebno

in that critical early stage,

u toj kritičnoj fazi,

what it's looking for

šta je to što traži

and how we can try to help it through that process.

i kako možemo da mu pomognemo da to što mu treba nađe.

I'm going to show you three examples of the work we've done

Pokazaću vam tri primera onoga što istražujemo

to try to answer those questions.

da bih odgovorila na ta pitanja.

A few years ago we took a 3D printer and we made coral choice surveys --

Pre par godina, 3D štampačem istraživali smo različite korale,

different colors and different textures,

raznih boja i tekstura,

and we simply asked the coral where they preferred to settle.

i pitali smo ih gde bi hteli da se nastane.

And we found that corals, even without the biology involved,

Saznali smo da bez obzira na biologiju,

still prefer white and pink, the colors of a healthy reef.

i dalje žele koralne grebene u zdravoj beloj i roze boji.

And they prefer crevices and grooves and holes,

Žele pukotine, žlebove i rupe,

where they will be safe from being trampled

gde mogu biti sigurni da neće biti

or eaten by a predator.

oštećeni ili pojedeni.

So we can use this knowledge,

To znanje možemo iskoristiti,

we can go back and say we need to restore those factors --

možemo se vratiti u prošlost da bi uslove kao što su,

that pink, that white, those crevices, those hard surfaces --

bela i roze boja, pukotine, tvrde površine uneli

in our conservation projects.

u projekte za očuvanje prirode.

We can also use that knowledge

Možemo to znanje iskoristiti

if we're going to put something underwater, like a sea wall or a pier.

i staviti neki zid ili stub u vodu.

We can choose to use the materials and colors and textures

Možemo da iskoristimo materijale, boje i teksture

that might bias the system back toward those corals.

da bi ih korali prepoznali kao deo sistema.

Now in addition to the surfaces,

Zajedno sa spoljašnošću grebena,

we also study the chemical and microbial signals

istražujemo i hemijske i mikrobne signale

that attract corals to reefs.

koji korale privlače grebenima.

Starting about six years ago, I began culturing bacteria

Pre oko 6 godina, počela sam da gajim bakterije

from surfaces where corals had settled.

koje žive tamo gde su su naselili korali.

And I tried those one by one by one,

Jednu po jednu sam isprobavala,

looking for the bacteria that would convince corals to settle and attach.

tražeći bakteriju koja bi privukla korale da se nastane i pričvrste.

And we now have many bacterial strains in our freezer

U frižideru, imamo mnogo bakterija

that will reliably cause corals

koje će zasigurno navesti korale

to go through that settlement and attachment process.

da se nastane i pričvrste na greben.

So as we speak,

Dok mi pričamo,

my colleagues in Curaçao are testing those bacteria

moje kolege u Kurasaou testiraju te bakterije

to see if they'll help us raise more coral settlers in the lab,

da bi saznali da li pomoću njih možemo uzgajati korale u laboratoriji,

and to see if those coral settlers will survive better

i da li će korali duže preživeti

when we put them back underwater.

kad ih budemo vratili u vodu.

Now in addition to these tools, we also try to uncover the mysteries

Osim što se bavimo ovim, pokušavamo da otkrijemo zagonetne

of species that are under-studied.

vrste koje nisu još istraživane.

This is one of my favorite corals, and always has been:

Ovo je za mene oduvek bio jedan od omiljenih korala:

dendrogyra cylindrus, the pillar coral.

dendrogyra cylindrus tj. stubasti koral.

I love it because it makes this ridiculous shape,

Sviđa mi jer ima ovaj smešan oblik,

because its tentacles are fat and look fuzzy

jer su mu pipci debeli i nejasni

and because it's rare.

i zato što je redak.

Finding one of these on a reef is a treat.

Uživamo kad pronađemo jedan ovakav koral.

In fact, it's so rare,

Toliko je redak

that last year it was listed as a threatened species

da se prošle godine

našao na spisku ugroženih vrsta.

on the endangered species list.

And this was in part because in over 30 years of research surveys,

To se delom desilo jer tokom 30 godina istraživanja

scientists had never found a baby pillar coral.

naučnici nisu naišli na bebu stubastog korala.

We weren't even sure if they could still reproduce,

Nismo bili sigurni da li se mogu razmnožavati

or if they were still reproducing.

i da li se i dalje razmnožavaju.

So four years ago, we started following these at night

Pre četiri godine, počeli smo da ih noću pratimo

and watching to see if we could figure out when they spawn in Curaçao.

kako bismo saznali kada se mreste u Kurasaou.

We got some good tips from our colleagues in Florida,

Dobili smo dobre savete od kolega iz Floride,

who had seen one in 2007, one in 2008,

koji su videli jedan 2007. godine, a jedan 2008. godine.

and eventually we figured out when they spawn in Curaçao

Na kraju smo saznali kada se mreste u Kurasaou

and we caught it.

i uhvatili smo ih.

Here's a female on the left with some eggs in her tissue,

S leve strane je ženka, s nekoliko jaja na tkivu

about to release them into the seawater.

koje treba da izbaci u more.

And here's a male on the right, releasing sperm.

S desne strane je mužjak, koji izbacuje spermu.

We collected this, we got it back to the lab, we got it to fertilize

Skupili smo sve to, prebacili u laboratoriju da se oplode

and we got baby pillar corals swimming in our lab.

i dobili smo bebe stubastog korala koji plivaju u laboratoriji.

Thanks to the work of our scientific aunts and uncles,

Zahvaljujući radu naučnika pre nas,

and thanks to the 10 years of practice we've had in Curaçao

i zahvaljujući desetogodišnjoj praksi u Kurasaou,

at raising other coral species,

od kad su korali počeli da se gaje,

we got some of those larvae to go through the rest of the process

dobili smo larve koje mogu da nastave proces,

and settle and attach,

nastane se, pričvrste se za greben

and turn into metamorphosed corals.

i pretvore se u metamorfozirane korale.

So this is the first pillar coral baby that anyone ever saw.

Ovu prvu larvu stubastog korala do sad još niko nije video.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

And I have to say -- if you think baby pandas are cute,

Moram da kažem, ako mislite da su bebe pande slatke,

this is cuter.

korali su još slađi.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So we're starting to figure out the secrets to this process,

Počinjemo da razumemo tajne ovog procesa,

the secrets of coral reproduction and how we might help them.

tajne razmnožavanja korala i kako možemo da im pomognemo.

And this is true all around the world;

Ovo je tačno svuda u svetu:

scientists are figuring out new ways to handle their embryos,

naučnici dolaze do novih načina kako da rade sa embrionima,

to get them to settle,

kako da ih nastane,

maybe even figuring out the methods to preserve them at low temperatures,

možda čak i kako da ih sačuvaju na niskim temperaturama

so that we can preserve their genetic diversity

da bismo mogli održati njihovu genetsku raznovrsnost

and work with them more often.

i da bismo mogli s njima češće raditi.

But this is still so low-tech.

Sve ovo i sad nije na visokom nivou.

We are limited by the space on our bench, the number of hands in the lab

Nedostaje nam mesta na našoj klupi, još ruku u laboratoriji,

and the number of coffees we can drink in any given hour.

kao i još kafe koje treba popiti svakog dana.

Now, compare that to our other crises

Uporedite to sad sa drugim krizama

and our other areas of concern as a society.

i drugim brigama u društvu.

We have advanced medical technology, we have defense technology,

Imamo razvijenu medicinsku tehnologiju, odbrambenu zaštitu,

we have scientific technology,

tehnologiju za prirodne nauke,

we even have advanced technology for art.

čak imamo i razvijenu tehnologiju za umetnost.

But our technology for conservation is behind.

Ali tehnologija za održavanje prirode zaostaje za njima.

Think back to the most difficult job you ever did.

Ponovo pomislite na najteži posao koji ste radili.

Many of you would say it was being a parent.

Mnogi od vas reći će da je to roditeljstvo.

My mother described being a parent

Moja majka opisala je roditeljstvo

as something that makes your life far more amazing and far more difficult

kao nešto što život učini mnogo lepšim ali i mnogo težim

than you could've ever possibly imagined.

od bilo čega drugog.

I've been trying to help corals become parents for over 10 years now.

Već deset godina, pokušavam da pomognem koralima da postanu roditelji.

And watching the wonder of life

Gledajući čudo života,

has certainly filled me with amazement to the core of my soul.

zadivljenost obuzima svu moju dušu.

But I've also seen how difficult it is for them to become parents.

Ali videla sam i koliko im je teško da postanu roditelji.

The pillar corals spawned again two weeks ago,

Stubasti korali mrestili su se pre dve sedmice.

and we collected their eggs and brought them back to the lab.

Skupili smo njihova jaja, i odneli ih u laboratoriju.

And here you see one embryo dividing,

I sad vidite kako se embrion razdvaja,

alongside 14 eggs that didn't fertilize

i 14 jaja koja nisu oplođena

and will blow up.

i koja će nestati.

They'll be infected with bacteria, they will explode

Bakterije će ih zaraziti, eksplodiraće

and those bacteria will threaten the life of this one embryo

i te bakterija će ugroziti život ovog jednog embriona

that has a chance.

koji ima šansu da nastavi sa životom.

We don't know if it was our handling methods that went wrong

Ne znamo da li smo pogrešili u našim metodama.

and we don't know

Ne znamo

if it was just this coral on this reef, always suffering from low fertility.

da li samo ovaj koral na ovom grebenu uvek ima problem s oplođenjem.

Whatever the cause,

Koji god da je razlog,

we have much more work to do before we can use baby corals

imamo još puno posla dok bebe korali ne budu mogli

to grow or fix or, yes, maybe save coral reefs.

da rastu i pop rave ili možda spasu koralne grebene.

So never mind that they're worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Nemojte se obazirati na to što vrede milijarde dolara.

Coral reefs are hardworking animals and plants and microbes and fungi.

Koralni grebeni su vredne životinje, biljke, mikrobi i gljive.

They're providing us with art and food and medicine.

One nam daju umetnost, hranu i lekove.

And we almost took out an entire generation of corals.

A mi smo skoro uništili celu generaciju korala.

But a few made it anyway, despite our best efforts,

Ali nekoliko je preživelo, bez obzira na naše najteže napore,

and now it's time for us to thank them for the work they did

sad je vreme da im zahvalimo na svom njihovom radu

and give them every chance they have to raise the coral reefs of the future,

i da im pružimo svaku priliku da grade koralne grebene u budućnosti,

their coral babies.

svoje larve korala.

Thank you so much.

Hvala vam mnogo.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)