Paul Snelgrove: A census of the ocean

翻译人员: Xiang Li 校对人员: wei zuo

The oceans cover some 70 percent of our planet.

海洋大约覆盖了地球表面的70%。

And I think Arthur C. Clarke probably had it right

所以，我认为亚瑟·C·克拉克的说法很有可能是对的：

when he said that perhaps we ought to call our planet

他说过或许我们应该称地球为

Planet Ocean.

“海星”。

And the oceans are hugely productive,

海洋是很富饶的。

as you can see by the satellite image

就像这些卫星图像上显示的，

of photosynthesis, the production of new life.

到处都是光合作用，也就是新生命的迹象。

In fact, the oceans produce half of the new life every day on Earth

事实上，海洋每天产生地球上一半的新生命

as well as about half the oxygen that we breathe.

以及大约半数我们呼吸的氧气。

In addition to that, it harbors a lot of the biodiversity on Earth,

此外，它孕育着地球上的生物多样性，

and much of it we don't know about.

其中很多物种我们并不知道。

But I'll tell you some of that today.

今天，我要告诉你其中的一些。

That also doesn't even get into the whole protein extraction

这甚至也不包括我们从海洋中

that we do from the ocean.

提取出的全部蛋白质。

That's about 10 percent of our global needs

那大约是全球需求的10%

and 100 percent of some island nations.

和一些岛屿国家需求的全部。

If you were to descend

如果您要把范围缩小到

into the 95 percent of the biosphere that's livable,

可生存生物圈的95%，

it would quickly become pitch black,

它将很快成为漆黑，

interrupted only by pinpoints of light

只会有来自于发光生物的

from bioluminescent organisms.

星星点点的光亮。

And if you turn the lights on,

但是如果打开灯，

you might periodically see spectacular organisms swim by,

你可能会不时看到壮观的生物群游过，

because those are the denizens of the deep,

因为那些是深海的居民，

the things that live in the deep ocean.

是生活在深海的生物。

And eventually, the deep sea floor would come into view.

最终，深海海床将映入眼帘。

This type of habitat covers more of the Earth's surface

这种类型的栖息地所覆盖的地球表面

than all other habitats combined.

比所有其它栖息地面积总和还要大。

And yet, we know more about the surface of the Moon and about Mars

然而，我们对于月球和火星表面的了解

than we do about this habitat,

要比对这种栖息地的了解更多，

despite the fact that we have yet to extract

尽管我们从那些星球上

a gram of food, a breath of oxygen or a drop of water

尚未获取过哪怕一克食物，

from those bodies.

一口氧气或一滴水。

And so 10 years ago,

十年前，

an international program began called the Census of Marine Life,

一项被称为海洋生物普查的国际项目启动了

which set out to try and improve our understanding

尝试着提高我们

of life in the global oceans.

对全球海洋生命的理解。

It involved 17 different projects around the world.

它涉及了 世界各地的17个不同的项目。

As you can see, these are the footprints of the different projects.

正如您所看到的，这些都是各个项目所留下的足迹。

And I hope you'll appreciate the level of global coverage

我希望您对海洋生物普查所力争实现的

that it managed to achieve.

全球覆盖水平感到高兴。

It all began when two scientists, Fred Grassle and Jesse Ausubel,

这一切都要从弗雷德·葛拉索和杰西 · 奥苏贝尔这两位科学家

met in Woods Hole, Massachusetts

在马萨诸塞州的伍兹霍尔的会面开始，

where both were guests at the famed oceanographic institute.

当时，两人都在当地著名的海洋研究所做客。

And Fred was lamenting the state of marine biodiversity

弗雷德感叹海洋生物多样性的状态

and the fact that it was in trouble and nothing was being done about it.

所造成的麻烦，以及当时还没有有效的解决措施。

Well, from that discussion grew this program

从那次讨论之后，这个项目开始实行。

that involved 2,700 scientists

它包含来自世界各地80多个国家

from more than 80 countries around the world

的2700名科学家

who engaged in 540 ocean expeditions

他们从事了540次海洋探险

at a combined cost of 650 million dollars

经费超过六亿五千万美元。

to study the distribution, diversity and abundance

研究了全球海洋中的生物分布

of life in the global ocean.

多样性和数量。

And so what did we find?

那么我们有什么发现呢？

We found spectacular new species,

我们发现了令人惊叹的新物种，

the most beautiful and visually stunning things everywhere we looked --

比我们看过的任何生物还要美丽惊艳--

from the shoreline to the abyss,

从海岸线到深海，

form microbes all the way up to fish and everything in between.

从微生物到鱼类，以及其间的所有物种

And the limiting step here wasn't the unknown diversity of life,

这里的限制步骤并不是那些未知的生命物种，

but rather the taxonomic specialists

而是分类学专家，

who can identify and catalog these species

那些可以对这些物种进行鉴别并归类的人

that became the limiting step.

成为了限制步骤。

They, in fact, are an endangered species themselves.

其实，他们自己才是濒危的物种。

There are actually four to five new species

海洋中每天会有

described everyday for the oceans.

四至五种新物种被发现。

And as I say, it could be a much larger number.

如我所说，数量可能会多得多。

Now, I come from Newfoundland in Canada --

我来自于加拿大的纽芬兰省

It's an island off the east coast of that continent --

它是位于东海岸上的一座岛

where we experienced one of the worst fishing disasters

在那里我们经历了人类历史上最糟糕的

in human history.

捕鱼灾难之一。

And so this photograph shows a small boy next to a codfish.

这张图片里，一个小男孩站在一条银鳕鱼旁边

It's around 1900.

大概是在1900年左右。

Now, when I was a boy of about his age,

当我跟这个小男孩差不多大的时候，

I would go out fishing with my grandfather

我常跟我爷爷出去钓鱼

and we would catch fish about half that size.

我们抓住的鱼只有这条鱼的一半大小

And I thought that was the norm,

我当时候以为鱼就该是这么大的，

because I had never seen fish like this.

因为我从来没有见过这张照片里这么大的鱼。

If you were to go out there today, 20 years after this fishery collapsed,

在渔业崩溃20年后的今天，如果你再去钓鱼

if you could catch a fish, which would be a bit of a challenge,

如果你能抓住一条鱼，这会有些困难，

it would be half that size still.

将会只是我的当时钓的鱼的一半。

So what we're experiencing is something called shifting baselines.

我们正在经历一个被称为“基准线的变动”的过程。

Our expectations of what the oceans can produce

我们所期望海洋产生的东西

is something that we don't really appreciate

并不是我们真正了解的

because we haven't seen it in our lifetimes.

因为我们这辈子都没有见过那些东西。

Now most of us, and I would say me included,

现在我们大多数人，也包括我，

think that human exploitation of the oceans

认为人类对于海洋的探索

really only became very serious

真正变得严肃起来

in the last 50 to, perhaps, 100 years or so.

也只是最近50年，或许100年的左右的事情。

The census actually tried to look back in time,

物种普查动用了所有能找到的信息资源

using every source of information they could get their hands on.

试图追溯过去的时间。

And so anything from restaurant menus

从餐馆的菜单

to monastery records to ships' logs

到修道院中船舶的日志记录所显示的信息

to see what the oceans looked like.

都用来研究海洋的模样

Because science data really goes back

因为大部分科学数据可以追溯到的

to, at best, World War II, for the most part.

最远只到第二次世界大战

And so what they found, in fact,

而他们的发现，事实上，

is that exploitation really began heavily with the Romans.

对海洋的大量探索真正是从罗马人开始的。

And so at that time, of course, there was no refrigeration.

当然，那时候还没有制冷设备。

So fishermen could only catch

所以渔民只捕捉

what they could either eat or sell that day.

当天可以吃掉或卖出的鱼量。

But the Romans developed salting.

但罗马人发明了用盐腌制的方法

And with salting,

用盐腌制，

it became possible to store fish and to transport it long distances.

使得鱼类存储，和远距离运送成为了可能。

And so began industrial fishing.

工业捕鱼便由此开始。

And so these are the sorts of extrapolations that we have

这些都是我们所推断出来的

of what sort of loss we've had

由于人类初期对海洋的影响

relative to pre-human impacts on the ocean.

现在造成我们什么样的损失

They range from 65 to 98 percent

对于这些主要生物群，

for these major groups of organisms,

损失范围从65%到98%不等，

as shown in the dark blue bars.

数据如深蓝色条形图中所示。

Now for those species the we managed to leave alone, that we protect --

对于那些我们设法不干涉，也就是对保护的那些物种 — —

for example, marine mammals in recent years and sea birds --

例如，近几年的海洋哺乳动特以及海鸟— —

there is some recovery.

他们有一定的恢复。

So it's not all hopeless.

所以也并不完全无法挽回的。

But for the most part, we've gone from salting to exhausting.

但大多数情况下，我们从用盐到现在已用尽了。

Now this other line of evidence is a really interesting one.

然而，这另外一行证据十分有趣。

It's from trophy fish caught off the coast of Florida.

这是从佛罗里达海岸捕捉到的冠军鱼

And so this is a photograph from the 1950s.

是20世纪50年代的照片。

I want you to notice the scale on the slide,

请各位留意幻灯片中鱼的大小

because when you see the same picture from the 1980s,

因为当看到一张上世纪 80 年代的同样的照片时

we see the fish are much smaller

我们看到鱼的尺寸要小得多

and we're also seeing a change

我们也看到了变化冠军鱼的组成

in terms of the composition of those fish.

也产生了变化。

By 2007, the catch was actually laughable

到2007 年，这些渔获的大小

in terms of the size for a trophy fish.

已经小的可笑了。

But this is no laughing matter.

但这并不是什么好笑的事。

The oceans have lost a lot of their productivity

海洋失去了很多他们的生产力

and we're responsible for it.

而我们得对此负责。

So what's left? Actually quite a lot.

那么还剩下什么？其实还有很多。

There's a lot of exciting things, and I'm going to tell you a little bit about them.

还有有很多令人兴奋的事情，我要和大家聊一些。

And I want to start with a bit on technology,

我想就从技术方面开始吧，

because, of course, this is a TED Conference

因为这是TED大会

and you want to hear something on technology.

你们自然想听到一些技术上的东西。

So one of the tools that we use to sample the deep ocean

我们用来进行深海采集的一种工具

are remotely operated vehicles.

叫作远程操作车。

So these are tethered vehicles we lower down to the sea floor

所以我们把这些栓绳的机车降到海床

where they're our eyes and our hands for working on the sea bottom.

他们就是我们在海底工作的眼和手。

So a couple of years ago, I was supposed to go on an oceanographic cruise

几年前，我本应该参加一次海洋研究远航

and I couldn't go because of a scheduling conflict.

因为和日程冲突我不能前往

But through a satellite link I was able to sit at my study at home

但是通过卫星链接我可以坐在家里进行研究

with my dog curled up at my feet, a cup of tea in my hand,

脚边趴着我的狗，手里捧着一杯茶，

and I could tell the pilot, "I want a sample right there."

我告诉驾驶员，"我要那里的样本"。

And that's exactly what the pilot did for me.

驾驶员也按我所说的帮我采回了样本。

That's the sort of technology that's available today

这是现在才有的技术

that really wasn't available even a decade ago.

甚至十年前都还没有。

So it allows us to sample these amazing habitats

它允许我们对这神奇的

that are very far from the surface

远离海岸和光源的

and very far from light.

栖息环境进行取样。

And so one of the tools that we can use to sample the oceans

我们用来对海洋进行取样的其中一种工具

is acoustics, or sound waves.

就是声音，或者说声波。

And the advantage of sound waves

声波的优势是

is that they actually pass well through water, unlike light.

与光不同，它们可以顺利地穿过水

And so we can send out sound waves,

因此，我们可以发出的声波，

they bounce off objects like fish and are reflected back.

他们碰到上鱼或是其它物体时会反弹回来。

And so in this example, a census scientist took out two ships.

在这个例子里，一名物种普查科学家开出两艘船。

One would send out sound waves that would bounce back.

其中一艘发出声波并反弹。

They would be received by a second ship,

这些声波会被第二艘船接收，

and that would give us very precise estimates, in this case,

这种情况下，我们能够精确地估计

of 250 billion herring

在大约一分钟的时间里

in a period of about a minute.

有2500亿鲱鱼经过

And that's an area about the size of Manhattan Island.

面积大约有一个曼哈顿岛那么大。

And to be able to do that is a tremendous fisheries tool,

这样的工具对渔业十分有用，

because knowing how many fish are there is really critical.

因为知道多少条鱼是十分重要的。

We can also use satellite tags

我们还可以使用卫星标签

to track animals as they move through the oceans.

来追踪动物在海洋中的活动。

And so for animals that come to the surface to breathe,

对于浮到海洋表面呼吸的动物来说，

such as this elephant seal,

比如这只海象

it's an opportunity to send data back to shore

它能将数据发送回岸上

and tell us where exactly it is in the ocean.

并且告诉我们它在海里的具体位置

And so from that we can produce these tracks.

由此我们可以产生这些轨迹

For example, the dark blue

比如，深蓝色的轨迹

shows you where the elephant seal moved in the north Pacific.

显示了这只海象在北太平泮的移动路线

Now I realize for those of you who are colorblind, this slide is not very helpful,

我知道，对于色盲的人来说，这个幻灯片好像没什么用

but stick with me nonetheless.

但请还是继续听我讲下去

For animals that don't surface,

对于那些不浮上海洋表面的动物来说

we have something called pop-up tags,

我们有一种叫作”弹出式标签“的工具，

which collect data about light and what time the sun rises and sets.

它们收集光线的数据，何时日出，何时日落

And then at some period of time

然后在某一段时间

it pops up to the surface and, again, relays that data back to shore.

它会弹出到表面，转送数据回岸。

Because GPS doesn't work under water. That's why we need these tools.

因为GPS在水下无法工作，所以我们需要这些工具。

And so from this we're able to identify these blue highways,

由此，我们能辨别出这些蓝色高速公路，

these hot spots in the ocean,

辨别出这些海洋中的热点，

that should be real priority areas

它们应该成为海洋保护工作中

for ocean conservation.

优先保护区域。

Now one of the other things that you may think about

另外一件你们可能在想的事情是

is that, when you go to the supermarket and you buy things, they're scanned.

你去超市买东西，货物会被扫描。

And so there's a barcode on that product

所以货物上会有条形码

that tells the computer exactly what the product is.

告诉电脑这是什么货物

Geneticists have developed a similar tool called genetic barcoding.

遗传学家发明了一个称为遗传条形码的类似工具。

And what barcoding does

条形码的工作原理是

is use a specific gene called CO1

使用一个称为CO1的特定的基因

that's consistent within a species, but varies among species.

这种基因在同一个物种中是一致的，但在不同物种之间各不相同。

And so what that means is we can unambiguously identify

这就意味着我们可以明确标识

which species are which

不同的物种

even if they look similar to each other,

即使他们彼此看起来很像

but may be biologically quite different.

但在生物学上却有很大不同

Now one of the nicest examples I like to cite on this

用一个我最喜欢的例子来说

is the story of two young women, high school students in New York City,

两个纽约市的高中女生

who worked with the census.

她们参加了物种普查项目。

They went out and collected fish from markets and from restaurants in New York City

她们从纽约市的市场上和餐馆里收集鱼

and they barcoded it.

并且用条形码识别它们

Well what they found was mislabeled fish.

她们发现了被错误标签的鱼

So for example,

比如，

they found something which was sold as tuna, which is very valuable,

她们发现有被当作非常值钱的金枪鱼来卖的鱼

was in fact tilapia, which is a much less valuable fish.

实际上是些不怎么值钱的罗非鱼

They also found an endangered species

他们还发现了被当作普通鱼类出售的

sold as a common one.

一种濒危的物种

So barcoding allows us to know what we're working with

所以条形码使我们了解我们在研究

and also what we're eating.

和在吃的鱼的物种

The Ocean Biogeographic Information System

海洋生物地理信息系统

is the database for all the census data.

是所有物种普查数据的数据库。

It's open access; you can all go in and download data as you wish.

它是开放的；你们都可以进去下载你们想要的的数据

And it contains all the data from the census

它包含了物种普查获得的所有数据

plus other data sets that people were willing to contribute.

还有其他人自主提供的数据集。

And so what you can do with that

那么你们能做的是

is to plot the distribution of species and where they occur in the oceans.

绘制物种及其在海洋中的分布图

What I've plotted up here is the data that we have on hand.

我在这里绘制的是我们手头已有的数据

This is where our sampling effort has concentrated.

这是我们集中进行取样工作的地方。

Now what you can see

各位可以看到

is we've sampled the area in the North Atlantic,

我们的取样工作在北大西洋

in the North Sea in particular,

具体说是在北海，

and also the east coast of North America fairly well.

以及北美东海岸已经进行得挺不错

That's the warm colors which show a well-sampled region.

暧色区显示的便是取样较好的地区

The cold colors, the blue and the black,

冷色区，即蓝色和黑色区域

show areas where we have almost no data.

则是我们有几乎没有数据采集的区域。

So even after a 10-year census,

所以即使在长达10年的物种普查之后，

there are large areas that still remain unexplored.

仍有很大一片区域尚待探索

Now there are a group of scientists living in Texas, working in the Gulf of Mexico

一群居住在德克萨斯州的科学家在墨西哥湾工作

who decided really as a labor of love

他们决定做一项爱心工程

to pull together all the knowledge they could

把他们能找到的所有的关于墨西哥湾的

about biodiversity in the Gulf of Mexico.

生物多样性的知识聚集到一块

And so they put this together, a list of all the species,

他们聚集知识，列了一张物种表单

where they're known to occur,

上面列有所知存在的物种

and it really seemed like a very esoteric, scientific type of exercise.

这看起来确实像一个十分深奥的科学活动。

But then, of course, there was the Deep Horizon oil spill.

之后，发生了深水地平线钻井台漏油事件。

So all of a sudden, this labor of love

因此，突然间这个爱心工程

for no obvious economic reason

在没有仍何明显的经济原因的情况下

has become a critical piece of information

成为了该系统将如何恢复，

in terms of how that system is going to recover, how long it will take

将需时多久

and how the lawsuits

以及法律诉讼和未来几年中将发生的

and the multi-billion-dollar discussions that are going to happen in the coming years

数十亿美元的讨论将如何得到解决

are likely to be resolved.

这些问题的关键信息。

So what did we find?

那么我们有什么发现？

Well, I could stand here for hours, but, of course, I'm not allowed to do that.

我可以站在这说上几个小时，但是显然，我不能这样做。

But I will tell you some of my favorite discoveries

但我会告诉你物种普查中

from the census.

一些我最喜欢的发现

So one of the things we discovered is where are the hot spots of diversity?

我们发现的事情之一是多样性的热点在哪里？

Where do we find the most species of ocean life?

哪里是能找到海洋生物最多的地方？

And what we find if we plot up the well-known species

以及如果我们这样绘制著名物种的分布

is this sort of a distribution.

我们会发现什么。

And what we see is that for coastal tags,

我们看到的是，对于沿海的标签，

for those organisms that live near the shoreline,

也就是那些生活在海岸线附近的生物，

they're most diverse in the tropics.

他们在热带地区是最多样化的。

This is something we've actually known for a while,

这是我们已经熟知的事实

so it's not a real breakthrough.

所以它不算一个真正的突破。

What is really exciting though

那么真正令人兴奋的是

is that the oceanic tags, or the ones that live far from the coast,

海洋标签，或者说是那些生活在远离海岸的生物

are actually more diverse at intermediate latitudes.

在中纬度地区其实更加多样化。

This is the sort of data, again, that managers could use

再一次,管理者可以利用用这些数据

if they want to prioritize areas of the ocean that we need to conserve.

如果他们要考虑优先保护哪块海域的话

You can do this on a global scale, but you can also do it on a regional scale.

这可以在全球范围内进行，也可以在某地区范围内进行。

And that's why biodiversity data can be so valuable.

这就是为什么生物多样性数据如此宝贵的原因。

Now while a lot of the species we discovered in the census

虽然我们在普查中发现的很多物种

are things that are small and hard to see,

都很小，很难看到

that certainly wasn't always the case.

但并不是总是这样。

For example, while it's hard to believe

比如，尽管难以置信，

that a three kilogram lobster could elude scientists,

一只三公斤重的大龙虾可以逃过的科学家的眼睛，

it did until a few years ago

但事实上，直到几年前，

when South African fishermen requested an export permit

当时南非渔民要求获得出口许可证时

and scientists realized that this was something new to science.

科学家们才发现这个新物种。

Similarly this Golden V kelp

同样，这只金色V形海带

collected in Alaska just below the low water mark

在阿拉斯加低水位线的下方被发现

is probably a new species.

可能是一个新的物种。

Even though it's three meters long,

即使它身长三米，

it actually, again, eluded science.

它确实，再一次，逃过了科学家的眼睛。

Now this guy, this bigfin squid, is seven meters in length.

这个家伙，莱氏拟乌贼，身长七米

But to be fair, it lives in the deep waters of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge,

老实讲，它生活在中大西洋海岭的深海

so it was a lot harder to find.

所以它就更难被发现了。

But there's still potential for discovery of big and exciting things.

但发现大型并且令人兴奋的生物仍是有可能的。

This particular shrimp, we've dubbed it the Jurassic shrimp,

这种特别的虾，我们把它称为侏罗纪虾，

it's thought to have gone extinct 50 years ago --

它一直被认为在50年前就已经灭绝了

at least it was, until the census discovered

直到普查被发现，

it was living and doing just fine off the coast of Australia.

它在澳大利亚海岸一直生活得好好的。

And it shows that the ocean, because of its vastness,

这也显示了，海洋的浩瀚

can hide secrets for a very long time.

使其可以长时间的隐藏秘密。

So, Steven Spielberg, eat your heart out.

所以，史蒂文 · 斯皮尔伯格，我让你难过了。

If we look at distributions, in fact distributions change dramatically.

如果我们看一下这些分部，我们就会发现这些分部产生了惊人的变化

And so one of the records that we had

我们手头的一项记录显示

was this sooty shearwater, which undergoes these spectacular migrations

这种灰鹱经历了状观的迁徙

all the way from New Zealand

从新西兰

all the way up to Alaska and back again

一路北上直到阿拉斯加，再返回

in search of endless summer

如此追寻无尽的炎夏

as they complete their life cycles.

以完成它们的生命周期。

We also talked about the White Shark Cafe.

我们还谈到了大白鲨咖啡馆地区

This is a location in the Pacific where white shark converge.

它位于太平洋中，是大白鲨聚集的地方。

We don't know why they converge there, we simply don't know.

我们不知道为什么它们会聚集在那，我们真是不知道。

That's a question for the future.

这是留给未来的问题。

One of the things that we're taught in high school

我们在高中学到的知识之一就是

is that all animals require oxygen in order to survive.

所有动物都需要氧气，以求生存。

Now this little critter, it's only about half a millimeter in size,

现在这个小的生物，它只有大约半毫米的大小，

not terribly charismatic.

不是非常有魅力。

But it was only discovered in the early 1980s.

但是，它却直到八十年代初期才被发现。

But the really interesting thing about it

有趣的是

is that, a few years ago, census scientists discovered

几年前，物种普查科学家发现

that this guy can thrive in oxygen-poor sediments

这家伙能够在地中海深处的

in the deep Mediterranean Sea.

氧气贫乏的沉积物中茁壮成长

So now they know that, in fact,

所以现在他们知道了，事实上，

animals can live without oxygen, at least some of them,

动物可以不依靠氧气生存，至少某一些动物可以，

and that they can adapt to even the harshest of conditions.

而且它们甚至能够适应最恶劣的生存条件。

If you were to suck all the water out of the ocean,

如果你把海洋中所有的水都吸干，

this is what you'd be left behind with,

这就是所剩下的东西

and that's the biomass of life on the sea floor.

这是海床上的生物量

Now what we see is huge biomass towards the poles

现在我们看到的是趋向南北两极的巨大生物量

and not much biomass in between.

两级之间生物量却很少

We found life in the extremes.

我们在极端环境中发生了生命

And so there were new species that were found

我们发现了生活在冰里的

that live inside ice

新物种

and help to support an ice-based food web.

它们称为以冰为基底的食物网的一部分

And we also found this spectacular yeti crab

我们还发现了这种漂亮的雪蟹

that lives near boiling hot hydrothermal vents at Easter Island.

它们栖息于复活节岛沸腾的深海热泉喷口附近

And this particular species

这个特别的物种

really captured the public's attention.

引起了公众的热切的关注。

We also found the deepest vents known yet -- 5,000 meters --

我们也发现了深度5000米的最深喷口

the hottest vents at 407 degrees Celsius --

温度高达407摄氏度的最热喷口

vents in the South Pacific and also in the Arctic

我们还在南太平洋及北极地区找到了喷口

where none had been found before.

这些地区之前都没有被发现。

So even new environments are still within the domain of the discoverable.

甚至那些仍可被探究的新环境也是如此

Now in terms of the unknowns, there are many.

现在未知的物种很多。

And I'm just going to summarize just a few of them

我仅仅快速的

very quickly for you.

总结其中几个给你们听。

First of all, we might ask, how many fishes in the sea?

首先，我们可能会问，海洋中多少种鱼类？

We actually know the fishes better than we do any other group in the ocean

除那海洋哺乳动物之外，比其海洋中的其它物种，

other than marine mammals.

我们确实对鱼类更为了解。

And so we can actually extrapolate based on rates of discovery

所以我们可以现有的发现率来推断

how many more species we're likely to discover.

我们还会发现多少其它的物种

And from that, we actually calculate

由此，经过计算

that we know about 16,500 marine species

我们所知海洋物种大约有16500种

and there are probably another 1,000 to 4,000 left to go.

而可能还有1000到4000种未知。

So we've done pretty well.

所以我们做得很不错。

We've got about 75 percent of the fish,

我们了解了75%的鱼类，

maybe as much as 90 percent.

也许高达 90%。

But the fishes, as I say, are the best known.

但正如我所说，鱼类是我们最了解的，

So our level of knowledge is much less for other groups of organisms.

所以对其它生物群的了解就少得多

Now this figure is actually based on a brand new paper

这组数据是从即将刊登于

that's going to come out in the journal PLoS Biology.

《公共科学图书馆•生物学》上新的文章种获得的

And what is does is predict how many more species there are

这组数据预测了在陆地和海洋中

on land and in the ocean.

还有多少未知物种

And what they found

发现成果是

is that they think that we know of about nine percent of the species in the ocean.

他们认为我们所知的海洋物种只占全部的9%。

That means 91 percent, even after the census,

这意味着即使在物种普查之后仍有91%的物种

still remain to be discovered.

尚待发现。

And so that turns out to be about two million species

如果真是这样的话

once all is said and done.

大概还有200万种未知物种

So we still have quite a lot of work to do

所以对于这些未知物种来说，

in terms of unknowns.

我们还有很多工作要做

Now this bacterium

这种细菌

is part of mats that are found off the coast of Chile.

是在智利海岸找到的生物垫的一部分。

And these mats actually cover an area the size of Greece.

这些生物垫实际上覆盖的区域面积有整个希腊那么大

And so this particular bacterium is actually visible to the naked eye.

这种特别的细菌是肉眼可见的。

But you can imagine the biomass that represents.

你可以想象这所代表的生物量。

But the really intriguing thing about the microbes

但真正吸引人的，是微生物

is just how diverse they are.

的多样性

A single drop of seawater

一滴海水

could contain 160 different types of microbes.

可能包含160种不同类型的微生物。

And the oceans themselves

而海洋本身

are thought potentially to contain as many as a billion different types.

被认为可能包含多达10亿的不同类型的微生物。

So that's really exciting. What are they all doing out there?

这才是真正令人兴奋的。他们都在那里干什么呢？

We actually don't know.

这个我们就不得而知了。

The most exciting thing, I would say, about this census

我想说，关于这次物种普查最令人兴奋的事情

is the role of global science.

是全球科学所起到的作用。

And so as we see in this image of light during the night,

该图是晚上的光亮图，正如我们所见

there are lots of areas of the Earth

地球上有很多地区的

where human development is much greater

人类发展远比

and other areas where it's much less,

其它地区要好得多

but between them we see large dark areas

但在它们之间，我们能看到大片的黑暗区域

of relatively unexplored ocean.

即相对之下未被探究的海洋

The other point I'd like to make about this

我想说的另一点是

is that this ocean's interconnected.

海洋是相互连通的

Marine organisms do not care about international boundaries;

海洋生物并不关心什么国际边界

they move where they will.

它们想去哪就去哪

And so the importance then of global collaboration

所以国际协作

becomes all the more important.

就变得更加重要。

We've lost a lot of paradise.

我们已经失去了许多的天堂般的地方。

For example, these tuna that were once so abundant in the North Sea

例如，这些金枪鱼曾经在北海海域是如此丰富

are now effectively gone.

而现在数量已明显减少

There were trawls taken in the deep sea in the Mediterranean,

地中海深海置有捕鱼网

which collected more garbage than they did animals.

它们捕到的垃圾远比动物要多

And that's the deep sea, that's the environment that we consider to be

那里是深海，是我们认为

among the most pristine left on Earth.

地球上所遗存的最原始的环境。

And there are a lot of other pressures.

另外还有很多其它的困扰。

Ocean acidification is a really big issue that people are concerned with,

海洋酸化是人们所关心的一个大问题

as well as ocean warming, and the effects they're going to have on coral reefs.

同样，海洋变暖以及将对珊瑚礁造成的影响问题也很严峻。

On the scale of decades, in our lifetimes,

未来几十年，在我们的有生之年里

we're going to see a lot of damage to coral reefs.

我们将看到珊瑚礁被大量损坏

And I could spend the rest of my time, which is getting very limited,

我可以花接下来所剩不多的时间

going through this litany of concerns about the ocean,

唠叨唠叨海洋保护的事情

but I want to end on a more positive note.

但我想以一种积极的方式来结束

And so the grand challenge then

我们面临最大的挑战

is to try and make sure that we preserve what's left,

是努力保护我们所剩下的东西

because there is still spectacular beauty.

因为他们仍然美丽得令人叹为观止。

And the oceans are so productive,

海洋也依旧富饶

there's so much going on in there that's of relevance to humans

那里发生着太多与人类息息相关的事情

that we really need to, even from a selfish perspective,

即使从自私的角度来说，我们也真的需要

try to do better than we have in the past.

努力做得比过去更好

So we need to recognize those hot spots

所以，我们需要认识到这些热点

and do our best to protect them.

并尽最大努力来保护他们。

When we look at pictures like this, they take our breath away,

我们看到的这张照片，它美得令人无法呼吸，

in addition to helping to give us breath

此外，海洋还给我们提供了

by the oxygen that the oceans provide.

呼吸所需要的氧气。

Census scientists worked in the rain, they worked in the cold,

参加物种普查的科学家们在雨中工作，在严寒中工作

they worked under water and they worked above water

他们在水下工作，也在水上工作

trying to illuminate the wondrous discovery,

他们试图发现这些神奇的生物，

the still vast unknown,

探索浩瀚的未知世界，

the spectacular adaptations that we see in ocean life.

以及发现海洋生活中令人叹为观止的适应能力。

So whether you're a yak herder living in the mountains of Chile,

因此，无论您是住在智利山区的牦牛牧民，

whether you're a stockbroker in New York City

或是纽约市的股票经纪人，

or whether you're a TEDster living in Edinburgh,

还是生活在爱丁堡的TED工作者，

the oceans matter.

海洋对每个人都极为重要

And as the oceans go so shall we.

我们与海洋同在

Thanks for listening.

感谢您的倾听。

(Applause)

（掌声）