Could fish social networks help us save coral reefs? | Mike Gil

翻译人员: Wanqiao Zou 校对人员: Guangsen Xu

Who here is fascinated by life under the sea?

在座的各位有多少人 对海洋生物感兴趣呢？

Fantastic.

很好。

Now, what did we just do?

我们都做过什么相关的事情呢？

Let's dissect this for a second.

让我们快速的剖析一下这件事。

The simple action of an individual raising a hand

简单的举动——一个人举起了手

会带领许多人跟着一起举手。

led many others to do the same.

Now, it's true that when individuals in a social network

可以确定的是在同一社交网络

have common priorities,

有共同偏好的人们

it's often beneficial to copy one another.

会更倾向于去复制别人的行为。

Think back to grade school and dressing like the cool kids made you "cool."

回想下小学时模仿学校酷哥的打扮 使你也看起来很酷。

But copying behavior is also common in wild animals.

但跟风行为也普遍存在于野生动物之中。

For example, some birds copy the alarm calls of other birds

例如（发生险情时）许多鸟儿 会跟着别的鸟儿一起报警

to spread information about approaching predators.

来传递关于靠近的捕食者的信息。

But could copying behavior in wild animals

但是存在于野生动物之间的 这种跟风行为

affect entire ecosystems that we humans depend on?

会影响人类所依赖的 整个生态系统吗？

我在研究珊瑚礁的时候想到了这个问题，

I was led to this question while studying coral reefs,

which support millions of people through fisheries and tourism

珊瑚礁在非洲以及世界其他地方

为数以百万计从事渔业和 旅游业的人提供了生计。

here in Africa and around the world.

But coral reefs depend on fish

但是珊瑚礁的生存

依赖鱼类吃海藻这一特殊工作。

that perform a critical job by eating algae.

Because if left unchecked,

因为如果海藻的生长没有得到控制，

these algae can kill coral and take over entire coral reefs,

珊瑚礁将被它们杀死并完全取代，

a costly change that is difficult or impossible to reverse.

这种变化很难甚至不可逆转，代价高昂。

So to understand how fish may prevent this,

所以为了了解鱼群如何预防这种变化，

在它们吃海藻的时候，

I spy on them

while they're eating algae,

我“监视”了它们，

which can be difficult for them to do

尽管对于它们来说

in open parts of the reef exposed to predators,

在一个珊瑚礁对捕食者 开放的环境下这很难，

不过在一些很偶然的情况下，

some of which, on rare occasion,

appear to realize I'm watching them.

它们会发现我在暗中观察。

(Laughter)

（笑）

So clearly, clearly, for reef fish,

所以显而易见，对珊瑚鱼来说，

dining out can be scary.

外出就餐可能会是相当可怕的。

But I wanted to understand how these fish do their job

但是我想弄明白这些鱼 是如何在如此危险的情况下

in risky situations.

完成这项工作的。

So my colleagues and I put massive video camera stands

所以我和同事们 把海量视频摄像机

in a coral reef

放到珊瑚礁上，

to remotely monitor entire feeding grounds

去远程监控整个进食区，

那里有很多海藻

that produce a lot of algae

but are exposed to predators.

但却是暴露给捕食者的。

And this perspective from above

这个俯视的视角

shows us the feeding behavior and precise movements

向我们展示了不同鱼类的

of many different fish,

捕食行为和精确活动，

shown here with colored dots.

用这些彩色的点表示。

通过分析数以千计的

And by analyzing thousands of fish movements

to and from feeding grounds,

往来于食物区的鱼类活动，

we discovered a pattern.

我们发现了一个规律。

These fish, despite being from different species

这些鱼尽管种类不同，

and not swimming in schools,

而且不是在成群游泳，

在互相学习对方的行为，

were copying one another,

such that one fish entering these dangerous feeding grounds

就比如说一条鱼进入这些危险的食物区

could lead many others to do the same.

可能会导致其他鱼跟风做同样的事情。

And fish stayed for longer and ate more algae

并且当鱼的周围 有更多觅食的鱼的时候，

when they were surrounded by more feeding fish.

它们在食物区就待得越久， 吃的海藻也越多。

Now, this could be happening

这个现象正在发生着，

because even simple movements by individual fish

因为即使是单个鱼类的简单动作

can inadvertently communicate vital information.

也会在无意中传递重要信息。

For example, if even one fish sees a predator and flees,

例如，假设有一条鱼 看到捕食者及正在逃跑的鱼，

this can alert many others to danger.

这会提醒其他鱼注意安全。

And a fish safely entering feeding grounds can show others that the coast is clear.

当一条鱼进入食物区， 其他鱼就会认为那里是安全的。

So it turns out that even when these fish are different species,

结果证明，即使是不同种类的鱼

they are connected within social networks

也可以通过社交网络交流，

which can provide information on when it's safe to eat.

这样他们就知道何时进食是安全的。

And our analyses indicate that fish simply copying other fish in their social network

另外我们的分析表明， 鱼通过复制社交网络中其他鱼的行为，

could account for over 60 percent of the algae eaten by the fish community,

可以使超过60%的海藻被鱼群吃掉，

and thus could be critical to the flow of energy and resources

因此，这对通过珊瑚礁生态系统的

through coral reef ecosystems.

能量和资源的流动是至关重要的。

But these findings also suggest that overfishing,

但是这些发现也表明过度捕鱼，

a common problem in coral reefs,

这个对于珊瑚礁来说很常见的问题，

not only removes fish,

不仅可以减少鱼的数量，

but it could break up the social network of remaining fish,

也会打破剩下的鱼之间的社交网络，

which may hide more and eat less algae

这也会导致更多的鱼 躲藏起来并吃掉更少的海藻，

because they're missing critical information.

因为它们缺失了重要的信息。

And this would make coral reefs more vulnerable than we currently predict.

这就会导致珊瑚礁受到的威胁 比我们以往预计的要大。

所以不难看出，鱼群的交流网络

So remarkably, fish social networks

allow the actions of one to spread to many

能够使一条鱼的行为传播给许多鱼，

and could affect entire coral reefs,

并且影响到整个珊瑚礁，

which feed millions of us

这些珊瑚礁哺育了数量庞大的人口，

and support the global economy

并且支撑着

for all of us.

全球经济。

Now, our discovery points us towards better ways

我们的发现指引我们以更好的

to sustainably manage coral reefs,

可持续的方式管理珊瑚礁，

but it also shows us,

同时也向我们揭示了

we humans are not just affected by the actions of other humans,

我们人类不只被其他人类的行为所影响，

but we could be affected by the actions of individual fish

我们也可能被身处遥远海洋中的

鱼在珊瑚丛中

on a distant coral reef

through their simple copying behavior.

简单的复制行为所影响。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）