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

翻译人员: TIANYU WANG 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

What was the most difficult job you ever did?

你曾经做过的最难的工作是什么？

Was it working in the sun?

是曾在大太阳底下工作？

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

是给家庭或者整个社区提供餐饮？

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

是要昼夜不分地保护生命和财产？

Was it working alone

是你曾独自一人工作？

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

还是你在一个前途未卜的项目中，

but that might improve human health or save a life?

但却可以改善人类健康或者救死扶伤？

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

这份工作是不是去建造，去创新， 打造一个艺术作品？

Was it work for which you were never sure

这份工作是不是让你觉得

you were fully understood or appreciated?

不确定自己是否会被人们所理解和感激？

The people in our communities who do these jobs

那些在我们社会里， 正做着上述工作的人们，

deserve our attention, our love and our deepest support.

理应受到我们的关注， 关爱和切实的支持。

But people aren't the only ones in our communities

但是人类并不是我们社会里唯一

who do these difficult jobs.

从事困难工作的群体。

These jobs are also done by the plants, the animals

还有很多其他工作是植物，动物和

and the ecosystems on our planet,

地球上生态系统在做的。

including the ecosystems I study: the tropical coral reefs.

这之中的生态系统就包括了 我所研究的：热带珊瑚礁。

Coral reefs are farmers.

珊瑚礁是辛勤的农民。

They provide food, income and food security

它们提供食物，收入和食物安全性

for hundreds of millions of people around the world.

给全世界数亿的人们。

Coral reefs are security guards.

珊瑚礁是安全卫士。

The structures that they build protect our shorelines

它们打造的结构保护了我们的海岸线

from storm surge and waves,

不受风暴潮和海浪的侵袭，

and the biological systems that they house filter the water

而且这种生态系统能过滤海水，

and make it safer for us to work and play.

让我们能安全地在水里工作和玩耍。

Coral reefs are chemists.

珊瑚礁是药剂师。

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

珊瑚礁上发现的分子对研究新的抗生素和

in the search for new antibiotics and new cancer drugs.

癌症治疗药物非常重要。

And coral reefs are artists.

珊瑚礁还是艺术家。

The structures that they build

它们创造的这种结构

是地球上最漂亮的景致之一。

are some of the most beautiful things on planet Earth.

And this beauty is the foundation of the tourism industry

这种美丽是旅游业的基础，

in many countries with few or little other natural resources.

特别是对于很多没有 其他自然资源的国家来说。

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

那么针对这么多有利的原因 和生态系统的服务，

economists estimate the value of the world's coral reefs

经济学家估算了这种珊瑚礁的价值，

in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year.

可以达到几千亿，每年。

And yet despite all that hard work being done for us

尽管珊瑚礁为我们做了 所有这些艰辛的工作，

and all that wealth that we gain,

尽管我们获得了所有的财富，

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

我们却已经几乎 不遗余力地破坏了它们。

We have taken the fish out of the oceans

我们从海洋里获取鱼类，

and we have added in fertilizer, sewage,

与此同时，我们加入了肥料和废水，

diseases, oil, pollution, sediments.

以及疾病，石油，污染物，还有沉积物。

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

我们的船舶，船舵和推土机 已经践踏了珊瑚礁，

and we have changed the chemistry of the entire sea,

我们已经改变了整个海洋的化学结构，

导致海水温度升高，风暴变得更加猛烈。

warmed the waters and made storms worse.

And these would all be bad on their own,

这其中的每一项本身就是有害的，

but these threats magnify each other

而它们还会相互作用，彼此强化，

and compound one another and make each other worse.

让各个因素的负面效果愈演愈烈。

I'll give you an example.

我给你们举个例子。

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

Curaçao是我生活工作的地方， 这里几年前被一个热带风暴侵袭过。

And on the eastern end of the island,

在岛的最东端，

where the reefs are intact and thriving,

珊瑚们保存完好，生长得很繁茂，

you could barely tell a tropical storm had passed.

你很难相信一个 热带风暴潮刚刚经过这里。

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

但是在城镇中心，那里的珊瑚 早已死于过度捕鱼和污染，

the tropical storm picked up the dead corals

热带风暴潮夹带起死去的珊瑚，

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

用它们撞击并消灭了其他活着的珊瑚。

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

这是一种我在读博士期间 研究过的珊瑚，

I got to know it quite well.

我很了解它。

And after this storm took off half of its tissue,

在风暴潮过后，它只剩了半边组织，

it became infested with algae,

它开始被海藻侵蚀，

the algae overgrew the tissue and that coral died.

海藻在珊瑚身上过度生长， 然后珊瑚就死了。

This magnification of threats, this compounding of factors

这样的巨大威胁，这种混合因素，

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

正是 Jeremy Jackson描述的那样 "滑向烂泥深渊的斜坡。"

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

这可能都不是只是个隐喻了， 因为很多礁石都是由

are literally bacteria and algae and slime.

细菌，海草和烂泥组成的了。

Now, this is the part of the talk

现在你们可能觉得

where you may expect me to launch into my plea

我马上就要开始提出关于

for us to all save the coral reefs.

保护珊瑚礁的倡议了。

But I have a confession to make:

但是我必须要承认：

that phrase drives me nuts.

保护珊瑚礁这词让我很受不了。

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

无论我在微博，报纸头条，

or the glossy pages of a conservation brochure,

或是设计精美的环保宣传册上看到，

that phrase bothers me,

那些辞藻都让我觉得很反感，

because we as conservationists have been sounding the alarms

因为我们这些自然环境保护者几十年来 一直在散播

about the death of coral reefs for decades.

关于珊瑚礁死亡的警告。

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

但是现在，几乎我遇到的所有人， 无论他们受教育程度如何，

居然都不知道什么是珊瑚， 或不知道它们从哪里来。

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

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

那么我们要如何让人们来关心 世界上的珊瑚礁呢？

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

对大众来说它们只是抽象的词汇， 又怎么会被人们所了解呢？

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

如果大众不知道珊瑚是什么， 从何而来，

or how funny or interesting or beautiful it is,

或者它们多么有意思， 亦或不知道它们有多美丽，

why would we expect them to care about saving them?

那为什么我们要期待大众去 保护它们呢？

So let's change that.

那么，我们要改变一下现状了。

What is a coral and where does it come from?

什么是珊瑚，它们从哪来？

Corals are born in a number of different ways,

珊瑚可以通过很多种方式诞生，

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

但通常是通过大量产卵： 所有这些同一类的珊瑚虫个体

on one night a year,

在每年的一个晚上，

releasing all the eggs they've made that year

释放它们当年产的所有卵

into the water column,

到水柱中去，

packaged into bundles with sperm cells.

并和精子细胞打包在一起。

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

那些卵包到了海面，散开。

之后在海面上，咱们只能是希望，

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

they meet the eggs and sperm from other corals.

它们可能遇到了 其他珊瑚虫的卵子和精子。

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

而这就是为什么一个珊瑚礁上 需要大量的珊瑚虫——

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

这样它们所有的卵 才能在海面上找到精子。

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

当这些卵受精后， 它们就像其他动物的卵一样：

divides in half again and again and again.

一遍又一遍地分裂。

Taking these photos under the microscope every year

在显微镜下拍到这些照片，

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

成为了我每年最喜欢的， 最神奇的时刻之一。

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

在所有这些细胞分裂结束后， 它们变成了游动的幼虫——

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

小小的一团， 肥的像个罂粟种子，

but with all of the sensory systems that we have.

但已经具备我们人类 所有的感觉系统了。

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

它们可以感知颜色和光， 材质，化学物质和酸碱值。

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

它们甚至可以感觉到压力波； 可以听到声音。

And they use those talents

而且它们可以用这些天份，

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

去寻找珊瑚礁的底端附着上去，

and live the rest of their lives.

并在珊瑚礁上度过它们的余生。

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

那么想像下找到一个地方 去度过你们的余生，

when you were just two days old.

而当时你只诞生了两天。

They attach in the place they find most suitable,

它们附着在它们觉得最适合的地方，

they build a skeleton underneath themselves,

在自己身体下面创造支架，

they build a mouth and tentacles,

一起建造一张嘴和很多触手，

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

然后就开始了艰难的工作， 去建造全世界的珊瑚礁。

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

一只珊瑚虫将自己分裂一次又一次，

leaving a limestone skeleton underneath itself

在其腹下产生一个石灰岩的骨架，

and growing up toward the sun.

然后朝着太阳的方向的生长。

Given hundreds of years and many species,

数百年之后，万物纵生，

what you get is a massive limestone structure

一个巨大的石灰结构形成了，

在太空上都能从很多地方看到，

that can be seen from space in many cases,

covered by a thin skin of these hardworking animals.

表面还覆盖着薄薄的一层 这些辛勤工作的珊瑚虫。

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

现在，仅有几百种珊瑚存于世间， 也可能1000种。

But these systems house millions and millions of other species,

但是这种珊瑚的石灰结构却是 亿万其他生物的栖息地，

and that diversity is what stabilizes the systems,

而其多样性造就了 这个生态系统的稳定性，

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

也让我们找到了新型的药物。

It's how we find new sources of food.

我们在其中还找到了新的食物来源。

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

我很幸运能在 Curaçao岛上工作，

where we still have reefs that look like this.

在那里我们仍能找到像这样的珊瑚礁。

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

但是，事实上在加勒比海和 世界上大多数地方，

is much more like this.

却是这般光景。

Scientists have studied in increasing detail

科学家们更深入地研究了这种 退化的本质原因，

the loss of the world's coral reefs,

为何我们的珊瑚礁会慢慢消失，

and they have documented with increasing certainty the causes.

他们已经记录了不断被确定的原因。

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

但是在我的研究中，我对过去不感兴趣。

My colleagues and I in Curaçao are interested in looking forward

我和我同事在Curaçao岛上对将来

at what might be.

可能会发生什么很感兴趣。

And we have the tiniest reason to be optimistic.

我们只能用最微不足道的 原因去保持乐观。

Because even in some of these reefs

因为即使在某些我们早就

that we probably could have written off long ago,

不抱希望的珊瑚礁中，

we sometimes see baby corals arrive and survive anyway.

我们有时仍会看到珊瑚虫的幼虫 到达这里，并挣扎生存下来。

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

随后，我们开始思考，这些小珊瑚虫们

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

可能有某种能力去适应一些 成年珊瑚虫可能适应不了的地方。

They may be able to adjust

它们可能可以调整自身

ever so slightly more readily to this human planet.

去不断适应这个被人类占领的星球。

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

所以在Curaçao的研究中， 我和同事们

we try to figure out what a baby coral needs

努力去找出小珊瑚虫生长需要的因素，

in that critical early stage,

特别是在关键的早期生长过程中，

what it's looking for

这些小珊瑚虫到底在找些什么，

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

以及我们怎么才能 帮助它们渡过这些难关。

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

我将向你们展示 我们工作中的三个例子，

to try to answer those questions.

并以此来解答我刚提出的那些困惑。

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

在几年以前，我们用3D打印设备， 进行了珊瑚选择鉴定研究，

different colors and different textures,

给出不同颜色和材质的环境，

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

我们简单地观察珊瑚虫， 想知道哪些环境是它们最喜欢的。

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

之后我们发现珊瑚虫甚至在 没有任何生物手段干预的情况下，

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

仍然选择了白色和粉红， 代表着健康礁石。

And they prefer crevices and grooves and holes,

它们喜欢裂缝，凹槽，还有洞，

where they will be safe from being trampled

在那些地方它们可以免受外界侵扰，

or eaten by a predator.

也不会被捕食者吃掉。

So we can use this knowledge,

所以我们可以用这些知识，

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

回到实验室， 提出我们需要重构这些因素——

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

粉红的，白色的， 有裂缝的，坚硬的表面——

列入到我们的保护项目之中。

in our conservation projects.

We can also use that knowledge

我们也能把这些知识，

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

运用到建造海底墙体和码头上， 把合适的材料放在水下。

We can choose to use the materials and colors and textures

我们可以选择用这些材料、颜色、纹路，

that might bias the system back toward those corals.

让整个生态系统有利于 珊瑚虫的生存。

Now in addition to the surfaces,

除了研究合适的表面，

we also study the chemical and microbial signals

我们也研究了可以吸引珊瑚虫

that attract corals to reefs.

附着在礁石上的化学和微生物因素。

Starting about six years ago, I began culturing bacteria

大约六年前， 我就开始培养珊瑚礁表面

from surfaces where corals had settled.

有珊瑚栖息的区域的细菌。

And I tried those one by one by one,

我一个一个地试，

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

想要找到那些能诱导珊瑚虫 聚集吸附的细菌种类。

And we now have many bacterial strains in our freezer

现在我们有很多细菌株在冷冻柜里，

that will reliably cause corals

这些细菌是珊瑚虫信赖的，

to go through that settlement and attachment process.

愿意去附着和生长的菌类。

So as we speak,

就在演讲的这段时间里，

my colleagues in Curaçao are testing those bacteria

我的同事们正在Curaçao测试那些细菌，

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

去研究它们是否能帮助我们在实验室 建造珊瑚的栖息地，

and to see if those coral settlers will survive better

以及这些有珊瑚附着的结构能够

when we put them back underwater.

在海水中更好地生存。

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

除了这些工具， 我们也在努力解开不为我们

of species that are under-studied.

所熟知的物种的秘密。

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

这是其中我最喜欢的珊瑚中的一种， 一直都是：

dendrogyra cylindrus, the pillar coral.

系统柱状的，柱状珊瑚。

I love it because it makes this ridiculous shape,

我喜欢它，因为它有着无与伦比的形状，

because its tentacles are fat and look fuzzy

因为它的触须胖嘟嘟，看起来毛茸茸，

and because it's rare.

还因为它很稀有。

Finding one of these on a reef is a treat.

能找到这样一种珊瑚 绝对是一种慰藉。

In fact, it's so rare,

实际上，它是真的太稀有了，

that last year it was listed as a threatened species

以至于它去年被认为是濒危物种，

on the endangered species list.

出现在了濒危物种列表上。

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

这不难理解，因为在 过去30年的研究中，

scientists had never found a baby pillar coral.

科学家从未发现过一只 幼年柱形珊瑚虫。

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

我们之前都无法确信 它是否还可以继续繁衍，

or if they were still reproducing.

或者当时是否还在繁殖。

So four years ago, we started following these at night

所以四年前，我们开始在夜间观察，

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

看它们什么时候会在Curaçao产卵。

We got some good tips from our colleagues in Florida,

我们从佛罗里达的同事那里 得到了一些好的建议，

who had seen one in 2007, one in 2008,

他们在2007年和2008年分别 看到了一只柱状珊瑚，

and eventually we figured out when they spawn in Curaçao

终于我们发现了 它们在Curaçao产卵的时间，

and we caught it.

我们捕捉到了这个时刻。

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

左边是一只母珊瑚虫和一些卵，

about to release them into the seawater.

正要把这些卵释放到海水中。

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

而右边是一只公的珊瑚虫在释放精子。

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

我们收集了这些卵子和精子， 带回实验室进行培育，

and we got baby pillar corals swimming in our lab.

于是就有了柱状珊瑚虫 在我们实验室里里游来游去。

Thanks to the work of our scientific aunts and uncles,

感谢我们的科学界的前辈们，

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

也要感谢我们在Curaçao岛上

at raising other coral species,

十年培育其他珊瑚虫种类的经验，

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

我们有了一些珊瑚幼虫 可以完成余下的步骤，

and settle and attach,

让它们在礁石上附着和生存下来，

and turn into metamorphosed corals.

并形成变质珊瑚礁。

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

这是所有人见过的第一只 年幼的柱状珊瑚虫。

(Applause)

（掌声）

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

我不得不说—— 如果你们认为熊猫宝宝很可爱，

this is cuter.

那这些小珊瑚虫更可爱。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

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

我们正在研究珊瑚繁殖过程的秘密，

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

我们要找出如何帮助它们繁殖。

And this is true all around the world;

全世界都面临着同样的情况；

scientists are figuring out new ways to handle their embryos,

科学家们正在找出新的方法 去处理珊瑚虫的胚胎，

to get them to settle,

让它们栖息生长，

甚至在想办法 让它们能够在低温下生长，

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

so that we can preserve their genetic diversity

这样我们就可以保护 它们的基因多样性，

and work with them more often.

并且有更多机会对它们进行研究。

But this is still so low-tech.

但是这个过程的技术含量太低了。

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

我们实验室的空间有限，人手也不够，

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

连休息时间提供的咖啡都少得可怜。

Now, compare that to our other crises

现在，与我们人类遇到的其他危机，

and our other areas of concern as a society.

以及其他社会问题比较一下。

We have advanced medical technology, we have defense technology,

我们有先进的医疗技术， 防御技术，

we have scientific technology,

我们也有科学手段，

we even have advanced technology for art.

甚至还有先进的艺术科技。

但是我们的环保技术却远远落后了。

But our technology for conservation is behind.

Think back to the most difficult job you ever did.

想想你们做过的最艰难的工作。

Many of you would say it was being a parent.

你们很多人肯定会说是为人父母。

My mother described being a parent

我的妈妈描述了为人父母，

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

会让自己的生命更加精彩， 也更加艰辛，

than you could've ever possibly imagined.

相比任何所能想象的工作。

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

我已经从事让珊瑚虫们做父母这项工作 超过十年了。

And watching the wonder of life

见证这些生命的奇迹，

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

让我的内心十分充实， 在灵魂深处也惊叹不已。

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

但是我看到了珊瑚虫们 想成为父母有多么困难。

The pillar corals spawned again two weeks ago,

那些柱状珊瑚虫两周前在此产卵，

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

我们取了它们的卵，并带回了实验室。

And here you see one embryo dividing,

这里你们可以看到一个胚胎在分裂， 马上就会炸裂开，

alongside 14 eggs that didn't fertilize

而旁边其他的14个卵

and will blow up.

还没有任何分裂迹象。

They'll be infected with bacteria, they will explode

这些珊瑚虫卵 会被细菌感染，爆裂开来，

and those bacteria will threaten the life of this one embryo

而这些细菌也会侵害那只

that has a chance.

能够分裂的胚胎。

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

我们不知道是 我们的处理过程有问题，

and we don't know

还是只有这种珊瑚虫

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

在礁石上繁育率一直很低。

Whatever the cause,

无论这种低产率的原因是什么，

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

在我们能用这些珊瑚虫去培育、修复、 或者保护珊瑚礁之前，

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

我们还有更多的工作要做。

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

不要在意它们是否价值连城。

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

珊瑚礁由是辛勤工作的 动植物和细菌组成的。

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

它们给予了我们艺术，食物和药物。

And we almost took out an entire generation of corals.

我们几乎毁掉了整整一代的珊瑚。

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

但是仍有一些幸存了下来 尽管我们一直在不遗余力地破坏着，

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

所以现在我们应该去感谢这些物种，

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

并且给予它们所有 能在未来长成珊瑚礁的机会，

their coral babies.

保护珊瑚幼虫。

Thank you so much.

非常谢谢你们。

(Applause)

（掌声）