The invisible life hidden beneath Antarctica's ice | Ariel Waldman

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Zoe Chang

Can you guess what this is?

猜猜這是什麼？

What if I told you there's a place where the creatures are made of glass?

如果我說有個地方的生物 都是玻璃做的，你信嗎？

Or that there are life-forms that are invisible to us,

還有一些我們肉眼看不見的生物，

but astronauts see them all the time?

但太空人卻總能看到，你信嗎？

These invisible glass creatures aren't aliens on a faraway exoplanet.

這些看不見的玻璃生物並非 太陽系以外的外星生物。

They're diatoms:

它們是矽藻：

photosynthetic, single-celled algae responsible for producing oxygen

一種單細胞藻類， 能行光合作用產生氧氣，

and helping seed clouds on a planetary scale

也有助於全球各地的雲層降雨，

and with intricately sculpted, geometric exoskeletons made of --

看似精細雕刻的 幾何形狀外殼的成份是──

yeah, glass.

沒錯，正是玻璃。

You can see them in swirls of ocean-surface colors from space.

從太空中所看到海面上 深淺不同的渦流，就是矽藻。

And when they die,

矽藻死亡時，它們的 玻璃外殼沉入海洋深處，

their glass houses sink to the depths of the oceans,

taking carbon out of the air

同時將大氣中的碳 一起帶入墳墓，

and with them to the grave,

accounting for a significant amount of carbon sequestration in the oceans.

海洋中的碳封存量 絕大部分是它們貢獻的。

We live on an alien planet.

我們的星球非常奇特。

There is so much weird life here on Earth to study,

充滿許多未知的奇怪生物，

and so much of it lives at the edges of our world,

其中許多存在於世界的邊緣、

of our sight and of our understanding.

我們視線的邊緣 及人類知識的邊緣。

One of those edges is Antarctica.

其中一個就是南極洲。

Typically, when we think about Antarctica,

通常，提到南極洲時，

想到的就是貧瘠、沒有生命的地方……

we think of a place that's barren and lifeless ...

except for a few penguins.

頂多就是幾隻企鵝。

But Antarctica should instead be known as a polar oasis of life,

但南極洲其實應該被視為 物種的極地綠洲，

host to countless creatures that are utterly fascinating.

擁有無數令人著迷的生物。

So why haven't we seen them on the latest nature documentary?

那為甚麼大自然紀錄片從沒拍過？

Well, they lurk beneath the snow and ice,

因為它們潛伏在雪和冰底下，

virtually invisible to us.

肉眼看不見。

They're microbes:

它們是微生物：

tiny plants and animals living embedded inside of glaciers,

活在冰川深處的微小動植物，

underneath the sea ice

在海冰下方，或冰川以下的 地下儲水層中活動。

and swimming in subglacial ponds.

And they're no less charismatic than any of the megafauna

它們的魅力可不輸那些 大自然紀錄片中常見的大型動物。

that you're used to seeing in a nature documentary.

But how do you compel people to explore what they can't see?

問題是怎樣鼓勵人們 去探索看不見的生物呢？

I recently led a five-week expedition to Antarctica

我最近帶了一個 為期五週的考察團去南極，

to essentially become a wildlife filmmaker at the microbial scale.

這趟旅程讓我簡直成了 微生物的野生動物影片製作人。

With 185 pounds of gear,

帶著 185 磅的裝備，登上軍機，

I boarded a military aircraft

and brought microscopes into the field

我帶了顯微鏡去實地拍攝，

to film and investigate these microscopic extremophiles,

調查研究顯微鏡下的「嗜極端生物」，

so that we can become more familiar with a poorly understood ecosystem

希望能對這個與我們並存在地球上，

但所知極少的生態系統 有進一步的了解。

that we live with here on Earth.

To film these invisible creatures in action,

為了拍攝這些 看不見的生物的活動，

I needed to see where they call home --

我必須先找到它們的家──

I needed to venture under the ice.

我必須探索冰層底下。

Every year, the sea ice nearly doubles the entire size of Antarctica.

每年，海冰的形成會讓 南極洲面積增加幾乎一倍。

To get a glimpse below the nine-feet-thick ice,

為了到九英呎厚的海冰底下一窺究竟，

I climbed down a long, metal tube inserted into the sea ice

我得爬入一根穿入海冰中的 金屬管狀通道，

to witness a hidden ecosystem full of life,

懸於海底與上方反射日光的海冰之間，

while being suspended between the seafloor and the illuminated ceiling of ice.

去親眼目睹一個不為人知、 充滿生命力的生態系統。

Here's what that looked like from the outside.

從外面看起來是這個樣子。

It was just absolutely magical.

真的是一段很神奇的經驗。

Some of the critters I found were delightful things like seed shrimp

我發現一些很可愛的浮游生物，

像是種蝦（藍眼淚）、 還有美麗幾何形狀的矽藻。

and many more beautiful, geometric diatoms.

I then went farther afield to camp out in the Dry Valleys

我也去了更偏遠的麥克默多旱谷， 在那紮營了兩週。

for a couple of weeks.

98 percent of Antarctica is covered with ice

南極洲有 98% 被冰覆蓋，

and the Dry Valleys are the largest area of Antarctica where you can actually see

麥克默多旱谷是南極唯一 沒被冰雪覆蓋的地方，

顯露出這片大陸的真實樣貌。

what the continent itself looks like underneath all of it.

I sampled bacteria at Blood Falls,

我在南極血瀑採了細菌樣本，

a natural phenomenon of a subglacial pond spurting out iron oxide

血瀑是由於地下儲水層 噴出氧化鐵的自然現象，

that was thought to be utterly lifeless until a little more than a decade ago.

直到十多年前，大家都還 認為那裡沒有任何物種。

And I hiked up a glacier to drill down into it,

我爬上一條冰川，向下探鑽，

revealing countless, hardcore critters living their best lives

發現無數生命力強韌的生物， 悠遊自在地活在冰層中。

while embedded inside layers of ice.

Known as cryoconite holes,

我們所知的冰塵穴，

they form when tiny pieces of darkly colored dirt

來自於細小的深色灰塵 被吹到冰河表面，

get blown onto the glacier

and begin to melt down into soupy holes that then freeze over,

塵埃處的冰融化，形成濃湯似的坑， 之後表面又再度結冰，

preserving hundreds of dirt pucks inside the glacier,

在冰川中留下幾百個灰塵冰球，

like little island universes

就像是小型的島嶼宇宙，

each with its own unique ecosystem.

每個都有自己獨特的生態系統。

Some of the critters I found you may recognize,

你可能認得某些我發現的生物， 例如這類可愛的緩步動物──

like this adorable tardigrade --

我好愛牠們，看起來就像 有爪子的小熊軟糖。

I absolutely love them,

they're like little gummy bears with claws.

Also known as a water bear,

牠們也叫做水熊蟲，

they're famous for possessing superpowers

具有能在極端的條件下生存的超能力，

that allow them to survive in extreme conditions,

including the vacuum of space.

包括密閉真空的環境。

But you don't need to travel to space or even Antarctica to find them.

但你無須親自造訪太空 或南極洲去看牠們。

They live in moss all over this planet,

牠們遍布地球各地的苔蘚中，

from sidewalk cracks to parks.

從人行道裂縫到公園都有。

You likely walk right by tons of these invisible animals every day.

很可能你每天經過的路邊就有 一大堆這種生物，卻視而不見。

Others may look familiar,

另外有些看似眼熟 卻不認識的生物，例如線蟲類。

but be stranger still, like nematodes.

Not a snake nor an earthworm,

線蟲類既非蛇也非蚯蚓， 牠們自成一類。

nematodes are a creature all of their own.

They can't regenerate like an earthworm or crawl like a snake,

牠們沒有蚯蚓的再生能力， 也沒有蛇的爬行方式，

but they have tiny, dagger-like needles inside their mouths

但牠們的口中有匕首般的小針，

that some of them use to spearfish their prey and suck out the insides.

那是牠們用來刺穿、捕殺獵物 並吸光內臟的工具。

For every single human on this planet,

地球上人類與線蟲的比例 大約是 1: 570億。

there exist 57 billion nematodes.

And some of the critters you may not recognize at all

還有一些你可能完全不知道， 但同樣迷人的生物，

but live out equally fascinating lives,

例如，頂著漂亮的冠的輪蟲， 它的冠可變成像掃地機器人般的嘴巴，

such as rotifers with amazing crowns that turn into Roomba-like mouths,

ciliates with digestive systems so transparent that it's almost TMI,

以及具有透明消化系統的纖毛蟲， 胃裡的食物一覽無遺，不想看都不行，

and cyanobacteria that look like party confetti exploded all over a petri dish.

以及培養皿上到處都是的藍綠藻， 看起來就像派對上的彩色紙屑。

A lot of times what we see in popular media

大眾媒體上常見到的此類生物

are scanning electron microscope images of microorganisms

多是直接掃描電子顯微鏡下的影像，

看起來很像恐怖怪物。

looking like scary monsters.

Without seeing them move their lives remain elusive to us

光靠靜態圖片還是無法理解這類生物，

despite them living nearly everywhere we step outside.

即便在戶外的環境中 牠們幾乎無所不在。

What's their daily life like?

牠們的日常是什麼樣子？ 跟環境的互動又是如何？

How do they interact with their environment?

If you only ever saw a photo of a penguin at a zoo,

如果你只有在動物園看過企鵝的照片，

but you never saw one waddle around and then glide over ice,

卻從未看過在冰上搖擺、滑行的企鵝，

you wouldn't fully understand penguins.

那你就無從完全地了解企鵝這種生物。

By seeing microcreatures in motion,

藉著看到活生生的微生物，

we gain better insights into the lives of the otherwise invisible.

我們才能清楚了解 這些本來看不見的生物。

Without documenting the invisible life in Antarctica and our own backyards,

透過記錄南極，甚至自家 後院中那些看不見的生物，

we don't understand just how many creatures we share our world with.

我們才能得知有多少生物 和我們共存在這個世界上。

And that means we don't yet have the full picture

換句話說，我們尚未全面了解

of our weird and whimsical home planet.

我們所居住的這個 不可思議、奇妙的地球。

Thank you.

謝謝。