Name: 【TED-Ed】令人驚豔卻隱形的海洋生物足跡 (The surprising (and invisible) signatures of sea creatures - Kakani Katija)
Uploaded: 2021-07-13T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 6 min 38 s

So, my name is Kakani Katija, and I'm a bioengineer. I study marine organisms in their natural environment.

我叫 Kakani Katija，我是一個生物工程學家。我研究天然環境中的海洋生物。

And what I wanna point out, and at least you can see this in this visualization, is that  the ocean environment is a dynamic place.

而我想指出的，以及至少你可以在這具象圖所看到的——海洋是一個動態的環境。

What you're seeing are the kinds of currents, as well as the whirls, that are left behind in the ocean because of tides or because of winds.

你正看到的是各種洋流，以及渦旋， 這些因為潮汐或者風的流動而在海洋中留下痕跡的渦旋。

And imagine a marine organism as living in this environment, right, and they're trying to undergo their entire lives while dealing with currents like these.

想像一個海洋生物活在這樣的環境中，且牠們努力生活在必須對付這樣的水流擾動。

But what I also want to point out is that small organisms also create small fluid motions, as well, and it's these fluid motions that I study.

而我還想指出的是，即使是微小的生物個體一樣會產生些微流體運動，而這些流體運動正是我所研究的。

And we can think about them like being footprints.

我們可以想像它們就像足跡一樣。

So, this is my dog Kieran, and take a look at her footprints.

這是我的狗，Kieran，請看一下她的足跡。

Footprints provide a lot of information—

not only do they tell us what kind of organism left them, they might also tell us something about when that organism was there, but also what kind of behavior: were they running or were they walking?

不只告訴我們是什麼生物留下它們，也可能告訴我們什麼時候那個生物個體曾出現， 還有其行為：是在跑動、還是走路？

And so, terrestrial organisms, like my cute dog Kieran, might be leaving footprints behind in dirt or in sand,

所以陸上生物，就像我的可愛小狗 Kieran，可能在泥土或沙上留下足跡。

but marine organisms leave footprints in the form of what we call wake structures, or hydrodynamic signatures, in fluid.

但海洋生物的足跡則是以我們稱為「尾流結構」的形式留下的，或者流體上稱為「水動力跡訊」。

Now imagine, it's really hard to see these kinds of structures because fluid is transparent; however, if we add something to the fluid, we get a completely different picture.

現在你可以想像，這些尾流結構真的很難觀察，因為流體是透明的，然而，如果我們在流體加上一些東西，我們可以得到一個完全不一樣的圖像。

And you can see that these footprints that marine organisms create are just dynamic—they are constantly changing.

你可以看到這些海洋生物產生的足跡十分動態——它們不斷改變。

And marine organisms also have the ability to sense these signatures.

同時海洋生物也能夠去感覺這些跡訊。

They can also inform decisions, like whether or not they wanna continue following a  signature like this to find a mate or to find food, or maybe avoid these signatures, right, to avoid being eaten.

它們也可以傳達決策，例如牠們是否要繼續跟隨跡訊去尋找伴侶或食物，或者避開這些跡訊以避免被掠食。

So, imagine the ability to be able to not only see or visualize these kinds of signatures but to also measure them.

所以請想像一種，不但可以看到或具象化這些跡訊， 而且還可以測量它們的能力。

This is the engineering side of what I do.

這就是我在工程學上所研究的。

And so, what I've done is I actually took a laboratory technique and miniaturized it and basically shrunk it down into the use of underwater housings to make a device that a single scuba diver can use.

為此，實際上我採用了一種實驗室技術使之微型化，基本上縮小到可以放進水下設備外罩內， 做成一個潛水員可單獨使用的裝置。

And so, a single scuba diver can go anywhere from the surface to 40 meters, or 120 feet deep, to measure the hydrodynamic signatures that organisms create.

這樣一來，潛水員可以在水面到 40 公尺深處到處移動，或是說 120 英尺深， 去測量生物個體產生的水動力跡訊。

Before I begin, I kinda wanna to immerse you into what these kinds of measurements require.

在我開始之前，我想要讓你們深入這些測量所需的條件。

So, in order to work, we actually dive at night, and this is because we're trying to minimize any interactions between the laser and sunlight,

所以操作上，我們會在晚上潛水，這是因為我們試圖減少任何雷射和陽光間的相互影響，

and we're diving in complete darkness because we do not want to scare away the organisms we're trying to study.

而我們在完全黑暗中潛水是因為不想嚇跑我們將要研究的生物。

And then once we find the organisms we're interested in, we turn on a green laser. And this green laser is actually illuminating a sheet of fluid, and in that fluid, it's reflecting off of particles that are found everywhere in the ocean.

一旦我們發現了目標生物，就開啟綠色雷射光，而這個綠色雷射光會照亮一片海水，而在這片海水中， 它反射了海洋中隨處可見的微粒。

And so, as an animal swims through this laser sheet, you can see these particles are moving over time, and so, we actually risk our lives to get this kind of data.

所以當有動物游過這片雷射光區時，你可以看到這些微粒隨著時間一直移動，所以事實上，我們是冒著生面危險取得了這樣的資料。

What you're gonna see is that on the left, these due particles images that shows the displacement of fluid over time,

你將看到的是，在左圖這些微粒影像投射顯示，流體會隨著時間變化而位移，

and using that data, you can actually extract what the velocity of that fluid is, and that's indicated by the vector plots that you see in the middle.

而運用這些資料可以確實引導出流體的速率，如中間的向量圖所呈現的。

And then we can use that data to answer a variety of different questions, not only to understand the rotational sense of that fluid, which you see on the right,

然後我們可以用這些資料來解答各式各樣的問題，不僅是瞭解流體的循環， 如同你在右邊圖像看到的，

but also estimate something about energetics, or the kinds of forces that act on these organisms or on the fluid, and also evaluate swimming and feeding performance.

也能進行能量學上的估量，或是研究什麼力量作用在這些生物或流體上，還有評估游泳和掠食效率。

We've used this technique on a variety of different organisms, but remember, there's an issue here: we're only able to study organisms that a scuba diver can reach.

我們已經在各種不同的生物個體上使用這個技術，但是記得，這裡還有個問題：我們只能夠研究潛水員可及的海洋生物。

And so, before I finish, I kinda wanna tell you what the next frontier is, in terms of these kinds of measurements.

所以在我結束之前，我想告訴你，就目前可得的測量而言，下一個研究趨勢為何。

And with collaborators at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute,

與蒙特雷灣水族館研究所的合作者共同研究下，

we're developing instrumentation to go on remotely operated vehicles so, we can study organisms anywhere from the surface down to 4000 meters, or two and a half  miles.

我們正在發展遙控儀器，讓我們能研究任何從海水表面到 4000 公尺深的生物， 或是 2.5 英里深。

And so, we can answer really interesting questions about this organism, this is a larvacean, that creates a feeding current and forces fluids through their mucus house and extracts nutrients.

所以我們真的可以解答一些生物上非常有趣的問題：這是一種尾海鞘， 牠會產生掠食激流，迫使液體流向牠們的黏液腔， 然後汲取養分。

And then this animal, this is a siphonophore, and they can get to lengths about half the size of a football field, and they're able to swim vertically in the ocean by just creating jet propulsion.

然後這個動物，這是管水母，而牠們的長度可以延展到半個足球場長，而且牠們光靠噴流推進就可以在海水中垂直游動。

And then finally we can answer these questions about how swarming organisms, like krill, are able to affect mixing on larger scales.

然後最後我們可以解答這些問題：關於蜂擁而居的生物個體，例如磷蝦， 如何在大尺度上影響海水混和。

And this is actually one of the most interesting results so far that we've collected are using the scuba diving device in that organisms,

這確實是目前我們藉著潛水儀器在研究那樣子的生物上所得到的最有趣的結果之一，

especially when they're moving in mass, are able to generate mixing at levels that are equivalent to some other physical processes that are associated with winds and tides.

尤其是在牠們群體移動時，可以促進海水混和，程度相等於一些其他與風力或潮汐相關的物理作用。

But before I finish, I kinda wanna leave you all with a question because I think it's important to keep in mind that technologies today that we take for granted started somewhere, right: it was inspired from something.

而在我結束之前，我想留給你們大家一個問題， 我相信這有必要銘記在心，就是現在我們視為理所當然的科技是從某些地方發展而來的——某些事物賦予了人們靈感。

So, imagine, right, scientists and engineers were inspired by birds to create airplanes.

所以想像科學家和工程學家因為鳥類而得到創造飛機的靈感。

And something we take for granted, flying from, let's say, San Francisco to New York, is something that was inspired by an organism.

我們視為理所當然的事情，像是從舊金山飛行到紐約， 這靈感是由一種生物個體所喚起的。

And as we're developing these new technologies to understand marine organisms, what we wanna do is answer this question: how will marine organisms inspire us?

而正當我們發展這些新科技來了解海洋生物時，我們想知道的是這個問題的答案：這些海洋生物如何賦予我們的靈感？

Will they allow us to develop new underwater technologies, like underwater vehicles  that look like a jellyfish?

牠們可否促使我們發展新的水下技術，例如一個像水母的水下交通工具？

I think it's a really exciting time in ocean exploration because now we have the tools available to answer this kind of question,

我想，這真是海洋探索上一個令人興奮的時刻，因為現在我們擁有這些工具去找到這問題的解答，

and with the help of you guys at some point, you can apply these tools to answer this kind of question and also develop technologies of the future.

同時在某些時候有你們大家的幫助——你們可以應用這些工具去找到這類問題的解答，也能發展未來科技。