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  • This is an article published by the Guardian back in 2014 ― It’s an obituary for Australia’s

    這是2014年《衛報》發行的一篇文章,有關澳洲大堡礁

  • Great Barrier Reef.

    的命危急訊。

  • Two years later, Outside magazine published thisit’s...

    兩年後,《外部雜誌》發行了這篇文章

  • another obituary for the reef.

    另一個大堡礁的訃聞

  • And more recently, we got this news:

    最近,我們看到這篇新聞

  • BBC News: And also this hour, the Great Barrier Reef is at a terminal stage.

    BBC News:在此時此刻,大堡礁處於生命垂危的狀態

  • Have we really killed the Great Barrier Reef?

    我們真的殺了大堡礁嗎?

  • The answer is nobut we sure are trying.

    答案為非,但能確定我們有企圖

  • It’d be hard to call the time of death for

    現在很難宣判大堡礁的死

  • the Great Barrier Reef because it’s actually some 3,000 reefs

    它總共有3000個獨立礁石

  • spread over an area the size of Italy.

    蔓佈範圍跟義大利的面積相當。

  • So there’s plenty of room right now for there to be widespread damage and lots of

    因此離全面性傷害還有一段距離,也還有很多相對

  • relatively healthy reefsthat’s something dive operators there really want you to know.

    健康的礁石,那些潛水員非常想讓你了解的。

  • The contrast in colors down there and the waterwhen the light hits the different

    「海底下礁石色彩不勝枚舉,有如光怪陸離般

  • colors down there and yeah it’s absolutely amazing.”

    真的美極了。」

  • But the world’s coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef, have had a really hard

    但是世界上現有的珊瑚礁,包括大堡礁,在最近幾年

  • time the past few years.

    面臨困境。

  • After decades of degradation from local threats like pollution, and overfishing

    經過幾十年來因為人為傷害和過度捕魚導致退化

  • coral reefs have now also undergone a record-breakingglobal bleaching event.”

    珊瑚礁正面臨史無前例的「全球白化危機」

  • That’s when coral turns white, which puts them at a high risk of dying.

    也就是珊瑚礁白化,增加死亡風險。

  • It started in 2014, during the Northern Hemisphere summer.

    一切始於2014年,北半球的夏天

  • Abnormally warm water caused corals in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to start

    非常態溫水使關島和北馬里亞納群島的珊瑚

  • bleaching en masse.

    全體白化。

  • By the end of 2014, corals around Hawaii, Florida and the Marshall Islands

    在2014年年底,夏威夷附近、佛羅里達和馬歇爾島嶼的珊瑚

  • were bleaching too.

    也開始白化。

  • When summer came around in the Southern Hemisphere, bleaching spreads to coral reefs

    當南半球的夏天來臨,白化現象開始蔓延至

  • in the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

    南太平洋和印度洋的珊瑚礁。

  • And towards the end of 2015, corals throughout the Caribbean were bleached too.

    到2015年底,加勒比海的珊瑚礁也遭殃。

  • Hawaii’s corals bleached for a second time.

    夏威夷的珊瑚礁遭遇二度白化。

  • By now El Nino was in full force, and when combined with global warming, it kept sea

    聖嬰現象大肆襲來,伴隨全球暖化,使得海水

  • temperatures high enough to continue the bleaching event into 2016, hitting corals in Asia,

    溫度過高,白化現象延續至2016年,波及亞洲、非洲東岸的

  • the east coast of Africa, and ... the Great Barrier Reef too.

    珊瑚礁,還有...大堡礁。

  • the worst bleaching, in fact, that the Great Barrier Reef had ever seen.

    大堡礁從未遇到最嚴重的白化現象。

  • Bleaching continued into 2017, when the Great Barrier Reef was hit, again.

    白化現象持續至2017年,大堡礁再度遇害。

  • ABC News: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in grave condition tonight...

    ABC新聞:澳洲大堡礁今晚病入膏肓...

  • FOX News: For the second year in a row, this video showing bleaching

    福斯新聞:連續兩年,白化現象的影像....

  • BBC News: Two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef has now been devastated by severe coral bleaching

    BBC新聞:三分之二以上的大堡礁遭受因海水升溫

  • which is caused by rising water temperatures.

    導致的白化摧殘

  • Researchers first documented global coral bleaching in 1998 ― a record warm year

    學者第一次紀錄全球白化現象是在1998年,飆高溫的一年

  • and it happened again in 2010.

    2010又再度發生。

  • But this third global bleaching event is by far the worst.

    但這第三次的白化危機是目前最嚴重的。

  • And looking at this temperature trend, you can get why people are starting to say goodbye

    看到溫度趨勢,你可以了解到我們為什麼開始跟

  • to coral reefs.

    珊瑚礁道別。

  • But to really get what makes them vulnerable, you have to understand how coral reefs work.

    但在了解它們脆弱的原因前,你得先了解珊瑚礁的結構。

  • Corals are related to jellyfish and sea anemones, but youve probably noticed that they don’t

    珊瑚和水母、海葵關係親近。不過,你可能已經發覺

  • look quite as... squishy.

    它們看起來沒有那麼糊稠。

  • There's a couple reasons for that.

    有幾個原因

  • For one thing, they live in colonies.

    首先,它們是群居動物

  • Each coral structure is made of hundreds or thousands of individual

    每個珊瑚架構是由上百個,上千個個別

  • coral animals called polyps.

    珊瑚動物,水螅,所組成。

  • Each of these little bumps is where a polyp lives.

    每個小凸出面都是水螅的生活地。

  • Theyre easy to overlook if youre snorkeling but if you look closely, you can see them,

    在潛水的時候容易忽視它們,但如果你仔細看,可以看到,

  • especially at night when theyre less likely to be hiding.

    尤其是夜晚的時候,它們比較不會藏匿。

  • Those polyps build a skeleton together.

    這些水螅一同建起整個架構。

  • Not all corals do this but the ones that build reefs do so by creating a calcium carbonate

    不是所有珊瑚都這樣,但那些組成礁石會在它們下方建造

  • skeleton underneath them, layer by layer.

    碳酸鈣骨幹,一層又一層,

  • So the living polyps sit in little cups on top of an ever-expanding skeleton structure

    因此這些水螅群體棲息在不斷延展的骨幹架構上

  • which, in turn, sits on top of the compacted skeletons of previous corals from thousands

    這些骨幹架構又矗立在千年前遺留的

  • of years ago, otherwise known as limestone.

    珊瑚骨幹,稱為石灰岩。

  • By building these structures with all these nooks and crannies, corals provide homes for

    藉由建立這些充滿坑洞凹痕的結構,珊瑚提供了

  • hundreds of other animals and plantsan estimated 25% of all marine species,

    上百種動物植物一個家,約略有25%的海洋物種,

  • even though they take up less than 1% of the ocean floor.

    儘管他們只占不到海底層面的1%。

  • Those reefs provide billions of dollars worth of economic value to people every year, through

    這些礁石每年帶給人類幾十億的經濟收益,透過

  • fisheries, tourism, and protection from storm waves.

    漁業、觀光業,也是湧浪的防護。

  • But here’s the thing: corals can’t build reefs on their own.

    但重點來了,珊瑚無法自己建立礁石。

  • Coral reefs exist because of an incredible partnership between animal and plant.

    珊瑚礁的形成建立在動植物的密切合作。

  • That’s because reef-building corals get the majority of their energy and nutrients

    珊瑚的能量跟營養主要來自

  • from single-celled algae that live inside coral polyps.

    棲息在珊瑚蟲內部的單細胞藻類。

  • It’s where they get their greenish-brown color too.

    那也是牠們呈現棕綠色的原因。

  • Theyre called zooxanthellae, and like other plants, they make energy from sunlight, that’s

    牠們稱為蟲黃藻,像其他植物一樣,牠們行光合作用

  • why coral reefs mostly grow near the surface of the oceanwhere the sun shines.

    這解釋了為什麼珊瑚礁大都生長在有陽光照射的海平面附近。

  • But this partnership breaks down under heat stress.

    然而這個關係在熱壓力下崩然而解。

  • After multiple weeks of temperatures even just a couple degrees celsius hotter than

    經過數幾周,海水溫度超出牠們能接受的最高溫度

  • the maximum temperature that theyre used to, The photosynthetic system in the algae starts

    攝氏幾度,海藻的光合作用開始

  • to accumulate reactive oxygen molecules like hydrogen peroxide,

    累積反映性氧分子,類似過氧化物,

  • which leak into the coral polyp cells.

    之後滲進珊瑚蟲細胞內。

  • To protect themselves from damage, the coral polyps kick the algae out of their bodies,

    為了保護自己,珊瑚蟲將這些藻類踢出自己身體,

  • leaving the pale skeleton showing through.

    最後留下的就是光禿禿的骨幹。

  • By warming the planet, we are, among many other things, breaking up the team that built

    因為我們所造成的暖化問題,破壞了整個海洋多樣性生態所需

  • the ocean’s most diverse ecosystem.

    的合作關係。

  • But bleached corals don’t necessarily die.

    但白化珊瑚不一定會導致死亡。

  • What happens next depends on how severe and long-lasting the high temperatures are.

    界下來就得看這場高溫的嚴重性及時間性了。

  • When researchers assessed the damage to the Great Barrier Reef in 2016,

    當學者檢視2016大堡礁受到的傷害時,

  • they found that coral death was concentrated in the northern section of the reef, where

    他們發現死亡的珊瑚集中在礁石北部的區域,

  • bleaching had been the most severe.

    那邊白化現象最嚴重。

  • In the central section, 33% of the reefs bleached severely, but there was only around 6% mortality.

    在中部區域,33%的礁石嚴重白化,但死亡率只有6%。

  • That’s because zooxanthellae can return to a coral colony within a few weeks if the

    原因是蟲黃藻在水溫降下後幾個禮拜內

  • water cools back down fast enough.

    會回歸珊瑚礁。

  • If not, the coral dies from starvation or disease.

    如果沒有,珊瑚則死於飢餓或疾病。

  • If enough coral colonies die, a reef can get taken over by fuzzy brown seaweed.

    如果過多珊瑚死亡,整個礁石將被棕色水草覆蓋。

  • Some coral reefs have transformed intothis.

    有些珊瑚礁已經成了這副景象

  • If there are enough fish and other grazers to eat up the seaweed, new coral larvae can

    如果有足夠的魚或草食動物吃掉這些水草,新的珊瑚幼蟲能

  • settle there and the reef can start building up again.

    在上面棲息,礁石又能再度建起。

  • After the 1998 bleaching, the corals of the Great Barrier Reef eventually recovered.

    在1998年白化現象後,大堡礁的珊瑚最終都恢復了

  • But it takes a decade or more for even the fastest growing corals to build back up, and

    但這個癒合期,就算是生長最快的珊瑚,也需要十年以上的時間

  • that 10 year timeline assumes one very important condition:

    而且有個很重要的條件

  • That they don’t bleach all over again.

    不能再度受白化傷害

  • And they almost certainly will.

    但幾乎都會。

  • Climate models project that in the coming decades, the conditions now causing mass bleaching

    具氣候模型預估,在接下來幾十年內,大量白化的現象

  • will become increasingly frequent, until eventually they happen every summer.

    將愈趨頻繁,到每年夏天發生一次。

  • How soon that happens depends a lot on whether we start cutting our greenhouse gas emissions.

    這個預期的急遽性只能看我們能否減少溫室氣體排放

  • If we don’t, annual bleaching conditions are projected for parts of

    如果沒有,每年的白化現象將在世紀中期的時候

  • the Great Barrier Reef by mid-century.

    預估降臨大堡礁。

  • At that point, few coral reefs could survive.

    在那個時候,多數珊瑚礁將難逃一劫。

  • If we buy them more time by slowing down global warming, corals and their zooxanthellae may

    如果我們延緩暖化,給牠們多點時間,珊瑚和蟲黃藻也許能

  • be able to acclimate or eventually evolve to tolerate warmer weather.

    有適應的能力,最後接受更溫暖的環境

  • Coral reefs would still change, and probably still shrink,

    珊瑚礁會不斷改變,也有可能不斷萎縮

  • but we could give them a better chance.

    但我們能賦予牠們更好的機會

  • That’s why it doesn’t make sense to pronounce them dead.

    因此宣布牠們的死不合理

  • This ecosystem is dynamic.

    整個生態系統是變動不居的。

  • There are forces building it up, that are battling the forces tearing it down,

    這是牠們生長的動力,也是抵抗傷害的動力。

  • and those factors vary by species & by location.

    這些因素隨物種和地點而異

  • But with global warming, humans have sided against the world’s coral reefs

    但隨著暖化,人類似乎站在珊瑚礁的對立面

  • to an unprecedented degree.

    在很大的程度上。

  • Some of the damage is now unavoidable.

    有些傷害是無可避免的

  • But the battle isn’t over, and it’s not too late for us switch sides.

    可是這場戰鬥還沒停,現在換邊站也不遲

  • If you’d like to learn more about what the climate change is doing to the biodiversity

    如果你想了解更多關於氣候改變對地球生態多樣性的影響

  • of our planetgo over to audible.com/vox.

    請搜尋audible.com/vox.

  • Their massive collection of audio books includes a lot of titles about climate change, including

    裡面大量的有聲書涵蓋多樣氣候變遷的主題,包括

  • The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.”

    【第六場滅絕:非常態歷史】

  • This is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Elizabeth Kolbert, covering not just coral reefs

    這有普立茲獎得主伊莉莎白考白兒所撰寫的書,涵蓋不只珊瑚礁

  • but animals and plants around the world that are struggling to keep up with environmental change.

    還有世界的動植物適應環境變化的困難

  • You can sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.com/vox, and if you decide not to

    你可以註冊30天免費試用,就算你不想

  • continue on with themyou still get to keep your book.

    繼續,還使可以收藏你的書

  • So sign up at audible.com/vox

    所以趕快註冊audible.com/vox

  • and start spending your commute, or your cooking time, or your cleaning time,

    開始用你通勤、煮飯或打掃的時間

  • learning more about the role that our species is playing

    學習人類在地球的生命史中

  • in the history of life on Earth.

    所扮演的角色。

This is an article published by the Guardian back in 2014 ― It’s an obituary for Australia’s

這是2014年《衛報》發行的一篇文章,有關澳洲大堡礁

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