人造“超級珊瑚”能否挽救瀕危珊瑚礁？

Can Lab Grown 'Super' Coral Rescue Our Rapidly Dwindling Reefs?

人造“超級珊瑚”能否挽救瀕危珊瑚礁？

Rising water temperatures and the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in our oceans are killing our beautiful coral reefs at an unprecedented rate. Add the current El Niño weather pattern that is expected to prevail through winter and spring 2016 to the mix, and things look even worse. Scientists estimate that the 1988 El Niño destroyed almost 16% of the world's coral reefs and believe things could get even worse this time around.

不斷上升的海水溫度和二氧化碳濃度使美麗的珊瑚正以前所未有的速度消失。從去年冬天一直持續到2016年春天的厄爾尼諾天氣也使情況變得更糟。據科學家估算，1988年的厄爾尼諾現象幾乎毀壞了全球16%的珊瑚，這次甚至會毀壞更多。

The disappearance of the reefs does more than rob humans the chance to admire the beautiful structures. It removes a natural barrier that protects shorelines from storms and also leaves fewer habitat options for fish and other marine life.

珊瑚的消失遠不止無法供人類賞玩這麼簡單。這不僅使海岸線少了一道天然保護屏障，也讓魚類和其他海洋生物失去了一樣棲息場所。

To prevent these important animals from disappearing altogether, a team of researchers from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology are attempting to breed 'super' corals.

爲了避免如此重要的物種滅絕，夏威夷海洋生物研究所的科學家們正努力嘗試人工繁殖“超級珊瑚”。

The group led by Dr. Ruth Gates began by selecting certain coral species that seem to have adapted to the changing ocean conditions better than others. They then made them even more resilient by subjecting them to warmer, more acidic water at their research center on the 28-acre Coconut Island, in Kāne'ohe Bay off the Island of Oahu.

這個由Ruth Gates博士帶領的團隊先是從更耐受海洋環境變化的珊瑚中篩選出一些特殊種類。隨後，他們在可可納特島上的實驗室裏，將這些珊瑚耐熱耐酸性能培養得更強。該島僅有28英畝大小，坐落於Oahu島附近的Kāne'ohe海灣上。

The resulting strains are being bred with each other to create 'super' corals that will hopefully not just withstand, but thrive in the warmer, increasingly acidic oceans. Once ready, the researchers plan to transplant the coral into Hawaii's Kaneohe Bay, which has lost an estimated 60 percent to 80 percent of its coral to bleaching this year.

他們希望培養出的新品種通過雜交來產生既能在更暖且酸度更大的海洋裏生存，又能不斷蓬勃繁殖生長的“超級珊瑚”。“超級珊瑚”生成之後，科學家打算把它們移植到有60%-80%珊瑚發生白化的夏威夷Kaneohe灣中。

Although the researchers realize the dangers, Gates believes there is no choice but to intervene if we want to prevent the reefs from disappearing altogether. Tom Oliver, a marine biologist and team leader at NOAA's Coral Reef Ecosystem Division agrees. The expert who believes the project is both scalable and promising says, "The question is not can they do it, it's can they do it fast enough?" - We sure hope so!

雖然科學家意識到這樣做有風險，Gates博士認爲防止珊瑚完全滅絕，除了人工干預之外別無他選。同爲海洋生物學家和美國國家海洋及大氣管理局珊瑚生態系統分部領導的Tom Oliver也同意這一觀點。 他認爲該項目既可行也頗具前景，他表示：“問題並不在他們這麼做是否正確，而是是否還來得及？”而我們當然希望爲時不晚咯。

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