從揚聲器中播放健康珊瑚礁的聲音，可以拯救垂死的珊瑚

從揚聲器中播放健康珊瑚礁的聲音，可以拯救垂死的珊瑚

Scientists have looked at various methods to save endangered coral reefs for years, looking at everything from growing them in labs to making them pollution resistant. A new study suggests that sounds from healthy reefs could also play a role in saving them.

多年來，科學(xué)家們一直在研究各種拯救瀕危珊瑚礁的方法，從實驗室培育到抗污染，無所不包。一項新的研究表明，來自健康珊瑚礁的聲音也可以起到拯救它們的作用。

Known as “acoustic enrichment,” researchers believe that putting underwater speakers near the dying reefs could help bring young fish to the reefs and restore them.

研究人員認(rèn)為，在瀕臨死亡的珊瑚礁附近放置水下?lián)P聲器，可以幫助把年輕的魚類帶到珊瑚礁，并使它們恢復(fù)生機。

Fish are crucial for coral reefs to function as healthy ecosystems,” said the study’s lead author, Tim Gordon, of the University of Exeter, in a statement. “Boosting fish populations in this way could help to kick-start natural recovery processes, counteracting the damage we’re seeing on many coral reefs around the world.”

研究的主要作者、埃克塞特大學(xué)的蒂姆·戈登在一份聲明中說：“魚類對珊瑚礁發(fā)揮健康生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的作用至關(guān)重要。”。“以這種方式增加魚類數(shù)量有助于啟動自然恢復(fù)進程，抵消我們在世界各地許多珊瑚礁上看到的破壞。”

The researchers were working on the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef system, and placed loudspeakers near parts of dead coral and found “twice as many fish arrived — and stayed,” as compared to parts where there was no sound from speakers. Not only did the number of fish double, but the number of species increased by 50 percent, the researchers added.

研究人員正在世界上最大的珊瑚礁系統(tǒng)大堡礁(Great Barrier Reef)進行研究，并在部分死珊瑚附近放置了擴音器，發(fā)現(xiàn)“到達并停留的魚是沒有擴音器的魚的兩倍”。研究人員補充說，不僅魚的數(shù)量增加了一倍，而且物種數(shù)量也增加了50%。

“Healthy coral reefs are remarkably noisy places — the crackle of snapping shrimp and the whoops and grunts of fish combine to form a dazzling biological soundscape,” one of the study’s co-authors, University of Exeter professor Steve Simpson, said. “Juvenile fish home in on these sounds when they’re looking for a place to settle.”

研究報告的作者之一、?？巳卮髮W(xué)的史蒂夫·辛普森教授說:“健康的珊瑚礁是非常吵雜的地方——噼啪作響的小蝦、呼嚕呼嚕的魚，這些聲音組合在一起形成了令人眼花繚亂的生物聲景。”“幼魚在尋找安身之處時，就會聽到這些聲音。”

All parts of the food chain were attracted to the reefs, including herbivores, detritivores, planktivores and predatory piscivores, the researchers found.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，食物鏈的所有部分都被珊瑚礁所吸引，包括草食動物、碎屑動物、浮游生物和食肉魚類。

“Reefs become ghostly quiet when they are degraded, as the shrimps and fish disappear, but by using loudspeakers to restore this lost soundscape, we can attract young fish back again,” Simpson added.

辛普森補充說:“隨著蝦和魚的消失，珊瑚礁退化后會變得幽靜，但通過使用擴音器來恢復(fù)失去的聲景，我們可以再次吸引年輕的魚回來。”

Australian Institute of Marine Science fish biologist Mark Meekan noted that bringing fish won’t bring the reef “back to life automatically,” but it will aid in recovery, allowing it to be cleaned and “create space for corals to regrow.”

澳大利亞海洋科學(xué)研究所的魚類生物學(xué)家馬克·米坎(Mark Meekan)指出，捕撈魚類不會讓珊瑚礁“自動恢復(fù)生機”，但會有助于珊瑚礁的恢復(fù)，使其得以清潔，并“為珊瑚的再生創(chuàng)造空間”。

The research has been published in the scientific journal Nature.

這項研究已發(fā)表在科學(xué)雜志《自然》上。