科学美国人60秒 SSS 五彩缤纷的珊瑚战胜白化（在线收听）

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是克里斯托弗·因塔格里塔。

Warmer oceans are putting stress on corals—and causing many of them to turn white, or bleach.

温度日益升高的海洋正在给珊瑚带来压力，导致许多珊瑚变白或白化。

But some corals under stress are instead becoming strangely colorful, turning brilliant neon pink, yellow, purple or blue.

但有些珊瑚在压力下反而不可思议地变得更加五彩缤纷，呈现出明亮的荧光粉、荧光黄、荧光紫或荧光蓝。

"They give this very vibrant coloration, which really blows you away."

“它们呈现出非常鲜艳的颜色，这真令人大吃一惊。”

Jorg Wiedenmann heads the University of Southampton's Coral Reef Laboratory in the U.K.

英国南安普敦大学珊瑚礁实验室的负责人J?rg Wiedenmann说到。

He said he was seeing photos and reports of these brightly colored corals—but no one knew what was happening.

他说他看到了这些颜色鲜艳的珊瑚的照片和报道，但没人知道原因。

So his lab experimentally bleached corals to find out.

因此，他的实验室实验性地让珊瑚白化，以此来寻找答案。

First, though, it's important to understand that corals aren't really a single organism.

但首先，重要的是要了解珊瑚并不是单一生物体。

They're a symbiotic duo, a partnership, between an algae and a coral.

珊瑚是共生体，是海藻和珊瑚虫之间的合作关系。

"So it's two completely different organisms working together to create something which they couldn't achieve by themselves."

“珊瑚是两种完全不同的生物在一起工作，产生它们自己无法实现的东西。”

The algae live inside the coral, where they get shelter and nutrients, and the corals reap the benefits of photosynthesis.

海藻生长在珊瑚中，从其中获得庇护和养分，珊瑚虫则获得光合作用的好处。

But when the scientists exposed corals to warmer water, they watched as the corals' symbiotic partners—the algae—slowly abandoned the coral skeleton.

但当科学家让珊瑚暴露在更温暖的水中时，他们观察到珊瑚的共生伙伴海藻慢慢地离开了珊瑚遗骸。

Usually, that's what results in bleaching.

通常，这会导致珊瑚白化。

But in some cases, without the photosynthetic algae there to absorb incoming light, more of the light was bouncing around inside the coral's tissue—

但在某些情况下，没有发生光合作用的海藻会在那里吸收入的光线，这使更多光线在珊瑚组织内部跳跃，

and the researchers observed the corals producing neon pigments in response.

研究人员观察到珊瑚的反应是产生了荧光色素。

The pigments seem to be a natural sunscreen. And those colorful areas appeared to attract the algae back.

这些色素似乎是天然的防晒霜。而那些五颜六色的区域似乎将海藻吸引了回来。

"The pink-colored areas repopulated faster with symbionts.

“粉色区域共生体的重新繁殖速度更快。

And the symbiont algae had a higher photosynthetic efficiency, which could be taken as an indicator of better health."

共生海藻的光合作用效率也更高，这可以被视为健康状况更好的指标。”

The results are in the journal Current Biology.

这项研究发表在《当代生物学》期刊上。

Wiedenmann says the flashy neon colors only appear with mild levels of stress. Too hot, and the corals can't cope.

Wiedenmann表示，只有压力水平处于温和程度时，珊瑚才会呈现闪亮的荧光色。水压太高会令珊瑚无法承受。

But if you do happen to see corals flashing neon colors, it's a good sign they're fighting back—and fighting to be noticed by their algae partners.

但如果你碰巧看到珊瑚闪烁着荧光，那是个好迹象，这表明它们正在反击，争取获得洗澡伙伴的注意。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。