實驗室培育的珊瑚實現(xiàn)“重大突破”，或可拯救美國的珊瑚礁

實驗室培育的珊瑚實現(xiàn)“重大突破”，或可拯救美國的珊瑚礁

Florida and its unique ecosystems have a lot more to offer than fence-jumping alligators and vomiting vultures — which is why marine scientists hope to rebuild the coral so vital to ocean health.

佛羅里達及其獨特的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)能提供的遠不止跳籬笆的短吻鱷和嘔吐的禿鷹——這就是為什么海洋科學家希望重建對海洋健康至關(guān)重要的珊瑚。

The Florida Aquarium

Now, researchers at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa say they’ve taken a huge step forward — by spawning, for the first time in history, delicate Atlantic coral in a lab setting.

現(xiàn)在，位于坦帕的佛羅里達水族館的研究人員說，他們已經(jīng)向前邁出了一大步——歷史上第一次在實驗室環(huán)境下產(chǎn)卵，培育出精致的大西洋珊瑚。

“While many coral experts didn’t believe it could be done,” said Roger Germann, Florida Aquarium president and CEO, in a statement, “we took that challenge to heart and dedicated our resources and expertise to achieve this monumental outcome.”

佛羅里達水族館總裁兼首席執(zhí)行官羅杰·格曼在一份聲明中說：“雖然許多珊瑚專家認為這是不可能做到的，但我們將這一挑戰(zhàn)牢記在心，并投入了我們的資源和專業(yè)知識，以實現(xiàn)這一具有里程碑意義的成果。”

The Florida Aquarium

Aided by researchers from London’s Horniman Museum and Gardens, Project Coral began in 2014. Scientists focused primarily on the near-extinct pillar coral, which has been devastated by stony coral tissue loss disease.

在倫敦霍尼曼博物館和花園的研究人員的幫助下，珊瑚工程于2014年啟動?？茖W家們主要關(guān)注的是瀕臨滅絕的支柱珊瑚，這種珊瑚已被石質(zhì)珊瑚組織丟失病破壞。

“It’s quite possible that we just had our last wild spawning of pillar coral this year,” Keri O’Neill, a coral expert at the aquarium, tells CNN. “But with the success of this project, as a scientist, I now know that every year for the foreseeable future, we can spawn Florida pillar corals in the laboratory and continue our work trying to rebuild the population.”

水族館的珊瑚專家Keri O'Neill告訴CNN：“很有可能我們今年剛剛進行了最后一次柱狀珊瑚的野生產(chǎn)卵。”“但隨著這個項目的成功，作為一名科學家，我認為在可預見的未來，我們每年都可以在實驗室里培育佛羅里達柱珊瑚，并繼續(xù)努力重建珊瑚種群。”

The Florida Aquarium

The aquarium’s coral conservation team says their coral “greenhouses” use LED technology to mimic the light produced by sunrises, sunsets, moonrises and moonsets — all of which play a crucial role in coral reproduction. Juvenile coral will continue to grow in the lab until they’re deemed strong enough to be placed in the wild.

水族館的珊瑚保護小組說，他們的珊瑚“溫室”使用LED技術(shù)來模擬日出、日落、月出和月出所產(chǎn)生的光，所有這些都在珊瑚繁殖中起到了至關(guān)重要的作用。幼年珊瑚將繼續(xù)在實驗室中生長，直到它們被認為強壯到可以放在野外。

Researchers are looking forward to building more greenhouses for spawning and developing the technology for other coral species.

研究人員正期待著為產(chǎn)卵建造更多的溫室，并為其他珊瑚物種開發(fā)技術(shù)。

Concluded Germann, “The future of the Florida Reef tract just got a lot brighter.”

格曼總結(jié)道:“佛羅里達珊瑚礁區(qū)的未來變得更加光明。”