实验室培育的珊瑚实现“重大突破”，或可拯救美国的珊瑚礁

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.

佛罗里达及其独特的生态系统能提供的远不止跳篱笆的短吻鳄和呕吐的秃鹰——这就是为什么海洋科学家希望重建对海洋健康至关重要的珊瑚。

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.

现在，位于坦帕的佛罗里达水族馆的研究人员说，他们已经向前迈出了一大步——历史上第一次在实验室环境下产卵，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.”

佛罗里达水族馆总裁兼首席执行官罗杰·格曼在一份声明中说：“虽然许多珊瑚专家认为这是不可能做到的，但我们将这一挑战牢记在心，并投入了我们的资源和专业知识，以实现这一具有里程碑意义的成果。”

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.

在伦敦霍尼曼博物馆和花园的研究人员的帮助下，珊瑚工程于2014年启动。科学家们主要关注的是濒临灭绝的支柱珊瑚，这种珊瑚已被石质珊瑚组织丢失病破坏。

“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.”

水族馆的珊瑚专家Keri O'Neill告诉CNN：“很有可能我们今年刚刚进行了最后一次柱状珊瑚的野生产卵。”“但随着这个项目的成功，作为一名科学家，我认为在可预见的未来，我们每年都可以在实验室里培育佛罗里达柱珊瑚，并继续努力重建珊瑚种群。”

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.

水族馆的珊瑚保护小组说，他们的珊瑚“温室”使用LED技术来模拟日出、日落、月出和月出所产生的光，所有这些都在珊瑚繁殖中起到了至关重要的作用。幼年珊瑚将继续在实验室中生长，直到它们被认为强壮到可以放在野外。

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

研究人员正期待着为产卵建造更多的温室，并为其他珊瑚物种开发技术。

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

格曼总结道:“佛罗里达珊瑚礁区的未来变得更加光明。”