珊瑚礁鱼类现在正迁移到温带海藻林，带来了可怕的后果

珊瑚礁鱼类现在正迁移到温带海藻林，带来了可怕的后果

If you're a diver who enjoys exploring coastal kelp forests, you might have noticed a recent shift in the biota inhabiting these lush marine habitats. Researchers have reported a sharp increase in some unusual visitors to the world's kelp forests: tropical coral reef fish, reports Phys.org.

如果你是一个喜欢探索沿海海藻森林的潜水员，你可能已经注意到最近栖息在这些郁郁葱葱的海洋栖息地的生物群发生了变化。据Phys.org网站报道，研究人员报告称，一些不寻常的访客——热带珊瑚礁鱼——在世界的海带森林中急剧增加。

These rabbitfish can now be found in kelp forests, far from their coral reef homes. (Photo: John Turnbull/Flickr)

Kelp forests are found in temperate oceans, so the presence of tropical fish swimming amongst their swaying stem-like stipes is alarming. It's an ominous reminder of the rapid rate at which our climate is changing and our ocean waters are warming.

温带海洋中有海带林，因此在它们摇摆的茎状叶柄中出现热带鱼是令人担忧的。这是一个不祥的提醒:我们的气候正在迅速变化，我们的海水正在变暖。

Research recently published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences documents how species from the tropics are moving to higher latitudes around the world, settling within new temperate ecosystems in a process known as tropicalization. One such species is the tropical herbivore rabbitfish, Siganus fuscescens, which is currently invading kelp forests in Western Australia. These fish are not just being driven from their preferred coral reef habitat due to rising ocean temperatures, but they are entering kelp forests with a voracious appetite for canopy-forming seaweeds.

最近发表在《英国皇家学会学报B:生物科学》杂志上的一项研究记录了物种如何从热带地区迁移到世界各地的高纬度地区，并在新的温带生态系统中定居下来，这一过程被称为“热带化”。其中一种是热带草食兔耳鱼西格努斯，它目前正在入侵西澳大利亚的海带森林。由于海洋温度上升，这些鱼不仅被赶出它们喜欢的珊瑚礁栖息地，而且它们进入了海藻林，对形成树冠的海藻有着巨大的胃口。

As a result, these fish threaten to consume the very seaweeds that are the scaffolding that make life in these majestic habitats possible.

因此，这些鱼威胁要吃掉这些海藻，正是这些海藻为这些宏伟的栖息地提供了生存的可能。

"Our research provided important evidence about how ecologically important tropical fish species moving south can impact the functioning of temperate reefs," said Salvador Zarco Perello, from University of Western Australia's School of Biological Sciences and Oceans Institute.

西澳大利亚大学生物科学和海洋研究所的萨尔瓦多·扎尔科·佩雷洛说:“我们的研究提供了重要的证据，证明生态上重要的热带鱼物种向南迁移会影响温带珊瑚礁的功能。”

It's not just the kelp that is getting mowed down, but as these fish chomp on the kelp, it changes the landscape and thus changes the types of animals that can survive there as well. It's a runaway domino-like process whereby the entire habitat is transforming at a pace that might be too rapid for many species to adapt to.

不仅仅是海带被割掉了，这些鱼吃海带的时候，也改变了地貌，因此也改变了能在那里生存的动物的种类。这是一个失控的多米诺骨牌式的过程，整个栖息地正在以一种对许多物种来说可能快到无法适应的速度转变。

This process isn't an expansion of coral reef ecosystems. Rather, it's a result of the disappearance of coral reef ecosystems around the world, and the migration of creatures that inhabit coral reefs fleeing for greener pastures. The fear is that as coral reefs disappear and kelp forests get shredded, that we'll eventually be left with marine deserts rather than just a redistribution of ecosystem zones.

这个过程不是珊瑚礁生态系统的扩张。相反，它是世界各地珊瑚礁生态系统消失的结果，是栖息在珊瑚礁上的生物为了寻找更绿的牧场而迁徙的结果。令人担忧的是，随着珊瑚礁的消失和海带森林的破碎，我们最终会留下海洋沙漠，而不仅仅是生态系统区域的重新分布。

"The monitoring and understanding of the acceleration of this process due to tropicalization is critical for future management strategies, since kelp is a fundamental seaweed that provides shelter and food to multiple animal species of ecological and commercial importance," said Zarco Perello.

“对热带化加速这一过程的监测和理解对未来的管理战略至关重要，因为海带是一种基本的海藻，为多种具有生态和商业重要性的动物物种提供庇护所和食物，”Zarco Perello说。

In just the last few decades alone, half of the world's coral reefs have disappeared due to bleaching and rising levels of ocean acidity, a direct result of increased carbon dioxide absorption from fossil fuel emissions. Coral reefs harbor a huge percentage of the planet's marine biodiversity, and those organisms are migrating north or south in a last ditch effort to find a replacement for the homes they've lost.

仅仅在过去的几十年里，全球一半的珊瑚礁已经消失，这是由于海水变白和海洋酸度上升造成的，这是化石燃料排放增加二氧化碳吸收的直接结果。珊瑚礁是地球上海洋生物多样性的一个巨大的港湾，这些生物正在向北或向南迁移，这是它们为寻找替代家园的最后一招。

The best way to save our kelp forests from this invasion is to conserve our coral reefs; that's where these invading tropical fish would prefer to live. It's another reminder of the unpredictable ways that rapid climate change is transforming our planet, with dire consequences.

保护海带森林免受这种入侵的最好办法是保护我们的珊瑚礁;这是这些入侵的热带鱼更喜欢生活的地方。这再次提醒我们，快速的气候变化正在以不可预测的方式改变我们的星球，并带来可怕的后果。