Okay, not a forest like you were expecting, right?

好吧，不像你期待的那樣是一片森林，對嗎？

But trust me, this forest ecosystem is every bit as beautiful and epic as a forest on land, only instead of being made of trees, this one is made of giant, towering strands of kelp.

但請相信我，這個森林生態系統與陸地上的森林一樣美麗壯觀，只不過它不是由樹木組成的，而是由高聳入雲的巨型海帶組成的。

But this epic forest is in danger of disappearing.

但這片史詩般的森林正面臨著消失的危險。

Luckily, an unlikely team of marine mammal researchers, underwater ecologists, and algae farmers is fighting to bring this forest back from the brink.

幸運的是，一個由海洋哺乳動物研究人員、水下生態學家和海藻養殖者組成的不可能的團隊正在努力將這片森林從邊緣拉回來。

Like every forest, this one has predators to help keep it in balance.

和其他森林一樣，這片森林也有捕食者來幫助保持平衡。

And one of those predators is really stinking cute.

其中有一隻捕食者真的很可愛。

I mean, have you ever seen anything that adorable in your life?

我是說，你這輩子見過這麼可愛的東西嗎？

Kelp forests are the foundation of this marine ecosystem.

海帶林是這一海洋生態系統的基礎。

Without them, this environment would not exist as we know it.

沒有他們，就沒有我們現在所處的環境。

They support over 800 species and provide crucial habitat and food.

它們支持著 800 多個物種，並提供重要的棲息地和食物。

Kelp forests like this one can be found in cold water regions all over the world.

像這樣的海藻林遍佈世界各地的冷水區。

Now, you might be tempted to call kelp a plant, but don't.

現在，你可能很想把海帶稱為植物，但千萬不要。

Kelp is a type of macroalgae, which means it doesn't have roots, stems, or leaves like plants.

海帶是一種大型藻類，這意味著它不像植物那樣有根、莖或葉。

Kelp forests have been a part of these coastlines for more than 30 million years.

三千多萬年來，海藻林一直是這些海岸線的一部分。

One of the dominant species of kelp here in California is bull kelp.

加州的主要海藻品種之一是公牛海藻。

It's the trees of this underwater forest.

這是水下森林的樹木。

And these kelp forests thrive in part because of animals like sea otters.

而這些海藻林的興旺部分歸功於海獺等動物。

They're part of a complex love-slash-lunch triangle between predators like otters, kelp, and underwater plant-eaters like sea urchins.

它們是水獺、海帶等捕食者和海膽等水下植物食者之間複雜的 "三角戀 "的一部分。

Here's how it all works.

事情是這樣的

Urchins eat kelp, which is fine so long as someone eats the urchins.

海膽吃海帶，只要有人吃海膽就沒問題。

Someone like our cute and hungry friend here, who can eat up to 15 pounds of seafood a day.

就像我們這位可愛又飢餓的朋友，一天能吃掉 15 磅海鮮。

An otter's appetite protects the kelp forest from being overgrazed.

水獺的食慾可以保護海藻林不被過度掠奪。

The kelp keeps the urchin happy and fed, the urchin keep the otter healthy and fed, and the otter eating the urchin keeps the kelp from being overgrazed.

海藻讓海膽吃得開心，海膽讓水獺吃得健康，水獺吃海膽讓海藻不被過度捕撈。

Scientists call this type of carefully balanced relationship between different species a trophic cascade.

科學家們把這種不同物種之間謹慎平衡的關係稱為營養級聯。

But here's the thing.

但問題是

This carefully balanced trophic cascade has fallen apart in Northern California.

這種精心平衡的營養級聯在北加州已經崩潰。

Otters are fighting for their lives here.

水獺們在這裡為自己的生命而戰。

European settlers decimated the otter population in the mid-1700s and early 1800s as part of the fur trade.

在 17 世紀中期和 19 世紀早期，歐洲定居者在毛皮貿易中大量捕殺水獺。

But researchers are trying to bring them back one otter at a time.

但是，研究人員正試圖一次一隻水獺地把它們帶回來。

My name is Sandrine Hazan and I rescue and rehabilitate sea otters.

我叫桑德琳-哈贊（Sandrine Hazan），負責海獺的救助和康復工作。

You get to take care and rehabilitate and release the cutest animal on earth into the wild?

你能照顧、康復並將地球上最可愛的動物放歸大自然嗎？

I do that.

我就是這麼做的。

Yes, I have that badge.

是的，我有那個徽章。

This is a receiver that's used to pick up a signal that a released otter would have.

這是一個接收器，用來接收被釋放的水獺發出的信號。

So they are implanted with a transmitter that has a specific frequency and we can pick that up with this receiver.

是以，他們被植入一個具有特定頻率的發射器，我們可以用這個接收器接收到。

We recently released otter 956 just out here in the kelp bed.

我們最近在這裡的海藻床放生了水獺 956。

And so we have been tracking her on a daily basis.

是以，我們每天都在跟蹤她。

Let's cut this and enjoy this otter release footage.

我們來剪輯一下，欣賞一下水獺放生的鏡頭。

Why do all this work?

為什麼要做這些工作？

Why do all this trouble to track one otter?

為什麼要費盡周折追蹤一隻水獺？

Well, it's really part of the bigger picture of helping to bring these otters back to their historic habitat.

這其實是幫助水獺回到其歷史棲息地的大局的一部分。

They are a keystone species and they really do so much for these kelp forests, keeping them healthy and keeping them balanced.

它們是關鍵性物種，為海藻森林做出了巨大貢獻，使其保持健康和平衡。

After the otter population disappeared, another predator stepped up.

水獺的數量消失後，另一種捕食者挺身而出。

Sea stars, particularly the sunflower sea star with its dinner plate-sized body and up to 24 limbs.

海星，尤其是向日葵海星，它有餐盤大小的身體和多達 24 個肢體。

They began to dine on urchins, becoming formidable urchin hunters themselves.

它們開始以海膽為食，自己也成了可怕的海膽獵手。

But then a series of events turned hundreds of miles of California coastline a spiky purple.

但隨後發生的一系列事件將加州數百英里的海岸線染成了紫色。

Suddenly, a mysterious marine disease nearly wiped out sea star populations.

突然，一種神祕的海洋疾病幾乎消滅了海星的數量。

And then a roving ball of warm ocean water known as the blob rolled through the region, causing sea temperatures to rise by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius.

然後，一個被稱為 "圓球 "的暖海水球在該地區滾動，導致海水溫度上升了 2 到 3 攝氏度。

The trophic cascade fell out of balance.

營養級聯失去了平衡。

The sea stars disappeared, the urchins went wild, and 96% of the kelp canopy along Northern California's coastline has disappeared in the past decade.

海星消失了，海膽瘋長了，北加州海岸線上 96% 的海帶樹冠在過去十年中消失了。

A region spanning 350 kilometers of the coast.

橫跨 350 公里海岸線的地區。

I think we're ready to go.

我想我們已經準備好了

Got my camera.

拿到相機了

Yeah, let's do it.

好，就這麼辦

One of the last remaining strongholds of bull kelp is here in Mendocino County in Northern California.

北加州門多西諾縣是公牛海藻僅存的據點之一。

We're kind of left in a situation where there is no natural predator in the sea right now.

我們現在的處境是，海里沒有天敵。

And so what I work on specifically is trying to find ways where human can temporarily mitigate and help fill that role until we're able to have some level of apex predator back in the system.

是以，我的具體工作就是想方設法讓人類暫時緩解並幫助填補這一空缺，直到我們的系統中重新出現某種程度的頂級捕食者。

This is our coral reef.

這是我們的珊瑚礁。

This is our Great Barrier Reef for Californians.

這是加利福尼亞人的大堡礁。

It's kelp for us.

這是我們的海帶。

Kelp and the ecosystems they create are why we have any fish in the ocean.

海帶和它們創造的生態系統是我們在海洋中養魚的原因。

They create food, habitat, and shelter for hundreds if not thousands of organisms, including human.

它們為包括人類在內的成百上千的生物創造食物、棲息地和庇護所。

To understand the extent of the loss, scientists like Tristan have turned to aerial imagery and high-resolution mapping, looking at kelp from both below the water and from above.

為了瞭解損失的程度，像特里斯坦這樣的科學家轉而使用航空影像和高分辨率地圖，從水下和水上觀察海藻。

So what you're looking at right there is the dark green patches, and this was just this past fall.

你現在看到的是深綠色的斑塊，這是今年秋天剛剛出現的。

And that's where, that's the only area where we saw kelp.

那是我們唯一看到海藻的地方。

And so what we're focused on now is looking at where kelp has been persistent and it's survived, so then we can really focus our kelp recovery efforts in a way that's meaningful, impactful, and then also leveraging persistent kelp refugia.

是以，我們現在的重點是研究海藻在哪些地方持續存活，這樣我們就能真正將海藻恢復工作的重點放在有意義、有影響的地方，同時也能利用持續存在的海藻庇護所。

One of those recovery efforts involved roping in aquaculture researcher Andrew Kim and his team to plant lab-grown kelp in the waters of Northern California.

其中一項恢復工作是邀請水產養殖研究員安德魯-金（Andrew Kim）和他的團隊在北加州水域種植實驗室培育的海帶。

We've developed these methods for being able to grow kelps year-round.

我們開發了這些方法，使海帶能夠全年生長。

Being able to put kelps out that are already ahead of the curve and giving them really just a head start in the environment, I think, is a big breakthrough.

我認為，能夠把已經走在前面的海帶放出來，並讓它們在環境中真正先行一步，是一個很大的突破。

Because for an annual species like the bull kelp, it extends the potential window for them to be reproductive and to put spores into the environment.

因為對於像公牛海帶這樣的一年生物種來說，這延長了它們繁殖和向環境中投放孢子的潛在窗口期。

Bull kelp like this regenerates every year, growing from a microscopic spore to a huge structure dozens of meters tall.

像這樣的公牛海帶每年都會再生，從一個微小的孢子長成幾十米高的巨大結構。

This kelp can grow up to 60 centimeters per day, making it one of the fastest growing organisms in the ocean.

這種海帶每天可生長 60 釐米，是海洋中生長速度最快的生物之一。

After three years of trial and error, Andrew and his team are seeing success with new ways of planting their lab-grown kelp designed to protect young kelp from predators and harsh conditions.

經過三年的反覆試驗，安德魯和他的團隊採用新的方法種植實驗室培育的海帶，以保護幼海帶免受捕食者和惡劣環境的影響，並取得了成功。

Kind of like you would plant a raised garden bed if you had animals running through your garden.

就像如果有動物在你的花園裡跑來跑去，你會在花園裡種一個高架花壇一樣。

You could put your seaweed in a raised bed and keep it out of the hungry reaches of the urchins.

您可以把海藻放在一個高床上，使其遠離海膽的飢餓範圍。

About a month ago, we put out kelps that were about 6 to 10 inches, and we came back and we surveyed these modules.

大約一個月前，我們放出了大約 6 到 10 英寸的海帶，然後我們回來勘察了這些模塊。

And in the last month, they've grown several feet, and they're already attracting lots of fish.

在過去的一個月裡，它們已經長了好幾英尺，已經吸引了很多魚。

Every time we put kelp out, we're putting a piece of hope out, you know, the hope that it'll create home for some little fish.

每次我們把海帶放出來，都是在放一個希望，你知道，希望它能為一些小魚創造一個家。

It's a big ocean.

這是一片汪洋大海。

We just need to keep working and chipping away.

我們只需要繼續努力，不斷進步。

We're all in this together, and we need to keep trying.

我們在一起，我們需要繼續努力。

Back in the rich marine waters of Monterey, Sandrine is working hard to support otters as the cute, hungry predators fight to retake their place as the keystone species of this ecosystem.

回到蒙特雷富饒的海域後，桑德琳努力為水獺提供支持，因為這些可愛、飢餓的食肉動物正努力奪回它們作為生態系統中關鍵物種的地位。

Do we have ears on 956 right now?

現在 956 有聲音嗎？

We do.

我們會的。

Yeah, this is her signal, and she is somewhere nearby.

是的，這是她的信號，她就在附近某個地方。

And based on this signal, she is resting.

根據這一信號，她正在休息。

Do you think in your lifetime that otters in the kelp forest will be restored north of here?

您認為在您有生之年，海藻林中的水獺會在這裡以北得到恢復嗎？

I hope so.

但願如此。

The sea otters are trying really hard to expand their range, and we are doing everything we can to support conservation efforts to help them restore back to their range.

海獺正在努力擴大自己的活動範圍，我們正在盡一切努力支持保護工作，幫助它們恢復活動範圍。

It sounds like you take it day by day, otter by otter around here.

聽起來你好像是在這裡一天一天地過著水獺生活。

Yes, very, very much so. 956, wherever you are, I hope that you're getting lots of good urchin snacks.

是的，非常非常喜歡。956 不管你在哪裡 我希望你能吃到很多美味的海膽點心

The kelp forest reminds us of the wonder that's out there in nature, sometimes literally right beneath the surface.

海藻林提醒我們大自然的神奇，有時就在海面之下。

It's all so precious and so fragile.

這一切都如此珍貴，又如此脆弱。

We just have to take it one breath at a time.

我們只能一口氣一口氣地來。

For more UN videos visit www.un.org

欲瞭解更多聯合國視頻，請訪問 www.un.org