10年有成：全球首次海洋生物普查結果出爐

摘譯自2010年10月5日ENS英國，倫敦報導；段譽豪編譯；蔡麗伶審校



來自80多國的海洋探險家日前發表了首次的海洋物種普查結果，這是科學界10年來努力的成果。

這次物種普查的結果將已知的海洋物種數量由原先的23萬種增加至25萬種。

這上百萬份的標本來自過去熟知或很少被探索的海域，普查中發現6000多種可能的新種，並對其中1200多種的做了完整的描述。調查發現，有些過去被認為稀有的物種事實上很常見。

這項有史以來最大規模的科學合作之一的行動，有超過2700名科學家參與，花了超過9000天的時間，進行540次以上的探索，還有無數的時間花費在實驗室以及資料歸檔。

他們共同做出了一幅前所未有的圖畫，各式各樣的海洋生物多樣性、分布以及豐富度-從微生物到鯨魚，從冰冷的極地到溫暖的熱帶，從海岸直到最深邃的海底。

主持生物普查計畫委員會的澳洲籍波納(Ian Poiner)博士說，「所有在地表的生物都必須仰賴海洋中的生物。海洋生物供應了我們所需氧氣的一半，也作為食物並且調節氣候。我們都是海洋的子民。」

他說，「雖然我們對包括至少75萬種的生物以及他們所扮演的角色仍有許多未知，我們現在至少已經比較了解這些生物，也知道他們在地球上的廣大棲息地。」

一份概括了10年來發現的摘要、一張地圖以及3本圖書在周一(4日)於倫敦發表。

這份普查報告以書籍、期刊、資料庫、網站、影像與相片的方式記錄。過去10年共有2600多篇學術論文發表，平均1.5天一篇。

對12萬種海洋生物達3千萬次的觀察紀錄，都收錄在普查的資料庫內，稱為海洋生物地理資訊系統(OBIS)。

根據這些上百萬次的觀察紀錄，這次普查完成了第一次區域與全球海洋生物多樣性的比較。

這促成了首次對所有已知海洋生物名錄的製作，在2010年9月時，已經收錄超過19萬種生物，同時也提供了生命百科網站(Encyclopedia of Life)中8000種的生物資料。

這項普查也訂定了一個基準，可以用來衡量氣候或是漏油造成的影響。記錄了新物種的發現，海洋通路的劃定，以及物種豐度的增加或減少。

生物普查計畫應證了像是DNA條碼等新技術可以用來識別海洋生物。由加州經過加拿大一路排到阿拉斯加的麥克風陣列，則是對海洋動物全球性追蹤網絡的先鋒。所研發的珊瑚礁自主監測架構，訂定了全球對珊瑚礁平估的標準。聲納系統則探測了數萬平方公里的海域。上述科技說明了發展全球海洋觀測系統除了可以觀察生物，也可以監測水溫與海浪。

科學指導委員會的法籍副主席西布特(Myriam Sibuet)說，「這次生物普查擴大了我們已知的世界。生命在我們所見到的每一處都令人驚嘆。即使在深海那般極端的環境中，還是有豐富的生物群聚。」

「新發現的物種以及棲地的非凡之美，啟發與促進了科學與藝術界。」西布特說，「一些新發現的海洋生物甚至打入了流行文化界，例如說雪蟹(yeti crab)的圖案就被當成滑板上的裝飾。」

然而，很多事情仍是未知數。在生物普查工作過後，仍然無法可靠的估計海洋中所有物種的數目，不論是已知或是未知的。

但有上百萬種海洋生物的推論是合乎邏輯的，而微生物的話，很可能有上千萬甚至上億個種類。

這次普查發現生物無所不在，即使熱到能溶化鉛，冷到海水結凍，沒有光線也沒有氧氣的地方，都充滿生物。普查大大擴大了已知生命存在的環境與棲地。在海洋棲地環境中，極端，就是正常。

參與生物普查的科學家發現，造成海洋生物已知、未知或部可知的原因可以分成5大類：無法見到失落的過去，海洋的遼闊，難以將分散的知識整合，人們自我矇蔽，不願意去學習或接觸，以及像是海嘯這類無法預知的干擾。

然而，許多以前未知的資訊現在人人都可以得到了。OBIS的物種名錄以及對已隻海洋物種的描述，讓人們可以監測21世紀的變化。它也指出了海洋尚未被探索過的區域。

生物普查始於2000年，透過紐澤西羅格斯大學(Rutgers University)葛拉索(Fred Grassle)的努力以及紐約斯隆基金(Alfred P. Sloan Foundation)奧蘇貝爾(Jesse Ausubel)的贊助。用10年的期限來完成選定的工作。

在生物普查計畫的10年期間，整個計畫成長為6.5億美元的全球探索活動，涉及670個機構，參與者比原先預計的250人多了10倍。

葛拉索4日表示，「生物普查計畫已協助『e-生物圈』慕集基金，這是一個大規模的全面性計畫，目前正在為全世界的生物多樣性設置虛擬觀察裝置。OBIS以及像是生命百科、生命條碼以及谷歌地球等大型計畫，將觀察所得的環境資訊、物種資料以及實驗結果匯集成一套全球性的百科全書，大幅提升我們對地球上生命了解的能力。」

奧蘇貝爾說：「隨著科技發展進步，商業活動頻繁，人們也更容易接觸海洋，使海洋變得更加擁擠。畫出海洋生物的多樣性、分布與豐富度的基準之後，首次的海洋生物普查紀錄了不斷變化的海洋、更豐富的多樣性，生物分布與移動間更多的聯繫，更多人類的影響，以及更多未知的區域。」

「我們勝過了早先對普查是否可能的懷疑，也克服了極端嚴峻的自然環境，」波納說，「這個21世紀國際合作的過程，首次系統性的定義了廣大海洋已知以及未知這兩個部分。」

波納說，「探索的時代還在繼續中。」

超過300名生物普查的主持人7日在倫敦的大英皇家科學研究所、皇家學會以及自然史博物館聚會，分享他們的成果，並討論所帶來的影響。

生物普查計畫在倫敦會議後與明年九月在蘇格蘭亞伯丁(Aberdeen)舉行的世界海洋生物多樣性研討會這段期間，將會持續進行生物探索。Diversity, Beauty of Marine Life Charted in First Global CensusLONDON, UK, October 5, 2010 (ENS)

Marine explorers from more than 80 countries have issued the first global Census of Marine Life, the result of a decade of scientific exploration.

Discoveries made during the Census raised the estimate of known marine species from about 230,000 to nearly 250,000.

Among the millions of specimens collected in both familiar and seldom-explored waters, the Census found more than 6,000 potentially new species and completed formal descriptions of more than 1,200 of them. It found that species once thought to be rare are, in fact, common.

In one of the largest scientific collaborations ever conducted, more than 2,700 Census scientists spent over 9,000 days at sea on more than 540 expeditions, plus countless days in labs and archives.

They have produced an unprecedented picture of the diversity, distribution, and abundance of all kinds of marine life - from microbes to whales, from the icy poles to the warm tropics, from tidal near shores to the deepest dark depths.

"All surface life depends on life inside and beneath the oceans. Sea life provides half of our oxygen and a lot of our food and regulates climate. We are all citizens of the sea," said Dr. Ian Poiner of Australia, who chaired the Census Steering Committee.

"And while much remains unknown, including at least 750,000 undiscovered species and their roles, we are better acquainted now with our fellow travelers and their vast habitat on this globe," he said.

A highlights summary that encapsulates the decade of discovery, as well as maps and three books were released Monday in London.

The Census is documented in books and journals, databases and websites, videos, and photo galleries. Over the decade more than 2,600 academic papers were published - one, on average, every 1.5 days.

The diversity of marine life is documented by nearly 30 million observations of 120,000 species organized in the global marine life database of the Census, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, OBIS.

Based on these millions of observations, the Census compiled the first regional and global comparisons of marine species diversity.

It helped to create the first comprehensive list of the known marine species, already passing 190,000 in September 2010, and also helped to compose web pages for more than 80,000 of them in the Encyclopedia of Life.

The Census establishes a baseline against which to measure changes caused by climate or oil spills. New species were discovered, marine highways mapped, and new species as well as diminished abundance was documented.

The Census proved new technology, such as DNA barcoding for the identification of marine life. It arrayed microphones from California past Canada to Alaska to pioneer a global ocean tracking network for animals, invented Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures to standardize global assessment of reef life, and fostered acoustic systems to measure abundances over tens of thousands of square kilometers. Together, these technologies show that the developing Global Ocean Observing System can observe life as well as water temperature and waves.

Myriam Sibuet of France, vice-chair of the Scientific Steering Committee said, "The Census enlarged the known world. Life astonished us everywhere we looked. In the deep sea we found luxuriant communities despite extreme conditions."

"The discoveries of new species and habitats both advanced science and inspired artists with their extraordinary beauty," said Sibuet. "Some newly discovered marine species have even entered popular culture, like the yeti crab painted on skateboards."

Yet there is much that is still unknown. After all its work, the Census still could not reliably estimate the total number of species, the kinds of life, known and unknown, in the ocean.

But it logically extrapolated to at least a million kinds of marine life that earn the rank of species and to tens or even hundreds of millions of kinds of microbes.

The Census found living creatures everywhere, even where heat would melt lead, seawater froze to ice, and light and oxygen were lacking. It expanded known habitats and ranges in which life is known to exist. It found that in marine habitats, extreme is normal.

Census scientists found that the causes separating the known, unknown, and unknowable about marine life fall into five categories: the invisibility of the lost past, the vast expanse of the oceans, difficulties of assembling knowledge of parts into knowledge of a whole, blinders we put on ourselves by choosing not to learn or spend, and unpredictable disturbances such as tsunamis.

Yet much previously unknown information is now accessible to all. The OBIS directory of names and addresses of known ocean species establishes a reference against which humanity can monitor 21st century change. It also delineates the vast areas of ocean that have never been explored.

The Census was initiated in 2000 through the efforts of Fred Grassle of Rutgers University, New Jersey, and Jesse Ausubel of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New York. A 10-year deadline to accomplish their work was chosen.

During its decade the Census grew to a $650 million global exploration, involving over 670 institutions and more than 10 times the original 250 collaborators.

Grassle said Monday, "The Census has helped pour the foundation for the 'e-Biosphere,' a massive, comprehensive virtual observatory of world biodiversity now under construction. OBIS and related rich initiatives like the Encyclopedia of Life, Barcode of Life initiative, and Google Earth pool environmental observations, specimen data, and experimental results into a global commons to enhance dramatically our ability to understand Earth's life."

Ausubel said, "The Census encountered an ocean growing more crowded with commerce and transparent through technology. Setting out to draw baselines of the diversity, distribution, and abundance of species, the first Census of Marine Life documented a changing ocean, richer in diversity, more connected through distribution and movements, more impacted by humans, and yet less explored than we had known."

"We prevailed over early doubts that a Census was possible, as well as daunting extremes of nature," said Poiner. "This cooperative international 21st century voyage has systematically defined for the first time both the known and the vast unknown, unexplored ocean."

"The Age of Discovery continues," Poiner declared.

More than 300 leaders of the Census community are meeting in London through Thursday at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the Royal Society, and Natural History Museum to share their results and consider the implications.

A sequel to the Census will be explored during the London meetings and at the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity next September in Aberdeen, Scotland.

全文及圖片詳見：ENS報導

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