Oil pollution could damage the fragile ecology of the coral reefs.

石油污染可能破坏珊瑚礁脆弱的生态环境。

Oil spills are having a devastating effect on coral reefs in the ocean.

海上溢油对海洋里的珊瑚礁有着毁灭性影响。

All over the world, coral reefs are dying.

全世界的珊瑚礁都在消亡。

The pilot guided us through the dangerous reefs.

这位引航员引导我们通过了危险的暗礁区。

This of course has beneficial results for the nearby coral reefs.

这当然对附近的珊瑚礁有益。

Now, in small numbers, the starfish don't affect coral reefs dramatically.

现在，海星数量很少，对珊瑚礁的影响也不大。

Both of these grow in coastal waters, often in the vicinity of coral reefs.

这两种植物都生长在沿海水域，且通常生长在珊瑚礁附近。

There are almost always pockets of coral on the reefs that remain unaffected.

珊瑚礁上几乎总有一些珊瑚没有受到影响。

I'm helping to do research on the coral and the fish that live around the reefs.

我正在帮助研究珊瑚和生活在珊瑚礁周围的鱼类。

The reefs here are beautiful, but if the sea water is polluted, the coral will die.

这里的珊瑚礁是美丽的，但是如果海水被污染，珊瑚就会死亡。

The Cot starfish is found on coral reefs in the tropical Pacific Ocean and it eats coral.

刺冠海星生活在热带太平洋的珊瑚礁上，以珊瑚为食。

Luckily, the CoT starfish population gradually declined on its own and the reefs recovered.

幸运的是，刺冠海星的数量渐渐地自发减少了，珊瑚礁也恢复了。

See, when coral reefs experience bleaching, it's rarely a case of the whole reef being affected.

你看，当珊瑚礁经历白化时，整个珊瑚礁群受到的影响是很小的。

There are quiet islands, warm, clear water, a huge amount of reefs and a variety of marine life.

这里有安静的岛屿，温暖、清澈见底的水，大量的珊瑚礁和各种各样的海洋生物。

Coral reefs are one of the most fragile, biologically complex, and diverse marine ecosystems on Earth.

珊瑚礁是地球上最脆弱、生态性最复杂、最多样化的海洋生态系统之一。

We think that when reefs are damaged, after a few years, the fastest-growing corals repopulate the areas.

我们认为，如果珊瑚礁遭到破坏，几年之后，生长最快的珊瑚就会重新在该地区繁衍生息。

There's another technique that's been experimented with to try to help coral reefs recover from bleaching.

人们还尝试了另一种技术，试图帮助珊瑚礁从漂白状态中恢复。

We are seeing a decline in major ecosystems like kelp forests, sea life communities, coral reefs and so on.

我们正目睹像海藻丛林，海洋生物群落，珊瑚礁等主要生态系统的衰落。

There are several techniques being employed today that could prove useful in assuring the future of the reefs.

经过检验，今天所运用的一些技术能有效保障珊瑚礁的未来。

We can also protect the reefs by protecting the surrounding ecosystems, like mangrove forests and seagrass beds.

我们保护珊瑚礁的方法还有保护周边的生态系统，比如红树林和海草丛。

Ships are often sunk in order to create underwater reefs perfect for scuba diving and preserving marine habitats.

船只沉没通常为创造水下暗礁提供了条件，这是水肺潜水和保护海洋栖息地最理想的环境。

These should be the area of concentration for researchers to locate and protect those regions as a way to sustain coral reefs.

这些区域是研究人员应该定位并保护的中心区域，这是维持珊瑚礁群的一种方法。

One consequence for coral reefs is that the symbiosis between the corals and algae that constitute a living reef is breaking down.

珊瑚礁面临的一个后果是，构成活珊瑚礁的珊瑚和藻类之间的共生关系正在瓦解。

Now let's focus on a specific example of a natural predator that can cause a lot of damage to coral reefs—the Crown of Thorns, or CoT starfish.

现在，让我们来看一个自然捕食者的具体例子，它会对珊瑚礁造成很大的伤害——那就是刺冠海星。

If some reefs are destroyed by storms, starfish populations that inhabited those reefs would have to condense and concentrate on the reefs that are left.

如果一些珊瑚礁被风暴摧毁了，居住在那些珊瑚礁上的海星种群将不得不集中在剩下的珊瑚礁上。

Home to virgin reefs, rare sharks and vast numbers of exotic fish, the Coral Sea is a unique haven of biodiversity off the northeastern coast of Australia.

珊瑚海是澳大利亚东北海岸独特的生物多样性天堂，有未开发的珊瑚礁、稀有的鲨鱼和大量的外来鱼类。

Since the disappearance of sea urchins from the waters up the coast of South Florida, many coral reefs there have been smothered by the uncontrolled growth of algae.

自从海胆从南佛罗里达海岸的海水中消失后，那里有许多珊瑚礁被不受控制生长的藻类所扼杀。

Larval CoT starfish eat phytoplankton in their first month of life, so more fertilizer in the ocean means more phytoplankton, which means more starfish, bad for the reefs.

年幼的刺冠海星在出生后的第一个月就以浮游植物为食，所以海洋中肥料越多，浮游植物就越多，也意味着海星越多，这对珊瑚礁非常不利。

We've been talking about the decline of coral reefs in tropical areas all over the world—how natural and man-made stresses are causing them to degrade or in some cases, to die.

我们之前提到了世界各地热带地区中珊瑚礁的衰落，即自然和人为（造成的）压力是怎样造成珊瑚礁退化，或者甚至在某些情况下，造成它们死亡的。

"I would like to have seen more protection for coral reefs," says Terry Hughes, director of the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Queensland.

“我希望珊瑚礁能得到更多保护。”昆士兰州詹姆斯·库克大学珊瑚礁卓越研究中心主任特里·休斯说。