海洋世界的"人口普查"

The largest marine census ever conducted – that is, a count of every single organism living in Earth’s oceans –draws to a close in 2010. It’s called the Census of Marine Life. Renowned ocean researcher Jesse Ausubel serves as the project director. He said this Census has changed our understanding of life under the sea.

最大的海洋生物普查项目（即记录生活在海洋中的每一种生物）已于2010年接近尾声。该项目称作“全球海洋生物普查计划”。知名海洋研究者杰西．奥苏贝尔是项目主管。他说这次普查改变了我们对海洋生命的认识。

Jesse Ausubel: The total number of marine microbes known and described when the census began a bit more than a decade ago was only about 5,000. And, now, we have DNA sequences for hundreds of thousands.

杰西．奥苏贝尔：普查项目刚开始时，我们了解和记录的海洋微生物大概只有5000多种，仅比10年前多一点点，但如今，我们已经得到了数十万种海洋微生物的基因序列。

He said experts have used a combination of DNA analysis and video, acoustic and cell phone technology to figure out what’s living where, in the sea.

他说，专家们综合使用DNA分析、视频、水声及手机等技术定位各种海洋生物所在海域。

Jesse Ausubel : We’ve covered a lot of the world. We haven’t covered everyplace, but we have produced what we call a new biogeography of the oceans. It’s like neighborhoods.

杰西．奥苏贝尔：我们评估全球大部分的海域，不是所有的海域，但我们已经绘制海洋生物地理学的新蓝图，它有点类似社区体系。

Ausubel listed things his Census has help uncover, such as the location of the hottest ocean vent, and the status of herring as the world’s most widely distributed fish. He said the Census has identified more than 200 thousand different named marine species -from plankton to minnows to sharks. He said that there are still more than a million forms of complex ocean life yet to be discovered.

奥苏贝尔列举了一些该项普查的新发现，如找到了最热深海喷泉的所在地，确定了青鱼是世界上分布最广的鱼类。他说，普查已经记录了20多万种形态各异的海洋生物——包括浮游生物、小鱼类和鲨鱼类生物，但另外100多万种复杂的海洋生物仍有待发现。