BBC Earth｜雨林分解者的隐秘力量

The Hidden Power of Rainforest Decomposers
BBC Earth｜Tropical Worlds｜The Green Planet

Now a new battle begins, one to claim the tree's dead body and the vast amount of nutrients that it contains. It's a battle that is fought throughout the natural world, involving a group of organisms that we rarely notice.
现在一场新的战斗开始了，一场争夺死树的躯干和它所含的大量营养的战斗。这是一场遍及自然界的战斗，涉及一群我们很少注意到的生物。

Here, on the floor of a tropical rainforest, it's dark, it's humid and it's hot - ideal conditions for fungi. We normally think of fungi as things like this. Mushrooms of one kind or another. But these are just the fruiting bodies. They exist for most of the time hidden in the leaf litter and the earth as a network of fine white threads.
这里，在热带雨林的地面上，又黑又湿又热——这是真菌的理想生存环境。我们通常认为真菌像这样的东西。各种各样的蘑菇。但这些只是子实体。它们大部分时间隐藏在落叶层和土壤中，以白色细线组成的网络存在。

The threads of competing fungi envelop their victim's body, releasing enzymes which digest the tree's tissues and unlock the nutrients within. There are a million or so different species of fungi in the tropics. Some feed on dead plants. Others eat them alive. And some reveal their existence in an eerily beautiful way.
竞争性真菌的线状体包裹着它们的猎物，释放酶来消化树木的组织并释放其中的营养。热带地区大约有一百万种不同种类的真菌。有些以枯死的植物为食。有些则以活植物为食。有些以一种奇异而美丽的方式展示了它们的存在。

In Africa, in the Congo, this is known as chimpanzee fire. The mysterious bioluminescent glow becomes brighter as the fungus digests the tree. When fungi have fed sufficiently, they develop their reproductive organs.
在非洲的刚果，这被称为“黑猩猩之火”。随着真菌分解树木，这种神秘的生物荧光变得更加明亮。当真菌得到足够的养分时，它们就会发育出生殖器官。

Each can produce literally billions of spores, the tiny particles that carry the species' genetic blueprint. Each spore like this has the potential to kill a tree. The spores are so light they can be carried by the slightest air currents. At least a billion float above every square metre of rainforest.
每一个都能产生数十亿个孢子，这些微小的颗粒携带着物种的基因蓝图。每一个这样的孢子都有可能杀死一棵树。孢子很轻，即使是最轻微的气流也能携带它们。每平方米雨林上至少有十亿个狍子漂浮着。

Recently, it has been discovered that these spores do far more than just bring death and decay. They are, in fact, at the very centre of the rainforest's life support system. High in the humid air, the spores combine with molecules of water.
最近，人们发现这些孢子带来的不仅仅是死亡和腐烂。事实上，它们是雨林生命维持系统的中心。在潮湿的高空空气中，孢子与水分子结合。

Gradually, they collect into droplets, which, when they are heavy enough, fall as rain. Over two-and-a-half metres of rain falls every year in a rainforest. And in the centre of almost every raindrop, there is a fungal spore.
它们逐渐聚集成水滴，当它们足够重时，就会以雨的形式落下。雨林每年的降雨量超过2.5米。在几乎每个雨滴的中心，都有一个真菌孢子。

词汇表
claim 争夺，夺走
vast amount [vɑːst] 大量
nutrient [ˈnjuːtrɪənt] 营养物质
tropical rainforest [ˈtrɒpɪkəl ˈreɪnfɒrɪst] 热带雨林
humid [ˈhjuːmɪd] 潮湿的
fungi / fungus [ˈfʌŋɡaɪ]  ['fʌŋɡəs] 真菌，菌类
fruiting bodies [ˈfruːtɪŋ ˈbɒdiz] 子实体：真菌和其他一些生物体产生孢子的结构
leaf litter [ˈlɪtə(r)] 落叶层，落叶堆
thread [θrɛd] 线，细丝
envelop [ɪnˈveləp] 包住，覆盖
enzyme [ˈenzaɪm] 酶
digest [daɪˈdʒest] 分解，消化
tissue [ˈtɪʃuː] （动植物的细胞）组织
unlock [ʌnˈlɒk] 释放，解锁
eerily [ˈɪərɪli] 奇异地，怪诞地
Congo [ˈkɒŋɡəʊ] 刚果
chimpanzee fire [ˌtʃɪmpænˈziː ] 黑猩猩之火（由某些腐朽木材中的真菌产生的生物发光现象）
bioluminescent  [baɪə'lu:mɪnsnt] 生物性发光的，生物荧光的
sufficiently [səˈfɪʃəntli] 足够地，充分地
reproductive organ [ˌriprəˈdʌktɪv ˈɔːɡən] 生殖器官
fungal spore   ['fʌŋɡ(ə)l] [spɔː] 真菌孢子：真菌生殖和传播的微小结构，通常在空气中传播
tiny particles [ˈtaɪni ˈpɑːtɪkəlz] 微小颗粒
genetic blueprint [dʒəˈnetɪk ˈbluːprɪnt] 基因蓝图：指一个生物体的基因组成，包括其遗传信息和特征。
air currents [ˈeə ˈkʌrənts] 气流
decay [dɪ'keɪ] 腐烂，腐朽
life support system 生命维持系统
molecules of water [ˈmɒlɪkjuːlz] 水分子
droplet [ˈdrɒplɪt] 小滴，微滴
raindrop [ˈreɪndrɒp] 雨滴，雨点


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