Who here is fascinated by life under the sea? Fantastic.
在座有谁觉得海中的生命很迷人？好极了。
Now, what did we just do? Let's dissect this for a second.
我们刚刚做了什么？咱们先来分析一下这件事。
The simple action of an individual raising a hand led many others to do the same.
一个人举起手的这种简单动作，让许多其他人都跟着做。
Now, it's true that when individuals in a social network have common priorities,
的确，如果在社交网络中的个人有共同的优先级，
it's often beneficial to copy one another.
仿效彼此通常是有益处的。
Think back to grade school and dressing like the cool kids made you "cool."
回想小学时代，跟那些酷孩子穿得很像就能让你“很酷”。
But copying behavior is also common in wild animals.
但仿效行为在野生动物中也是很常见的。
For example, some birds copy the alarm calls of other birds to spread information about approaching predators.
比如，有些鸟会仿效其他鸟的警告叫声，来散播关于食肉动物靠近的警讯。
But could copying behavior in wild animals affect entire ecosystems that we humans depend on?
但野生动物的仿效行为有没有可能影响我们人类仰赖的整个生态系统？
I was led to this question while studying coral reefs,
当我在研究珊瑚礁时，这个问题浮现出来，
which support millions of people through fisheries and tourism here in Africa and around the world.
数百万人赖以为生的珊瑚礁，从渔业到旅游业，在非洲这里以及全世界都是如此。
But coral reefs depend on fish that perform a critical job by eating algae.
但珊瑚礁要仰赖鱼类执行极重要的工作：吃掉水藻。
Because if left unchecked, these algae can kill coral and take over entire coral reefs,
因为若不受约束，这些水藻会害死珊瑚，且占据整个珊瑚礁，
a costly change that is difficult or impossible to reverse.
造成很难改变或无法逆转的高昂代价。
So to understand how fish may prevent this, I spy on them while they're eating algae,
所以，为了了解鱼类如何预防这现象，我监视它们，观察它们吃水藻，
which can be difficult for them to do in open parts of the reef exposed to predators,
这对它们来说可能蛮困难的，因为当它们在珊瑚礁的开放区域时，会暴露在食肉动物的危机下，
some of which, on rare occasion, appear to realize I'm watching them.
极罕见地，有些食肉动物显然知道我在看它们。
So clearly, clearly, for reef fish, dining out can be scary.
所以，很显然，对珊瑚礁鱼类而言，外出用餐是挺可怕的。
But I wanted to understand how these fish do their job in risky situations.
但我想要了解这些鱼类如何在危险的情境中进行这项工作。

So my colleagues and I put massive video camera stands in a coral reef
所以我和同事在一个珊瑚礁上架设了巨大的摄影机脚架，
to remotely monitor entire feeding grounds that produce a lot of algae but are exposed to predators.
让我们从远程监视整片就食地，这里有许多水藻，但也暴露在食肉动物的危险中。
And this perspective from above shows us the feeding behavior
从上面看的这个视角，能呈现出多种不同鱼类的就食行为
and precise movements of many different fish, shown here with colored dots.
以及精确的移动路线，这些有颜色的点表示鱼类。
And by analyzing thousands of fish movements to and from feeding grounds, we discovered a pattern.
通过分析数千条鱼类移动的数据，包括前往就食地以及在该处的移动，我们发现了一个模式。
These fish, despite being from different species and not swimming in schools, were copying one another,
这些鱼类，尽管是不同种，且没有成群移动，它们仍然会仿效彼此，
such that one fish entering these dangerous feeding grounds could lead many others to do the same.
当一条鱼进入了危险的就食地时，可能会造成其他鱼类跟进。
And fish stayed for longer and ate more algae when they were surrounded by more feeding fish.
并且当被更多来就食的鱼类围绕时，它们就会待得更久、吃得更多。
Now, this could be happening because even simple movements by individual fish can inadvertently communicate vital information.
会发生这种现象，可能是因为单独一条鱼的简单动作，会不经意地传递出重要信息。
For example, if even one fish sees a predator and flees, this can alert many others to danger.
比如，即使是一条鱼看见食肉动物并逃跑，这动作就会警告其他鱼有危险出现。
And a fish safely entering feeding grounds can show others that the coast is clear.
而一条鱼安全地进入就食地，就能让其他鱼知道这里没有危险。
So it turns out that even when these fish are different species,
所以，结果显示，即使这些鱼类属于不同种，
they are connected within social networks which can provide information on when it's safe to eat.
它们仍然在社交网络中连接在一起，这个网络能提供何时可以安心去就食的信息。
And our analyses indicate that fish simply copying other fish in their social network
我们的分析指出，被鱼群吃掉的水藻中，
could account for over 60 percent of the algae eaten by the fish community,
超过六成都是被在鱼类的社交网络中单纯仿效其他鱼的那些鱼给吃掉的，
and thus could be critical to the flow of energy and resources through coral reef ecosystems.
因此，对于珊瑚礁生态系统中的能量与资源的流动，这些鱼是很重要的。
But these findings also suggest that overfishing, a common problem in coral reefs,
但这些发现也显示，过度捕捞是珊瑚礁的常见问题，
not only removes fish, but it could break up the social network of remaining fish,
不仅会造成鱼类消失，也会破坏剩下鱼类的社交网络，
which may hide more and eat less algae because they're missing critical information.
导致它们更常隐藏起来，吃的水藻更少，因为它们得不到重要的信息。
And this would make coral reefs more vulnerable than we currently predict.
这会让珊瑚礁比我们目前所预测的更脆弱。
So remarkably, fish social networks allow the actions of one to spread to many and could affect entire coral reefs,
所以，显然鱼类社交网络能将一条鱼的行为散播给许多条鱼，并且可能影响到整个珊瑚礁，
which feed millions of us and support the global economy for all of us.
这个喂养数百万人、全球经济都赖以为生的珊瑚礁。
Now, our discovery points us towards better ways to sustainably manage coral reefs,
我们的发现，为我们指出了持续地管理珊瑚礁的更好的方式，
but it also shows us, we humans are not just affected by the actions of other humans,
但也让我们知道，我们人类并不只受到其他人的行为所影响，
but we could be affected by the actions of individual fish on a distant coral reef through their simple copying behavior. Thank you.
连远方珊瑚礁上的一条鱼所做的简单仿效行为，也可能影响我们。谢谢。