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Every day, the largest mass migration on the planet happens—in the world's oceans.
每天我們的星球海洋中都會(huì)上演最大規(guī)模的遷移。
Tiny fish, jellies and shrimpy things feed at the water's surface by night.
夜晚小魚，水母和小蝦等都會(huì)到海面上尋找食物。
And by day, they hide in darker waters a few hundred meters below.
而到了白天，它們則藏身在水下幾百米深的黑暗水域。
"The ocean is a dangerous place, and so swimming down to depth is your best bet to avoid predators."
“大海的世界里危險(xiǎn)無(wú)處不在，所以游到深處是躲避掠食者的最佳選擇。”
Daniele Bianchi, an oceanographer at the University of Washington.
華盛頓大學(xué)海洋學(xué)家丹尼艾爾?比安奇說(shuō)道。
Bianchi and his team tracked these ocean migrations with sonar data.
比安奇和他的團(tuán)隊(duì)利用聲納數(shù)據(jù)追蹤大海中生物們的遷徙活動(dòng)。
And they found that the creatures descend to areas of deep water where certain species of bacteria hang out.
而經(jīng)研究他們發(fā)現(xiàn)這些海洋生物會(huì)游到某些特別細(xì)菌出沒(méi)的深水區(qū)域。
Those bacteria snack on nutrients that float down from the surface—so-called "marine snow."
這些細(xì)菌以從海面上落下被稱為海洋雪的營(yíng)養(yǎng)物為食。
But Bianchi says the migrating creatures may also deliver food to the bacteria—in the form of ammonia in the creatures’ urine.
但比安奇指出遷徙的海洋生物通過(guò)自身排出尿液中所含的氨也為那些細(xì)菌提供食物來(lái)源。
The bacteria metabolize the ammonia to produce energy and nitrogen gas—effectively removing the nitrogen from the food chain, and sending it in gaseous form back into the atmosphere.
細(xì)菌進(jìn)行氨代謝產(chǎn)生能量和氮?dú)狻獜氖澄镦溨杏行У貙⒌懦龊笤僖詺鈶B(tài)形式送回大氣。
Then other bacteria fix that nitrogen gas back into food chains—on land and in the ocean—where it eventually finds its way into amino acids.
然后其它細(xì)菌再將氮?dú)馑突仃懙丶昂Ｑ蟮氖澄镦溨校链怂罱K形成氨基酸。
Some of which make up the proteins in us.
其中的一些組成我們體內(nèi)的蛋白質(zhì)。
The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
這項(xiàng)研究已經(jīng)在《國(guó)家科學(xué)院院刊》上發(fā)表。
"There are about 20 times more of these tiny fish than there are humans on the planet."
“這些小魚的數(shù)量大約是地球上人類的20多倍。”
Meaning that these miniscule creatures could play an important role in the ocean's nitrogen cycle,Daniele says—simply by taking a leak.
丹尼艾爾表示這些小微生物僅僅通過(guò)排泄就能在海洋氮循環(huán)中發(fā)揮至關(guān)重要的作用。
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