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A living stump sounds like something out of a horror movie.
一個活著的樹樁，聽起來像是恐怖電影才會有的東西。
In fact, it is not unusual for a tree, deprived of its trunk and foliage by lightning, disease or a lumberjack,
事實上，這對一棵被閃電、疾病或伐木工人奪去樹干和樹葉的樹來說并不稀奇，
but still possessed of roots and an above-ground stump, to continue a zombie-like existence for years—even decades.
這些樹仍有樹根和在地面上的殘余，它們可以像僵尸一樣存活數(shù)年，甚至數(shù)十年。
Such arboreal undead have been recognised since 1833.
這種樹棲不死生物自1833年就被發(fā)現(xiàn)了。
But surprisingly, until now, no living stump has been subjected to detailed scientific scrutiny.
但令人驚訝的是，直到現(xiàn)在都沒有對這種活著的樹樁的詳細科學檢查。
The scrutinised stump, pictured above, is the remains of a Kauri tree in Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, New Zealand.
上圖中經過仔細檢查的樹樁是新西蘭懷特克雷山脈地區(qū)公園里一棵貝殼杉的殘余部分。
It and two neighbouring, intact, Kauris were investigated by Martin Bader and Sebastian Leuzinger of Auckland University of Technology,
奧克蘭理工大學的Martin Bader和Sebastian Leuzinger研究了這顆樹樁以及周圍兩棵完整的貝殼杉，
who have just published their results in iScience.
他們剛在《iScience》發(fā)表了他們的研究結果。
Dr Bader and Dr Leuzinger started with the suspicion that living stumps are sustained through their roots by nearby, intact trees of the same species.
Bader和Leuzinger博士開始懷疑活著的樹樁是靠著附近同種完整樹木的樹根支撐著的。
Above ground, trees look like distinct entities, but below the surface things get more complicated.
在地面上，樹木看起來像像是不同的實體，但在地面下，事情變得更加復雜。
More than 150 tree species, Kauris among them, are known to have roots that sometimes fuse with those of other members of the same species.
包括貝殼杉在內的150多種樹木，它們的樹根有時會和同一物種中其他成員的樹根交纏。
Such subterranean junctions permit exchange between individual trees of food, water, minerals and even micro-organisms,
這種地下的連接允許食物、水、礦物質甚至微生物在樹木之間進行交換
to create what some regard as a superorganism.
以創(chuàng)造出一些人認為是超個體的東西。
The question the researchers asked was: if a tree in such a network were reduced to a stump,
研究人員提出的問題是：如果這一網絡中的一棵樹被砍成樹樁，
would that remnant quickly be cut loose as useless and left to fend for itself?
剩余的部分會很快被認為是一種無用的東西被拋棄或讓其自生自滅嗎？
Their study, carried out over the course of nine days, proved that the stump under scrutiny was still a participating member of the local superorganism.
他們的研究進行了9天，研究證明經過仔細檢查的樹樁仍然是本地超個體中一位參與成員。
Sensors fitted to the two intact trees and the stump showed that the stump's flow of sap and water ran inversely to that of the trees.
安裝在兩棵完整的樹和樹樁上的傳感器顯示，樹樁液流和水的流量與樹木的流量成反比。
On sunny days, when the intact trees were photosynthesising extensively and drawing a great deal of water up their trunks,
在陽光明媚的日子里，完整的樹木會進行廣泛的光合作用，把大量的水分吸到樹干上
there was almost no water movement in the stump. At night, when the trees were no longer transpiring in this way,
而樹樁里幾乎沒有水的流動。在夜晚，當樹木不再以這種方式蒸發(fā)水分時，
water flooded into the stump and sap flow reached a maximum, indicating that it was receiving a burst of resources.
流入樹樁的水和液流達到最大值，表明它接收到了大量的資源。
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