科学家们记录海洋动物被塑料垃圾缠绕或吞食的现象已有半个多世纪的历史；有些人甚至提出用“Plastocene”（塑料时代）来指代从20世纪50年代开始的这个地质时期。如今，研究人员发现了塑料污染环境的新方式：塑料正在与珊瑚发生化学反应并与其融合在一起。
Scientists have been recording marine animals entangled in or consuming plastic debris for over half a century, some even proposing the term “Plastocene” (the Plastic Age) to denote the geological epoch spanning from the 1950s onward. And now researchers have discovered a new way these substances are polluting the environment: Plastic is fusing with corals.
这一发现是在对日本南部琉球群岛的海滩进行调查时做出的。科学家们注意到白色珊瑚碎屑中嵌有一些颜色鲜艳的小斑点。他们从冲绳主岛的三个海滩采集了样本，并将其带回实验室进行光谱分析，结果发现这些斑点中含有来自常见家用塑料的聚合物。
The discovery of this conglomerate—which researchers have dubbed “plasticoral”—was made during a survey of the beaches of the Ryukyu Islands in southern Japan. The scientists noticed small, brightly colored spots embedded in the white coral gravel. They collected samples from three beaches on the main island, Okinawa, and brought them to the lab where spectroscopic analysis revealed there were polymers derived from common household plastics.
通过微CT扫描，研究人员发现这些聚合物已经渗入了珊瑚骨骼的微小孔隙中，两者已经完全融合在一起，无法再被分离。
Using micro-CT scans, the researchers determined that the polymers had melted into the microscopic pores in the fragments of coral skeleton, becoming so integrated that the two could no longer be separated.
虽然这并不是第一次发现塑料与自然环境发生相互作用（通常这种现象发生在岩石等非生物物体上），但这是首次发现塑料与珊瑚发生了融合。2019年，另一组研究人员在潮池中发现了覆盖在贻贝和大型藻类表面的薄层降解塑料，他们将其称为“plastiskin”；不过这次的研究首次证实了塑料与珊瑚之间的这种化学融合现象。
This is also not the first time plastic has been found enmeshed with the natural world, though this phenomenon usually involves nonliving things like rocks. In 2019, another group of researchers found a thin layer of degraded plastic coating mussels and large algae in tide pools, which they called “plastiskin,” but this new study marks the first time plastic has been seen fused with corals.
虽然珊瑚碎屑本身已不再是活的生物，但即使被冲上岸后，它们仍会重新回到海中，并在珊瑚礁生态系统中发挥重要作用。这些珊瑚碎屑为新的珊瑚提供了稳定的生长基础；其不规则的形状也为小型海洋生物提供了重要的藏身之处，帮助它们躲避强水流和捕食者的攻击。
And while coral rubble is no longer itself a living organism, even after being washed ashore, it often returns to sea later and plays an important role in coral reef ecosystems. It forms a stable foundation for new corals to settle on, and the irregular shapes make essential hiding places for small marine organisms to protect themselves from strong currents and predators.
这些塑料珊瑚究竟会如何影响其他活体珊瑚尚不清楚，但此前的研究表明，常见塑料中可能渗出的某些化学物质会抑制珊瑚繁殖。其他研究还发现，塑料碎片可能将病原体带给珊瑚。
How exactly the plasticorals may impact their living bretheren is unknown, though previous research has shown that some chemicals that can leach from common plastics inhibit coral reproduction. Other studies have found that plastic fragments can carry pathogens to corals.
科学家目前也不确定塑料究竟是如何与珊瑚融合的。尽管海洋水温不断上升，但还不足以熔化塑料。紫外线辐射也可能参与这一过程，不过研究人员认为，海滩篝火是导致这种现象的首要可能原因。
Scientists are also not yet certain how the plastic is fusing with the corals. Though the temperatures of our oceans are ever increasing, they’re not quite hot enough yet to melt plastic. Ultraviolet radiation can also contribute, but the researchers consider beach bonfires to be the leading candidate.
仍需进一步调查来证实这一点，但考虑到塑料作为一种污染物的无处不在，即使是在看似未受污染的地区，火灾也可能正在造成非预期中的塑料与珊瑚融合。这篇报道最初刊登于《WIRED》日本版，并从日文翻译而来。
Further investigation is needed to confirm this, but given plastic’s pervasiveness as a pollutant, it’s not unlikely that fires in even seemingly pristine areas are creating unintended fusions. This story originally appeared in WIRED Japan and has been translated from Japanese.