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Another hypothesized human-related cause is fertilizer runoff.
另一种与人类相关的假定原因是化肥流失。
People use fertilizer for their crops and plants and a lot of it eventually makes its way from land into the seas.
人们用化肥来种植庄稼和植物，很多化肥最终从陆地流入了海洋。
It's fertilizer, so it has a lot of nutrients.
这是化肥，所以富含营养。
These nutrients have an effect on the starfish, because they cause an increase in the growth of phytoplankton.
这些营养会影响海星，因为营养导致浮游植物大量增长。
Phytoplankton are microscopic plants that grow in the ocean.
浮游植物是微观植物，生在海洋里。
Larval CoT starfish eat phytoplankton in their first month of life, so more fertilizer in the ocean means more phytoplankton, which means more starfish, bad for the reefs.
年幼的刺冠海星在出生的第一个月以浮游植物为食，所以海里的化肥越多，意味着浮游植物越多，相当于海星越多，对珊瑚礁来说就很糟糕了。
Now, the final hypothesis has to do with storm events.
最后一种假说和风暴活动有关。
If some reefs are destroyed by storms, starfish populations that inhabited those reefs would have to condense and concentrate on the reefs that are left.
如果一些珊瑚礁被风暴毁坏了，居住在这些珊瑚礁里的刺冠海星就会聚集在剩下的珊瑚礁上。
So this can cause a kind of mass feeding frenzy.
这会引发某种大规模疯狂觅食。
So we have ideas, but no real answer.
所以我们有想法，但没有真正的答案。
And because we aren't sure of the causes for starfish population increases, it's difficult to prevent them.
且由于我们不能确定海星数量增长的原因，要预防就很难了。
I mean, some progress has been made.
我是指，（人们）已经取得一定成果了。
For example, new survey techniques have enabled us to detect population increases when the starfish are quite young, so we can be ready for them.
比如说，新的调研技术能让我们检测到海星尚处年幼时的数量增长，我们就能做好准备。
But meaningful progress requires much better evidence about the cause.
但重大进步则需要有证明原因的更好证据。
On the bright side, in all the research being done on causes, we have discovered something related to how starfish populations might affect coral reef diversity.
往好的方面看，在此领域做的所有研究工作中，我们已经发现了一些信息，关于海星数量可能会怎样影响珊瑚礁多样性。
We think that when reefs are damaged, after a few years, the fastest-growing corals repopulate the areas.
我们认为，当珊瑚礁受损时，几年后，长得最快的珊瑚能让原来的地区重新长满珊瑚。
And these fast-growing species can grow over the slower-growing species of coral, denying them light and preventing them from recovery.
这些长得快的珊瑚物种能生长覆盖长得慢的珊瑚，不让后者接触到光，阻止它们恢复。
However, the faster-growing species are the preferred food of the CoT starfish.
但是，刺冠海星更喜欢吃长得快的珊瑚。
So when an outbreak of CoT starfish occurs, they thin out the fast-growing coral and may give the slower ones a chance to reestablish.
所以当刺冠海星数量暴增，它们会是长得快的珊瑚变得稀疏，可能给了长得慢的珊瑚机会恢复过来。
So without the outbreak, the diversity of coral would be reduced.
所以，若没有（海星）数量暴增，珊瑚多样性会下降。
