Those plants and animals that do survive usually reproduce very fast and in great numbers. The single-cell plant, the diatom, can multiply itself into a billion new diatoms in one month.

些生存下来的植物和动物通常重新繁衍更快和更的数量。单细胞植物，像硅藻，能在一个月自己繁衍一百万新的硅藻。

Mr. Bowler says almost half of the oxygen we breathe comes from very small algae called diatoms. These plants live in the part of the water where the sun reaches.

鲍勒说我们呼吸的近一半的氧气来自名为硅藻的微小藻类，这些植物生活在太阳能抵达的水中。

And we're making sure that this doesn't have any bad effect on the phytoplankton diatoms in the ocean.

我们还要确保这不会对海洋中的浮游植物硅藻造成任不良影响。

And starting around 3 million years ago, the oceans began to experience a serious drop in diatom diversity.

从大约300万年前开始，海洋开始经历硅藻样性的严重下降。

During the Pleistocene, the waters grew colder, and the new and improved productivity at the poles meant diatoms bounced back.

在更新世期间，水域变得更冷，两极新改善的环境意味着硅藻得以恢复。

Regardless of the reason, fewer diatoms meant fewer krill, which in turn meant fewer whales.

不管原因是什么，硅藻数量减少意味着磷虾数量减少，进而意味着鲸鱼数量减少。

Diatoms take silicon and use it to form a natural porous shell around themselves.

硅藻吸收硅，并利用它形成一层天的外壳包裹自身。

Tiny fossilized skeletons of aquatic creatures called diatoms are swept into the wind and carried westward where they rain down on South America.

微小的水生生物硅藻的化石骨架被风吹起，并向西飘移，在南美洲上空如雨般落下。

These  can be grouped as follows: Phytoplankton – plant-life such as algae  and diatoms that photosynthesise sunlight.

这些可以分为如下几类：浮游植物——如藻类和硅藻等进行光合作用的植物。

ROSS COEN: They look at the diatoms.

罗斯·科恩：他们观察硅藻。

They're diatoms: photosynthetic, single-celled algae responsible for producing oxygen and helping seed clouds on a planetary scale and with intricately sculpted, geometric exoskeletons made of -- yeah, glass.

它们是硅藻：一种进行光合作用的单细胞藻类，负责产生氧气， 并帮助在行星尺度上形成云层， 其外骨骼结构复杂、呈几形状， 由——没错——玻璃构成。

ELISA BERGSLIEN: Put that all together, where would you find these diatoms, these minerals, that you wouldn't find coral?

ELISA BERGSLIEN：把所有这些放在一起，你会在哪里找到这些硅藻、这些矿物质，而你找不到珊瑚？

Some of the critters I found were delightful things like seed shrimp and many more beautiful, geometric diatoms. I then went farther afield to camp out in the Dry Valleys for a couple of weeks.

我发现的一些小动物是令人愉快的东西， 例如种子虾和许更美丽的几硅藻。后我去了更远的地方， 在干谷露营了几个星期。