地球上昆蟲數(shù)量急速下降，但這并不是一個好消息！

Fossil records show that insects have been around for at least 400 million years, but it’s taken just three decades to wipe out more than a quarter of their global population.

化石記錄顯示，昆蟲已經(jīng)存在了至少4億年，但如今，僅僅用了30年時間就消滅了全球四分之一以上的昆蟲種群。

The insect population shrunk by 27 percent since the early ’90s, according to a new report, which looked at data of more than 10,000 insect species across 1,676 locations. While analyzing 166 studies conducted between 1925 and 2018, scientists found that the average rate of decline per decade is 9 percent, though with notable variation between regions, according to the findings published Thursday in the journal Science.

根據(jù)一份新的報告，自90年代初以來，昆蟲數(shù)量減少了27%，該報告調查了1676個地區(qū)、超過10000種昆蟲的數(shù)據(jù)。根據(jù)周四發(fā)表在《科學》雜志上的研究結果，科學家們在分析1925年至2018年間進行的166項研究時發(fā)現(xiàn)，盡管地區(qū)之間存在顯著差異，每十年的平均下降率為9%。

“The decline across insect orders on land is jaw-dropping,” says Nick Haddad, Michigan State University butterfly expert, who was not involved in the report.

密歇根州立大學蝴蝶專家尼克·哈達德(Nick Haddad)說：“陸地上昆蟲數(shù)量的下降令人瞠目結舌。”。

Haddad tells Associated Press that while the thought of fewer bugs may seem appealing, it’s bad news for the planet.

哈達德告訴美聯(lián)社說，雖然減少蟲子數(shù)量看起來很有吸引力，但這對地球來說是個壞消息。

“Ongoing decline on land at this rate will be catastrophic for ecological systems and for humans,” he says. “Insects are pollinators, natural enemies of pests, decomposers and besides that, are critical to functioning of all Earth’s ecosystems.”

他說：“以這種速度持續(xù)下降的土地對生態(tài)系統(tǒng)和人類都將是災難性的。”。昆蟲是傳粉者、害蟲的天敵、分解者，除此之外，對地球所有生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的運轉都至關重要。

Other studies have previously revealed an average decline of 3 to 6 percent per year, such as in Europe and North America, particularly the American Midwest, who have lost an average of 4 percent of bugs per year.

此前，其他研究顯示，昆蟲數(shù)量每年平均減少3%至6%，如歐洲和北美，特別是美國中西部地區(qū)，每年平均減少4%。

Take California’s monarch butterfly: In the 1980s, the state enjoyed a monarch population of 4.5 million. Today, there are just 29,000. Meanwhile, a 2019 study found that 14 bee species from New England had lost 90 percent of their ranks since the turn of the 20th century. Bees and butterflies, of course, are vital pollinators, and play a critical role in the human food chain.

以加州的帝王蝶為例：上世紀80年代，加州擁有450萬帝王蝶。如今，只有29000只。與此同時，2019年的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，自20世紀初以來，來自新英格蘭的14種蜜蜂已經(jīng)失去了90%。當然，蜜蜂和蝴蝶是重要的傳粉者，在人類食物鏈中扮演著關鍵的角色。

Conversely, freshwater insect species actually improved overall, by just over 1 percent per year.

相反，淡水昆蟲種類實際上總體上有所改善，每年的增幅僅略高于1%。

Despite the good news for aquatic critters, Brett Seymoure, entomologist and postdoctoral fellow at the Living Earth Collaborative at St. Louis’ Washington University, calls the new meta-analysis more “overwhelming evidence” that insects are on the decline.

盡管這對水生生物來說是個好消息，但圣路易斯華盛頓大學活體地球合作組織(Living Earth Collaborative)的昆蟲學家和博士后布雷特•西摩(Brett Seymoure)稱，新的元分析提供了更為“壓倒性的證據(jù)”，表明昆蟲數(shù)量正在下降。

“It is likely that aquatic insect populations were in very rough shape and are now rebounding, which is great, but I don’t think we should take that as an indicator that the insect populations of aquatic habitats are as healthy as they were before the Industrial Revolution,” Seymoure tells Earther. “But it is a hopeful trend!”

“水生昆蟲種群很可能處于非常粗糙的狀態(tài)，現(xiàn)在正在反彈，這是很好的，但我不認為我們應該把這作為一個指標，表明水生棲息地的昆蟲種群與工業(yè)革命前一樣健康，”西摩告訴瓦特爾。“但這是一個充滿希望的趨勢!”

Scientists suggest that human-induced climate change may be a factor, but, more specifically, industrialized farming and urban sprawl may be the key drivers of insect loss. They also point out that study data is lacking in some of the most biodiverse regions of the world, such as the tropics — the inclusion of which would likely impact overall results.

科學家們認為，人類引起的氣候變化可能是一個因素，但更具體地說，工業(yè)化農業(yè)和城市蔓延可能是昆蟲損失的主要驅動因素。他們還指出，在世界上生物多樣性最強的一些地區(qū)，如熱帶地區(qū)，缺乏研究數(shù)據(jù)，這些數(shù)據(jù)的納入可能會影響總體結果。