里昆虫光了路上垃圾科学美国人sa science.pdfVIP

BigApplesInsectsEatStreetsClean

纽约市里的昆虫吃光了的

Ratherthancringingatthenextbeetleorwaspinyourway,youmightwantto

thankthem—forhelpingtokeepcitystreetsclean.

下次见到甲虫或大黄蜂，也许你不会再躲避，而会想要感谢它们——因为它们帮忙保持

城市道路清洁。

ResearchersfromNorthCarolinaStateUniversityworkinginNewYorkCity

foundthathungryurbanarthropodsplayasignificantroleinthedisposalof

trash.Forexample,inasmallsectionofManhattancalledtheBroadway/West

Street.corridor,insectsconsumetheequivalentof60,000hotdogsayearthat

wouldotherwisebelyinginthestreet.Andthat’sassumingthebugsstop

chowingdowninwinter.

来自北卡州立大学的研究人员通过在纽约市研究发现，饥饿的城市节肢动物在处理

方面扮演非常重要的角色。比如，在曼哈顿一个名为“百老汇走廊”或者叫“西街走廊”的小街

区，昆虫每年能消耗的相当于6万个热狗，而若非如此那些可能会布满。这

还是假设昆虫冬天会停止觅食的估计。

Toassesshowmuchdiscardedfoodbugsgotridof,theresearchersplaced

measuredamountsofhotdogs,potatochipsandsat21parksitesand24

streetmedians.Contrarytotheirprediction,locationplayedanevenbiggerrole

ingarbageconsumptionthanbiodiversitydid—insectsgobbleduptwotothree

timesmorefoodinthestreetmediansthantheydidintheparks.

为了评估昆虫消灭了多少被丢弃的食物，研究人员在21个公园和24条街道中放置了被测

量好的热狗、薯片和饼干。与他们的预期相反，在消耗方面，地域比生物多样性扮

演了更加重要的角色——昆虫们在街道中消耗的食物是它们在公园消耗的2到3倍。

ThestudyappearsinthejournalGlobalChangeBiology.

该研究于《全球变化生物学》上。

Ifallthatgarbagedisposalstilldoesnotmakeyouanarthropodadmirer,then

considerthis:bycompetingwithlargerpestsforresources,insectshelpkeep

ratpopulationsdown.There’ssomefoodforthought.

如果这些还不能使你成为一个节肢动物者，那设想一下：通过与较大的害虫争夺资源，

昆虫们还帮我们减少了老鼠的数量。至少也该为口粮着想一下吧。

Ratherthancringingatthenextbeetleorwaspinyourway,youmightwantto

thankthem—forhelpingtokeepcitystreetsclean.

ResearchersfromNorthCarolinaStateUniver