The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review.
全球第一份科学报告的内容显示，世界上的昆虫正在走向灭绝，“自然生态系统的灾难性崩溃”的威胁迫在眉睫。
More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, according to the best data available, suggesting they could vanish within a century.
分析发现，超过40％的昆虫种类正在减少，三分之一的昆虫濒临灭绝。其灭绝的速度比哺乳动物，鸟类和爬行动物快8倍。根据现有最准确的数据，昆虫的总量每年急剧下降2.5％，表明它们可能在一个世纪内灭绝。
The planet is at the start of a sixth mass extinction in its history, with huge losses already reported in larger animals that are easier to study. But insects are by far the most varied and abundant animals, outweighing humanity by 17 times. They are “essential” for the proper functioning of all ecosystems, the researchers say, as food for other creatures, pollinators and recyclers of nutrients.
这个星球正处于其历史上第六次大规模灭绝的开始，比较容易进行研究的大型动物已经有很大一部分灭绝了。但昆虫是迄今为止种类最丰富，最丰富的动物，比人类数量多17倍。研究人员说，它们对于所有生态系统的正常运作是“必不可少的”，昆虫可以作为其他生物的食物，传粉的媒介和营养物质的循环回收者。
Insect population collapses have recently been reported in Germany and Puerto Rico, but the review strongly indicates the crisis is global. The researchers set out their conclusions in unusually forceful terms for a peer-reviewed scientific paper: “The [insect] trends confirm that the sixth major extinction event is profoundly impacting [on] life forms on our planet.
最近在德国和波多黎各出现了昆虫种群的崩溃的报告，但这份报告强烈地表明这次危机是全球性的。 研究人员以铿锵有力的词语为这份同行评审的科学论文提出了他们的结论：“这个[昆虫的]趋势证实了第六次大灭绝正在严重影响我们这个星球上的生命形态。
“Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades,” they write. “The repercussions this will have for the planet’s ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least.”
他们写道：“除非我们改变生产食物的方式，否则整个昆虫种群将在几十年内走上灭绝的道路。”“至少可以说，这对地球生态系统产生的影响是灾难性的。”
The analysis, published in the journal Biological Conservation, says intensive agriculture is the main driver of the declines, particularly the heavy use of pesticides. Urbanisation and climate change are also significant factors.
发表在“生物保护”杂志上的分析称，密集型农业是导致（昆虫数量）下降的主要原因，特别是大量地使用农药。城市化和气候变化也是重要因素。
“If insect species losses cannot be halted, this will have catastrophic consequences for both the planet’s ecosystems and for the survival of mankind,” said Francisco Sánchez-Bayo, at the University of Sydney, Australia, who wrote the review with Kris Wyckhuys at the China Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing.
来自澳大利亚悉尼大学的FranciscoSánchez-Bayo说：“如果昆虫物种的损失不停下来，这将对地球的生态系统和人类的生存造成灾难性的后果。”他与Kris Wyckhuys在中国北京农业科学院写下这番话。
The 2.5% rate of annual loss over the last 25-30 years is “shocking”, Sánchez-Bayo told the Guardian: “It is very rapid. In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none.”
Sánchez-Bayo告诉卫报说，过去25到30年间，2.5％的年损失率是“令人震惊的”，“它发生地非常迅速。在10年内将减少四分之一，在50年内只剩下一半，而在100年内将消失殆尽。“
One of the biggest impacts of insect loss is on the many birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish that eat insects. “If this food source is taken away, all these animals starve to death,” he said. Such cascading effects have already been seen in Puerto Rico, where a recent study revealed a 98% fall in ground insects over 35 years.
鸟类，爬行动物，两栖动物和吃昆虫的鱼类会受到昆虫减少所带来的巨大影响。“如果（昆虫）这种食物没有了，所有这些动物都会饿死，”他说。波多黎各已经出现了这种级联效应，最近的一项研究显示，35年来该地的昆虫已经减少了98％。
The new analysis selected the 73 best studies done to date to assess the insect decline. Butterflies and moths are among the worst hit. For example, the number of widespread butterfly species fell by 58% on farmed land in England between 2000 and 2009.
新的分析选择了迄今为止评估昆虫衰退的73项最佳研究。蝴蝶和飞蛾是最容易受影响的。例如，在2000年至2009年期间，英格兰的养殖土地上广泛分布的蝴蝶物种数量下降了58％。
Bees have also been seriously affected, with only half of the bumblebee species found in Oklahoma in the US in 1949 being present in 2013. The number of honeybee colonies in the US was 6 million in 1947, but 3.5 million have been lost since.
蜜蜂也受到严重影响，1949年在美国俄克拉荷马州发现的大黄蜂物种只有一半在2013年仍然存在。1947年美国的蜜蜂群落数量为600万，但此后已减少了350万。
There are more than 350,000 species of beetle and many are thought to have declined, especially dung beetles. But there are also big gaps in knowledge, with very little known about many flies, ants, aphids, shield bugs and crickets. Experts say there is no reason to think they are faring any better than the studied species.
地球上有超过35万种甲虫，其中许多种类被认为已经灭绝，尤其是屎壳郎（dung beetle）。但是我们的认知与现实仍有很大差距，因为我们对苍蝇，蚂蚁，蚜虫，盾虫和蟋蟀的研究太少了。但专家表示，我们没有任何理由认为它们的现状比已经研究过的物种更好。
A small number of adaptable species are increasing in number, but not nearly enough to outweigh the big losses. “There are always some species that take advantage of vacuum left by the extinction of other species,” said Sanchez-Bayo. In the US, the common eastern bumblebee is increasing due to its tolerance of pesticides.
少数适应性强物种的数量正在增加，但还不足以超过巨大的减少的数量。“总有一些物种利用其他物种灭绝留下的真空期，”Sánchez-Bayo说。 在美国，由于对农药的耐受性，东部大黄蜂数量正在增加。
“The main cause of the decline is agricultural intensification,” Sánchez-Bayo said. “That means the elimination of all trees and shrubs that normally surround the fields, so there are plain, bare fields that are treated with synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.” He said the demise of insects appears to have started at the dawn of the 20th century, accelerated during the 1950s and 1960s and reached “alarming proportions” over the last two decades.
“昆虫种群下降的主要原因是农业集约化，”Sánchez-Bayo说。“这意味着要清除掉通常围绕田地的所有树木和灌木，把合成肥料和杀虫剂用在平原和裸露的田地里。”他说，昆虫的消亡似乎始于20世纪初，在20世纪50年代和60年代加速，并在过去二十年达到了“惊人的比例”。
He thinks new classes of insecticides introduced in the last 20 years, including neonicotinoids and fipronil, have been particularly damaging as they are used routinely and persist in the environment: “They sterilise the soil, killing all the grubs.” This has effects even in nature reserves nearby; the 75% insect losses recorded in Germany were in protected areas.
他认为，过去20年来引入的新型杀虫剂，包括新烟碱类和氟虫腈，特别具有破坏性，因为它们被经常使用并持续存在于自然环境中：“它们会对土壤进行消毒，杀死所有的昆虫幼虫.”这已先行也在自然保护区附近发生;德国记录的75％昆虫损失发生在保护区内。
（编辑：张嘉秀）