每日英語跟讀 Ep.817: About Insects -科學家：50萬種昆蟲面臨滅絕 Half-a-million insect species face extinction：scientists

Half of the one million animal and plant species on Earth facing extinction are insects, and their disappearance could be catastrophic for humankind, scientists have said in a "warning to humanity".

科學家在一項「對人類的警告」中說，地球100萬種動植物面臨滅絕，其中一半是昆蟲，而牠們的消失可能帶給人類災難。

"The current insect extinction crisis is deeply worrying," said Pedro Cardoso, a biologist at the Finnish Museum of Natural History and lead author of a review study published Monday.

「現今昆蟲的滅絕危機讓人極度憂心」，芬蘭自然史博物館生物學家、也是研究主要執筆人佩卓．卡多索在週一刊出的研究中說。

"Yet, what we know is only the tip of the iceberg," he told AFP.

他告訴法新社說：「然而，我們所知的僅是冰山一角。」

The disappearance of bugs that fly, crawl, burrow, jump and walk on water is part of a gathering mass extinction event, only the sixth in the last half-billion years.

可以飛行、爬行、挖洞、跳躍和在水上行走的昆蟲消失，是集體滅絕事件的一環，這是在過去5億年間僅僅第6次的滅絕事件。

The last one was 66 million years ago, when an errant space rock wiped out land-based dinosaurs and most other life forms.

上一次已是距今6600萬年前，當時一顆遊蕩的太空岩石消滅陸地的恐龍及大多數其他生命形式。

This time we are to blame.

而這次要怪罪的是人類。

"Human activity is responsible for almost all insect population declines and extinctions," Cardoso told AFP.

卡多索告訴法新社：「幾乎所有昆蟲數量減少與滅絕，都要歸因於人類活動。」

The main drivers are dwindling and degraded habitat, followed by pollutants － especially insecticides － and invasive species.

造成昆蟲滅絕的主要因素，是棲地的減少與退化，接著是污染，特別是殺蟲劑的污染及侵入的物種。

Waiter, there’s a fly in my waffle： Belgian researchers try out insect butter 服務生，有隻蒼蠅在我的格子鬆餅裡：比利時研究人員提煉昆蟲奶油

Belgian waffles may be about to become more environmentally friendly.

比利時格子鬆餅可能要變得更友善環境了。

Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium are experimenting with larva fat to replace butter in waffles, cakes and cookies, saying using grease from insects is more sustainable than dairy produce.

比利時根特大學科學家正實驗以幼蟲脂肪取代格子鬆餅、蛋糕和餅乾裡的奶油，並說取自昆蟲的油脂比乳製品更具永續性。

Clad in white aprons, the researchers soak black soldier fly larvae in a bowl of water, put it in a blender to create a smooth greyish dollop and then use a kitchen centrifuge to separate out insect butter.

穿著白色圍裙，研究人員們將黑水虻的幼蟲浸入一碗水，將之放入攪拌機，製造出一團滑順的灰白物，然後使用一台廚房的離心機，分離出昆蟲奶油。

“There are several positive things about using insect ingredients,” said Daylan Tzompa-Sosa, who oversees the research.

監督這項研究的戴蘭．卓帕-索薩說，「使用昆蟲原料有幾項正面作用。」

“They are more sustainable because （insects） use less land （than cattle）, they are more efficient at converting feed ... and they also use less water to produce butter,” Tzompa-Sosa said as she held out a freshly baked insect butter cake.

端出一個剛出爐的昆蟲奶油蛋糕時，卓帕-索薩說，「牠們更永續，因為（昆蟲）用的土地（與牛相比）較少，牠們的飼料轉化率更高……，以及牠們產出奶油用的水較少。」

According to the researchers, consumers notice no difference when a quarter of the milk butter in a cake is replaced with larva fat. However, they report an unusual taste when it gets to fifty-fifty and say they would not want to buy the cake.

根據這些研究人員的說法，以幼蟲脂肪取代一個蛋糕內4分之1牛乳奶油時，消費者沒察覺到不同。不過，來到五五比時，他們回報有不尋常味道，並說他們不會想買那個蛋糕。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1357506 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1356918