To understand the plight of insects, entomologists look to the past
To understand the plight of insects, entomologists look to the past
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为了了解昆虫的困境，昆虫学家回顾过去
DOI：
10.1073/pnas.2018499117
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发表时间：
2020
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
McDermott A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
McDermott A
几年前，当鸟类生态学家尼古拉斯·罗登豪斯（Nicholas Rodenhouse）搬家时，他在一些旧文件柜中发现了一个潜在的数据宝库。成堆被遗忘的电子表格对1973年至1977年间在新罕布什尔州哈伯德布鲁克硬木森林中收集的甲虫的分类记录进行了编目。这项研究最初是为了研究当地鸟类的饮食。罗登豪斯现在是马萨诸塞州韦尔斯利学院的名誉退休生，他相信这些电子表格可以达到另一个目的，于是决定让他的本科生导师詹妮弗·哈里斯（Jennifer Harris）对旧的研究地点重新取样。她的工作在2015年至2017年期间进行，将从旧数据中梳理出一个新的故事，这个故事可以告诉人们一些昆虫似乎正在消失的方式和原因。哈里斯收集甲虫的方法和70年代的研究人员一样，使用窗户陷阱：在一个小水槽上方放上透明的玻璃片。飞到森林地面上的甲虫撞到玻璃上，掉进水里淹死了，后来被救了回来。在2015年至2017年期间，研究人员从5月中旬到8月初每周两次检查三个不同海拔高度的窗户陷阱，并确定甲虫的家庭水平。从20世纪70年代到21世纪10年代，在陷阱检查之间捕获的平均数量下降了83%，
When avian ecologist Nicholas Rodenhouse moved offices a few years ago, he found a potential treasure trove of data buried in some old file cabinets. Piles of forgotten spreadsheets catalogued taxonomic records of beetles collected in the hardwood forests of Hubbard Brook, NH, between 1973 and 1977. The research was originally meant to speak to the diets of local birds. Convinced that the spreadsheets could serve anther purpose, Rodenhouse, now emeritus at Wellesley College in MA, decided to ask his undergraduate mentee, Jennifer Harris, to resample the old research sites. Her work, conducted between 2015 and 2017, would tease a new story from the old data, one that could inform ongoing mysteries about how and why some insects seem to be disappearing (1). Harris collected beetles the same way the seventies-era researchers had done, using window traps: clear pieces of glass above a small trough of water. Beetles flying low to the forest floor hit the glass and fell into the water, drowned, and were later retrieved. Between 2015 and 2017, the researchers checked window traps at three different elevations twice a week from mid-May through early August and identified beetles to the family level. The mean number of individuals captured between trap checks declined by 83% between the 1970s and 2010s, and