Pheromone Communication in Moths: Evolution, Behavior, and Application
Pheromone Communication in Moths: Evolution, Behavior, and Application
复制标题
DOI：
10.1093/ae/tmx069
复制
发表时间：
2017-12
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Katalin Böröczky
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Katalin Böröczky
我希望每个人都能像大卫·麦克尼尔一样对昆虫学感到兴奋。也许我希望每个人都能像我一样兴奋。在麦克尼尔的书《臭虫：统治世界的昆虫和迷恋它们的人们》中，他带我们热情地游览了昆虫学的主题，从臭虫治疗到为你的晚餐准备蟋蟀菜。对昆虫学家和节肢动物本身来说，这都是一次旋风式的探索。麦克尼尔是《连线》杂志最著名的撰稿人，他通过一系列令人惊叹的事实（“我们每个人都有14亿昆虫”）、令人恶心的故事（书中有一整章都是关于尸体农场的），以及对研究人员和昆虫学普通人的采访，展示了他欣赏我们外骨骼盟友的理由。他对调查的投入是相当大的：他采访了从日本到格鲁吉亚，从纽约到希腊的人们，有时还深入研究常见bug主题的历史根源。作为专业的昆虫学家，你不会对这本书中的信息感到惊讶。你可能会对作者的热情和经常不敬的用词感到头疼。你甚至可能会因为他选择分享的轶事而有点生气。（作为一名昆虫学家，在麦克尼尔讲述了一段“幽默的”关于“昆虫世界末日”的想象后，我几乎把这本书永远放下了。在这段描述中，蚂蚁可以“钻进我们的鼻孔，让我们窒息”。）但麦克尼尔并不是昆虫学家，探索外面的人试图与我们这些在这里的人联系的观点是很有趣的。这是一项值得称赞的艰巨任务。此外，在同行评议的出版物之外，看看我们的同事在做什么也很好。麦克尼尔抓住了昆虫学乐趣引擎的精髓，就像一个孩子打碎木头，拿出贝丝甲虫和巨型千足虫用棍子戳。但他忽略了昆虫学的真正力量，它错综复杂的联系，以及这些无数（等一下，他清点了它们的数量：10亿亿）生物的美丽和安静的重要性，这些生物以精致和不断的精确工作。当他注意到“我们往往忽视了昆虫提供的经济效益”时，他接着详细介绍了博物馆和动物园行业，忽视了昆虫对从农业到人类健康等领域的巨大积极经济影响。他还陷入了被过度使用和完全不必要的“细菌很重要，因为它们可能是下一个治疗癌症的方法”的陷阱。（实际上有一章叫做“你刚刚粉碎了治愈癌症的方法”。）在某种程度上，我们可以原谅他的轻率。他感兴趣是件好事，而且这本书也有它的用处。这本书非常适合对虫子感兴趣的初中生或高中生（尽管整篇文章中的咒骂可能会让一些家长感到厌烦）。我想麦克尼尔的讲故事、幽默感和主题选择会吸引这群人，并可能引导他们把昆虫学作为一项冒险的职业。如果你的朋友坚持说你是“词源学家”，或者你的亲戚反复问你到底是做什么谋生的（尽管它没有“在炎热的夏天站在田野里数蚜虫”，或者像我这样，“连续几个小时看着蚂蚁拖在办公室公园的树干上”），它也会是一份合适的礼物。这本书读起来很容易，一个人可以把它带上飞机，穿越半个国家，它涵盖了足够多的领域，让读者对昆虫学的广度有所了解。简而言之，《bug》可能是送给普通读者的好礼物——公平地说，这是麦克尼尔的目标读者——但昆虫学家可能会考虑跳过它。埃莉诺·斯派塞赖斯翠绿的文字罗利，北卡罗来纳州27607 eleanor.spicer@gmail.com DOI: 10.1093/ae/tmx062
I wish everyone were as excited about entomology as David MacNeal is. Well, maybe I wish everyone were almost as excited about it. In MacNeal’s book, Bugged: The Insects Who Rule the World and the People Obsessed with Th em, he takes us on an enthusiastic tour of entomological topics, from bed bug treatments to preparing cricket cuisine for your supper. It’s a whirlwind exploration as much of entomologists as it is of arthropods themselves. MacNeal, most notably a contributor for WIRED, presents his case for appreciating our exoskeletoned allies through a series of “wow” facts (“for every one of us there are 1.4 billion insects,”) gross-out stories (there’s a whole chapter on body farms), and interviews with researchers and entomological everymen. His commitment to his investigation is considerable: he interviews folks from Japan to Georgia, New York to Greece, and at times delves into the historical roots of common bug themes. As professional entomologists, you will not be surprised by the information in this book. You will probably get a headache rolling your eyes over the author’s fervor and often irreverent word choice. You might even get your back up a little over the anecdotes he chooses to share. (I, as a myrmecologist, nearly put the book down for good after a stretch in the introduction in which MacNeal recounts a “humorous” imagining of an “insect Armageddon,” in which ants could “burrow through our nostrils and suff ocate us.”) But MacNeal is no entomologist, and it’s interesting to explore the perspective of someone on the outside trying to connect with those of us in here. It’s a commendable and formidable task. Besides, it’s nice to read what our colleagues are up to outside their peer-reviewed publications. MacNeal gets the essence of entomology’s fun engine, like a child smashing logs and pulling out bess beetles and giant millipedes to poke with sticks. But he misses entomology’s actual power, its intricate connectedness, the beauty and the quiet importance of these innumerable (wait—he does number them: 10 quintillion) creatures toiling with exquisite and unceasing precision. When he notes that “we tend to overlook the economic positives bugs provide,” he goes on to detail the museum and zoo industry, overlooking insects’ gargantuan positive economic impact on fields from agriculture to human health. He also falls into the overused and wholly unnecessary “bugs-are-important-because-theymight-be-the-next-cure-for-cancer” trap. (Th ere’s actually a chapter called “You Just Squashed the Cure for Cancer.”) We can forgive him these indiscretions, sort of. It’s good that he’s interested, and the book has its uses. Th is volume is perfect for a middle or high schooler who shows an interest in bugs (though the expletives peppered throughout the text might off end some parents). I imagine MacNeal’s storytelling, sense of humor, and subject choices would be appealing to this group, and just might steer them in the direction of entomology as an adventurous vocation. It would also make an appropriate gift for the friend who insists you’re an “etymologist” or the relative who repeatedly asks what it is exactly that you do for a living (although it misses the whole “stand in the fi eld and count aphids on hot summer days” or, in my case, “watch ants trailing offi ce park tree trunks for hours on end” aspects of the business). It’s an easy enough read that one could take it on an airplane and get through it halfway across the country, and it covers enough ground that readers get a taste for entomology’s breadth. In short, Bugged could make a good gift for a general reader—and, to be fair, this is MacNeal’s target audience—but entomologists may consider skipping it. Eleanor Spicer Rice Verdant Word Raleigh, NC 27607 eleanor.spicer@gmail.com DOI: 10.1093/ae/tmx062