美国有线新闻 CNN 研究表明飞蛾在授粉过程中发挥重要作用

Salt Marsh¹, Atlas² and Indian Meal are all types of what? Vultures, moths⁴, herbs or peat. These are all types of moths, insects that often fly by night.

盐沼、阿特拉斯、印度谷螟都是什么的类型？秃鹫、飞蛾、草本植物还是泥炭？这些都是飞蛾的类型，飞蛾是通常在夜间飞行的昆虫。

Those are just three of the 160,000 species of moths and new research suggests they may play an important role in pollination⁵. How do scientists know this? A few years ago in Norfolk, England, researchers swabbed more than 800 moths and then studied the pollen⁶ on them. It wasn't a direct study of pollination, the process that fertilizes⁷ plants and produces seeds, but instead a look at how pollen is transported.

这些只是16万种飞蛾中的3种，新研究表明，飞蛾可能在授粉过程中发挥着重要作用。科学家是怎么知道的？几年前，研究人员在英国诺福克采集了800多只飞蛾，然后对它们身上的花粉展开研究。这并非直接研究授粉过程——即植物受精并产生种子的过程，而是观察花粉运输的方式。

That's an important early part of the pollination process. Scientists found that more than 45 percent of the moths they studied had visited dozens of different plant species during the night, including some that bees and butterflies didn't visit during the day.

这是授粉过程早期的一个重要环节。科学家发现，在他们研究的飞蛾中，超过45%在夜间光顾了数十种不同植物，包括蜜蜂和蝴蝶白天并未光顾的植物。

And researchers say this adds to the importance of conserving⁸ the insects because like bee populations, moth³ populations are decreasing worldwide.

研究人员表示，这增加了保护飞蛾的重要性，因为和蜜蜂种群一样，全世界的蛾类种群数量也在不断减少。

Scientists say to address that, people should reduce the use of pesticides⁹ when possible and make sure that moths have a food source and an undisturbed place to live. Their research was published in the "Journal Biology Letters".

科学家表示，为了解决这个问题，人们应该尽可能减少杀虫剂的使用，确保飞蛾有食物来源和不受干扰的生活场所。这项研究发表在《生物学快报》期刊上。

1 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

2 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

3 moth   

n.蛾，蛀虫

参考例句：

• A moth was fluttering round the lamp.有一只蛾子扑打着翅膀绕着灯飞。
• The sweater is moth-eaten.毛衣让蛀虫咬坏了。

4 moths   

n.蛾( moth的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moths have eaten holes in my wool coat. 蛀虫将我的羊毛衫蛀蚀了几个小洞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The moths tapped and blurred at the window screen. 飞蛾在窗帘上跳来跳去，弄上了许多污点。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 pollination   

n.授粉

参考例句：

• The flowers get pollination by insects.这些花通过昆虫授粉。
• Without sufficient pollination,the growth of the corn is stunted.没有得到充足的授粉，谷物的长势就会受阻。

6 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

7 fertilizes   

n.施肥( fertilize的名词复数 )v.施肥( fertilize的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The male sperm fertilizes the female egg. 雄性的精子使雌性的卵子受精。 来自辞典例句
• When the male reproductive cell fertilizes the female reproductive cell a zygote is formed. 当男性生殖细胞与女性生殖细胞发生受精时，就形成了一个合子。 来自辞典例句

8 conserving   

v.保护，保藏，保存( conserve的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Contour planning with or without terracing is effective in conserving both soil and moisture. 顺等高线栽植，无论做或不做梯田对于保持水土都能有效。 来自辞典例句
• Economic savings, consistent with a conserving society and the public philosophy. 经济节约，符合创建节约型社会的公共理念。 来自互联网

9 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》