近來，巴基斯坦飽受蝗災(zāi)困擾。

前幾日，社交媒體上突然出現(xiàn)了寧波晚報的消息稱，中國將派出10萬只鴨子赴巴基斯坦協(xié)助滅蝗。網(wǎng)友紛紛表示“一定要凱旋啊”。

但是，據(jù)澎湃新聞報道，此前盛傳的“浙江10萬只鴨子出征巴基斯坦滅蝗”表述不當(dāng)。

跟進(jìn)報道的媒體還有《衛(wèi)報》和BBC等。

BBC在報道中這樣寫道：

Lu Lizhi, a senior researcher with the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, told Bloomberg that the ducks are "biological weapons". He said that while chickens could eat about 70 locusts in one day a duck could devour more than three times that number. "Ducks like to stay in a group so they are easier to manage than chickens," he told Chinese media.

浙江省農(nóng)業(yè)科學(xué)院高級研究員盧立志告訴彭博社：“鴨子是‘生物武器’，雖然雞一天可以吃掉大約70只蝗蟲，但一只鴨子可以吃掉超過這個數(shù)字三倍的蝗蟲。鴨子喜歡成群結(jié)隊，所以比雞更容易管理?！?/p>

A trial involving the ducks will take place in China's western Xinjiang in the coming months, Mr Lu said. After that they will be sent to Pakistan's worst-affected areas of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab provinces.

盧先生表示，在未來的幾個月里，研究員將在中國西部的新疆對這些鴨子進(jìn)行試驗。之后，鴨子們將被派往巴基斯坦受災(zāi)最嚴(yán)重的信德省、俾路支省和旁遮普省幫助滅蝗。

However, a professor from the China Agriculture University, who is part of the delegation to Pakistan, questioned whether the ducks would be suited to the mainly arid conditions where the locusts are a problem.

然而，中國農(nóng)業(yè)大學(xué)的一位教授（他是中國赴巴基斯坦救災(zāi)代表團的一員）提出了質(zhì)疑：這些鴨子是否適合在嚴(yán)苛的干旱環(huán)境下進(jìn)行滅蝗工作。

"Ducks rely on water, but in Pakistan's desert areas, the temperature is very high," Zhang Long told reporters in Pakistan.

身處巴基斯坦的張龍教授告訴記者：“鴨子依賴水，但在巴基斯坦的沙漠地區(qū)，溫度非常高?！?/p>

生物防治（biological control），指的就是利用一種生物對付另外一種生物（通常是害蟲）的防止辦法，一般分為三種：獵食者（predator）、病原體（pathogen）、和寄生蟲（parasite）。

獵食者Predator

這次新聞中提到的鴨子就是生物防治中獵食者的一種。

Predators kill and feed on several to many individual prey during their lifetimes. Many species of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles prey extensively on insects. Predatory beetles, flies, lacewings, true bugs (Order Hemiptera), and wasps feed on various pest insects or mites.

捕食者在其一生中會捕殺和獵食數(shù)個到多個個體獵物。許多兩棲動物、鳥類、哺乳動物和爬行動物都廣泛捕食昆蟲。掠食性甲蟲、蒼蠅、劍翅、真昆蟲（半翅目）和黃蜂也以各種害蟲或螨蟲為食。

病原體Pathogen

據(jù)Science報道，這次的蝗災(zāi)蔓延到非洲國家索馬里之后，當(dāng)?shù)貢玫秸婢鷣矸乐位认x。在生物防治的辦法中，真菌屬于病原體防治的一種。

Somalia, one of several African nations being hit hard by enormous swarms of locusts, is planning to control them with a fungus in what would be the largest use of biopesticides against these insects.

索馬里是幾個遭受蝗蟲襲擊的非洲國家之一，該國正計劃用一種真菌來控制蝗蟲，這將是殺滅害蟲的生物殺蟲劑規(guī)模最大的一次使用。

“Large-scale use to control an invasion of desert locusts would be a first,” says Michel Lecoq, a retired entomologist who worked on locust control at the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development. “If successful, it will be a big step forward.”

法國國際發(fā)展農(nóng)業(yè)研究中心從事蝗蟲防治工作的退休昆蟲學(xué)家米歇爾·萊科克表示：“這是第一次大規(guī)模使用生物殺蟲劑來控制沙漠蝗蟲入侵。如果成功了，那么這將是向前邁出的一大進(jìn)步?！?/p>

Young locusts, such as these (pictured) in northern Somalia, will be killed by a nontoxic biocontrol fungus before they swarm. (The biopesticides) consist of spores of the fungus Metarhizium acridum, which produces a toxin that kills only locusts and related grasshoppers.

索馬里北部的幼蝗（如上圖所示）在成群聚集之前就會被一種無毒的生物防治真菌殺死。（該生物殺蟲劑）由真菌（Metrahizium acridum）的孢子組成，該真菌產(chǎn)生的毒素只會殺死蝗蟲和相關(guān)的蝗蟲。

寄生蟲Parasite

在獵食者與病原體防治兩種生物防治方法之外，寄生蟲法也是重要的一環(huán)。寄生蟲通常會寄居在宿主的體內(nèi)或表面，依靠宿主的營養(yǎng)來養(yǎng)活自身。

A parasite is an organism that lives and feeds in or on a host. Insect parasites can develop on the inside or outside of the host’s body. Often only the immature stage of the parasite feeds on the host.

寄生蟲是一種生活在宿主體表或體內(nèi)，并以宿主為食的有機體。昆蟲寄生蟲可以在宿主體內(nèi)或體外發(fā)育，通常只在未成熟階段以宿主為食。

Most parasitic insects are either flies (Order Diptera) or wasps (Order Hymenoptera). Parasitic wasps occur in over three dozen Hymenoptera families. For example, Aphidiinae (a subfamily of Braconidae) attack aphids.

大多數(shù)寄生昆蟲不是蒼蠅（雙翅目）就是黃蜂（膜翅目）。寄生蜂有三十多個膜翅目科，例如蚜蟲亞科（繭蜂科的一個亞科）的昆蟲就會攻擊蚜蟲。

Trichogrammatidae parasitize insect eggs. Aphelinidae, Encyrtidae, Eulophidae, and Ichneumonidae are other groups that parasitize insect pests. It’s important to note that these tiny to medium-sized wasps are incapable of stinging people.

赤眼蜂會寄生在昆蟲卵里。隱蠅科、跳小蜂科、巨蠅科和姬蜂科的昆蟲們也會寄生在害蟲體內(nèi)。值得注意的是，這些小到中等大小的黃蜂是不會蜇人的。

Notes

locust /?lo?k?st/ n蝗蟲

devour /d??va??r/ v狼吞虎咽地吃

prey /pre?/ v獵物

amphibian /?m?f?bi?n/ n兩棲動物

enormous /??n??rm?s/ adj巨大的；龐大的；極大的

swarm /sw??rm/ v成群地飛來飛去

編輯：唐曉敏

來源：澎湃新聞  BBC Science University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources