Holland Richard A, Wikelski Martin, Wilcove David S
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544, USA.
Science. 2006 Aug 11;313(5788):794-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1127272.
Countless numbers of insects migrate within and between continents every year, and yet we know very little about the ultimate reasons and proximate mechanisms that would explain these mass movements. Here we suggest that perhaps the most important reason for insects to migrate is to hedge their reproductive bets. By spreading their breeding efforts in space and time, insects distribute their offspring over a range of environmental conditions. We show how the study of individual long-distance movements of insects may contribute to a better understanding of migration. In the future, advances in tracking methods may enable the global surveillance of large insects such as desert locusts.
每年都有无数的昆虫在各大洲内部以及各大洲之间迁徙，然而我们对解释这些大规模迁徙行为的最终原因和近因机制却知之甚少。在此我们认为，昆虫迁徙或许最重要的原因是为其繁殖下注。通过在空间和时间上分散繁殖活动，昆虫将其后代分布在一系列环境条件之中。我们展示了对昆虫个体远距离移动的研究如何有助于更好地理解迁徙行为。未来，追踪方法的进步可能使对沙漠蝗虫等大型昆虫进行全球监测成为可能。
