Adler Peter H, Courtney Gregory W
Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, 130 McGinty Court, E143 Poole Agricultural Center, Clemson, SC 29634-0310, USA.
Department of Entomology, Iowa State University, 2310 Pammel Drive, 401 Science II, Ames, IA 50011-3222, USA.
Insects. 2019 Mar 14;10(3):70. doi: 10.3390/insects10030070.
More than any other group of macro-organisms, true flies (Diptera) dominate the freshwater environment. Nearly one-third of all flies-roughly 46,000 species-have some developmental connection with an aquatic environment. Their abundance, ubiquity, and diversity of adaptations to the aquatic environment position them as major drivers of ecosystem processes and as sources of products and bioinspiration for the benefit of human society. Larval flies are well represented as ecosystem engineers and keystone species that alter the abiotic and biotic environments through activities such as burrowing, grazing, suspension feeding, and predation. The enormous populations sometimes achieved by aquatic flies can provide the sole or major dietary component for other organisms. Harnessing the services of aquatic Diptera for human benefit depends on the ingenuity of the scientific community. Aquatic flies have played a role as indicators of water quality from the earliest years of bioassessment. They serve as indicators of historical and future ecological and climate change. As predators and herbivores, they can serve as biological control agents. The association of flies with animal carcasses in aquatic environments provides an additional set of tools for forensic science. The extremophilic attributes of numerous species of Diptera offer solutions for human adaptation to harsh terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments. The potential pharmaceutical and industrial applications of the symbiotic microbial community in extremophilic Diptera are better explored than are those of dipteran chemistry. Many flies provide valuable ecological and human services as aquatic immatures, but are also pests and vectors of disease agents as terrestrial adults. The scientific community, thus, is challenged with balancing the benefits and costs of aquatic Diptera, while maintaining sustainable populations as more species face extinction.
与其他任何大型生物群体相比，实蝇（双翅目）在淡水环境中占据主导地位。所有实蝇中近三分之一——约46000种——在发育过程中与水生环境存在某种联系。它们在数量上的优势、分布的广泛性以及对水生环境适应的多样性，使它们成为生态系统过程的主要驱动者，以及造福人类社会的产品和生物灵感来源。蝇类幼虫作为生态系统工程师和关键物种表现突出，它们通过挖掘、啃食、悬浮取食和捕食等活动改变非生物和生物环境。水生蝇类有时能达到的庞大数量可为其他生物提供唯一或主要的食物成分。利用水生双翅目昆虫为人类谋福利，取决于科学界的创造力。从生物评估的早期开始，水生蝇类就一直充当水质指标。它们可作为历史和未来生态及气候变化的指标。作为捕食者和食草动物，它们可充当生物防治剂。蝇类在水生环境中与动物尸体的关联为法医学提供了另一套工具。众多双翅目物种的极端嗜性特征为人类适应恶劣的陆地和外星环境提供了解决方案。与双翅目化学相比，对极端嗜性双翅目中共生微生物群落的潜在制药和工业应用研究得更深入。许多蝇类在水生幼虫阶段提供有价值的生态和人类服务，但作为陆生成虫时却是害虫和疾病传播媒介。因此，科学界面临着平衡水生双翅目昆虫的利弊的挑战，同时在更多物种面临灭绝的情况下维持其可持续种群数量。
