英文阅读55——The best plants for attracting insects

Biodiversity: The best plants for attracting insects to gardens生物多样性：吸引昆虫到花园的最佳植物

By Helen Briggs

（A harvestman scurries across seedheads in research beds at Wisley Garden盲蜘蛛在威斯利花园（Wisley Garden）的研究床上急速横穿过种子头）

You can do your bit for insects by growing lots of foliage in your garden, a study has found. 一项研究发现，您可以通过在花园中种植带有很多叶子的植物来为昆虫做些努力。

Ground-dwelling insects, such as beetles, generally benefit from dense vegetation, including evergreens. 地上昆虫，例如甲虫，通常受益于茂密的植被，包括常绿植物。

Spiders, however, prefer a bit of bare earth - such as a bald patch in a lawn or a sparse flower bed. 但是，蜘蛛更喜欢裸露的土地-例如草坪上的秃头补丁或稀疏的花坛。

Alarm bells are ringing about a global decline in insects. Recent studies suggest populations are plummeting, due to nature loss and pesticides. 警钟敲响全球昆虫数量的下降。最近的研究表明，由于自然损失和杀虫剂，人口正在直线下降。

Against this backdrop, new research, published in Biodiversity and Conservation, investigated how plants can best support all forms of insect life. 在这种背景下，发表在《生物多样性与保护》上的新研究调查了植物如何最好地支持所有形式的昆虫生活。

"The main message is the more foliage there is, the more invertebrates you will have in your garden," said Andrew Salisbury, Royal Horticultural Society principal entomologist. 皇家园艺学会首席昆虫学家安德鲁·索尔兹伯里（Andrew Salisbury）说：“主要的信息是，树叶越多，花园中的无脊椎动物就会越多。”

"Gardeners can make a lot of difference just by growing stuff in their gardens, taking it a little bit easy on being too tidy and avoiding the use of pesticides wherever possible." “只要在花园里种东西，花匠就可以发挥很大的作用，因为它太整齐，并且尽可能避免使用农药，这使它变得容易一点。”

While dense planting is good for insects in general, one particular group of invertebrates, the spiders that live on the ground rather than spinning webs, do better when there are a few bare patches. 一般而言，密集种植对昆虫有好处，但一组特殊的无脊椎动物，生活在地面而不是旋转的蜘蛛的蜘蛛在裸露的斑块很少时效果会更好。

"It might be that with less foliage, particularly at the ground level - they are able to move more freely and hunt more freely," the entomologist said. 昆虫学家说：“这可能是因为它们的叶子较少，尤其是在地面上-它们能够更自由地移动并更自由地狩猎。”

The researchers looked at how invertebrates thrive in different planting combinations, including native, near-native and exotic species. 研究人员研究了无脊椎动物如何在不同的种植组合中繁衍生息，包括本地，近本地和外来物种。

They concluded that growing a wide variety of plants was important, with a bias towards native and near-native species. And evergreen plants such as holly, Christmas box and pittosporum might have a special role to play for invertebrates, providing shelter during the winter months for the likes of ladybirds, springtails and ground beetles.

他们得出结论，种植各种各样的植物很重要，而且偏向本地和近本地物种。而常绿植物，例如冬青树，黄杨树和皮孢菌属，可能对无脊椎动物起特殊作用，在冬季为瓢虫，跳虫和地面甲虫等提供庇护。

（Plants for bugs research at Deers Farm, Wisley VillageWisley Village鹿农场的昆虫研究用植物）