東眼山自然教育中心

昆蟲的奧秘｜歡慶 #生物多樣性日

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聯合國於2001年將5月22日定為生物多樣性日。舉凡我們所看見的各種生物，還有牠們所帶的遺傳因子，與生物和生態系統間的互動，都是它所探討的範疇。

The United Nations designated May 22 as Biological Diversity Day in 2001. All the various organisms we see, as well as the genetic factors they carry, and the interactions between organisms and ecosystems are all types it explores.

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由於全球生物多樣性受到人類開發的破壞，2022年的「昆明-蒙特婁」提出「生物多樣性架構」(Global Biodiversity Framework, GBF)，期望能在2030年讓至少30%的陸域和水域的生物多樣性獲得恢復和保護。同時在保護的過程中能夠重視地方社區和原住民族的智慧，分享基因與生態服務的惠益。

Since global biodiversity has been destroyed by human development, the "Kunming-Montreal" 2022 proposed the "Global Biodiversity Framework" (GBF), expecting the recovery and protection of 30%, or above, of biodiversity across land and water areas. At the same time, in the process of conservation, we can value the wisdom of local communities and indigenous peoples and share the benefits of genes and ecological services.

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舉例來說，看來不起眼的昆蟲，對生物多樣性的維持與人們的生活相當重要。像是我們吃的蔬果、蜂蜜、愛玉、東方美人茶等，都是昆蟲帶來的生態服務證明。

For example, seemingly inconspicuous insects are very important to the maintenance of biodiversity and people's lives. For example, the fruits and vegetables we eat such us honey, jade, Oriental Beauty Tea, etc. are all proof of the ecological services provided by insects.

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然而近年來，棲地的破壞造成昆蟲的多樣性逐步下降，不僅威脅各樣生物的生存，也對人類生活造成隱憂。因此我們可以從自身做起，支持對環境友善的農產品，或是降低污染物流入環境、增進資源循環再利用，減少山林開發，或是關心、參與環境運動等等，不僅能夠達到保護昆蟲的效果，也為「30*30」目標做出貢獻。

However, in recent years, habitat destruction has caused a gradual decline in insect diversity, which not only threatens the survival of various organisms, but also poses hidden worries to human life. Therefore, we can start from ourselves, support environmentally friendly agricultural products, or reduce the flow of pollutants into the environment,promote resource recycling, reduce forest development, or care about and participate in environmental movements, etc., which can not only achieve the effect of protecting insects, and also contribute to the "30*30" goal.

 

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為什麼我們吃的愛玉和 #昆蟲 有關呢？

愛玉（𝐹𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎 𝑣𝑎𝑟. 𝑎𝑤𝑘𝑒𝑜𝑡𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑔）是一種雌雄異株的隱頭花序植物（花朵被膨大的花托包覆在內，即花開在"果實"中，又稱隱花果）。因此和常見的昆蟲授粉不同，需要借助與其共生的愛玉小蜂（𝑊𝑖𝑒𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑎 𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑒）來完成。每年五、六月，雌性小蜂鑽出雄果，並尋找別株雄果產卵。若她鑽進的是雌果，則會將雄果帶來的花粉留下而完成授粉，授粉的雌花產生的種籽，即是我們製作愛玉凍的愛玉籽。

Why is the aiyu we eat related to insects?

Aiyu (𝐹𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎 𝑣𝑎𝑟. 𝑎𝑤𝑘𝑒𝑜𝑡𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑔) also called as jelly fig, is a dioecious plant with hypanthodium (the flowers are enclosed by enlarged receptacles, that is, the flowers bloom in the "fruit", also known as Syconium). Therefore, unlike common insect pollination, it needs helps by its symbiotic lives, 𝑊𝑖𝑒𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑎 𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑒. From May to June, female wasps dig out from the male trees’ fruit and look for other males to lay eggs. If she bores into a female, she will leave the pollen brought by the male to complete pollination. The seeds produced by the pollinated female flowers are the aiyu seeds we use to make aiyu jelly.