澳大利亚蝗灾猖獗 科学家们携手对抗

A team of scientists in Australia is developing aerial drones – small, unmanned aircraft – to track the movements of what’s expected to be an unusually large plague of locusts this year.

澳大利亚的一个科学家小组正在研制一种“空中雄蜂”——小型无人飞机，以便追踪今年意料之中异常严重的蝗灾的足迹。

Greg Sword: One of the things that makes locusts a very important crop pest, is that they’re mobile and they travel in these groups in the ground and in the air as swarms.

Greg Sword：蝗虫之所以成为一种算是关键的作物害虫，是因为他们移动易变，并且能够成群结队地在空中与地面上活动。

That’s Greg Sword of the University of Sydney. His team is using aerial drones designed to track tiny reflective pieces of glass that have been attached to the backs of individual locusts with a drop of glue. Sword’s team plans to create models of how the locusts move in groups.

我们采访了悉尼大学的Greg Sword。他的小组使用的是“空中雄蜂”，追踪蝗虫个体后背上的一块反射玻璃。这个玻璃是用一小滴胶水粘上去的。Sword的小组计划建立蝗虫怎样成群移动的模型。

Greg Sword: We’re developing mathematical models based on collective movement, what’s called collective movement dynamics, and we can predict where the locusts are going to go.

Greg Sword：我们正根据蝗虫的集体运动（即集体运动动力学）建立数学模型，以预测蝗虫走向。

They plan to track newly-hatched locusts. Sword explained that juvenile locusts are easier to control. They don’t yet have wings, and travel on foot in what he calls “migratory bands,” eating grasses and crops as they go.

他们计划追踪新孵化的蝗虫。它们还没有翅膀，以一种Sword称作“迁移带”的方式步行移动。边走边吃草和庄稼。

Greg Sword: If we can predict where these bands are going to travel, we can be much more precise in our application of pesticides to control them. We don’t have to blanket-spray.

Greg Sword：Greg Sword：如果我们能预测这些蝗虫群的去向，我们便能在杀虫剂的使用方面更加精确地控制它们，就不用地毯式喷射农药了。