科学60秒:小蛀虫入侵,大钱财遭殃
After dividing up the invaders into three categories based on their diet—some insects ___3___ wood while others chew foliage or slurp sap—researchers chose the most damaging species from each category. Then they analyzed the cost of these “poster pests” to five sectors: federal and local governments, households, residential property values and timber values. The non-native bugs cost local governments a whopping $1.7 billion every year, while also ___4___ $830 million dollars in residential property values. [Juliann E. Aukema et al., "Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States," in PLOS One]
To keep the ravenous insects from causing more economic damage, one of the study’s authors, Juliann Aukema of U.C. Santa Barbara, urges stronger regulations on international trade. Bug-sniffing dogs might help. After all, they ___5___ keeping trees healthy.
—Sophie Bushwick
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