Abstract

Time and again, over hundreds of millions of years, environmental disturbances have caused mass extinctions of animals ranging from reptiles to corals. The anthropogenic loss of species diversity happening now is often discussed as the ‘sixth mass extinction’ in light of the ‘Big Five’ mass extinctions in the fossil record. But insects, whose taxonomic diversity now appears to be threatened by human activity, have a unique extinction history. Prehistoric losses of insect diversity at the levels of order and family appear to have been driven by competition among insect lineages, with biotic replacement ensuring minimal net losses in taxonomic diversity. The end-Permian extinction, the ‘mother of mass extinctions’ in the seas, was more of a faunal turnover than a mass extinction for insects. Insects’ current biotic crisis has been measured in terms of the loss of abundance and biomass (rather than the loss of species, genera, or families) and these are essentially impossible to measure in the fossil record. However, should the ongoing loss of insect abundance and biomass cause the demise of many insect families, the current extinction event may well be the first sudden loss of higher-level insect diversity in our planet’s history. This is not insects’ sixth mass extinction—in fact, it may become their first.

中文翻译：

---

昆虫正在走向灭绝吗？化石记录中的危机与营业额的区别

抽象的

数亿年来，一次又一次地，环境干扰已导致从爬行动物到珊瑚的动物大规​​模灭绝。鉴于化石记录中的“五种”大灭绝，现在经常发生的人为丧失物种多样性常被称为“第六次大灭绝”。但是，昆虫的分类学多样性现在似乎受到人类活动的威胁，但它们具有独特的灭绝历史。史前昆虫多样性在有序和家族层次上的丧失似乎是由昆虫谱系之间的竞争所驱动的，生物替代确保了生物分类多样性的最小净损失。二叠纪末期的灭绝是海洋中“大灭绝的母体”，它不仅仅是动物灭绝，还不是昆虫的大灭绝。昆虫当前的生物危机已根据丰富度和生物量的损失（而不是物种，属或家庭的损失）进行了衡量，而这些在化石记录中基本上是无法衡量的。但是，如果持续不断的昆虫丰度和生物量丧失导致许多昆虫家族死亡，那么目前的灭绝事件很可能是我们地球历史上首次突然丧失高级昆虫多样性。这不是昆虫的第六次灭绝，实际上，这可能是昆虫的第一次灭绝。当前的灭绝事件很可能是我们星球历史上首次突然丧失了更高级别的昆虫多样性。这不是昆虫的第六次灭绝，实际上，这可能是昆虫的第一次灭绝。当前的灭绝事件很可能是我们星球历史上首次突然丧失了更高级别的昆虫多样性。这不是昆虫的第六次灭绝，实际上，这可能是昆虫的第一次灭绝。