文本導讀
Researchers estimate there are 2.5m ants for every human across the planet
研究人員估計，地球上人均可分得250萬隻螞蟻
The world’s human population is forecast to surpass 8bn in the coming months. Compared with ants, that is a mediocre milestone.
幾個月後，全球人口預計將超過80億。然而與螞蟻的數量相比，這個裡程碑顯得平平無奇。
Researchers have made the most thorough assessment to date of the global population of ants and the estimated total is a mind-blowing 20 quadrillion of them, or approximately 2.5 million for every human.
研究人員對全球螞蟻的數量進行了迄今為止最詳盡的評估，估出的總數達到了驚人的2億億隻，也就是說，每人大約可分得250萬隻螞蟻。
It should come as little surprise considering how ubiquitous these busy and social insects are and the fact that they have thrived since the age of dinosaurs, with the oldest-known ant fossil dating back about 100m years to the Cretaceous period.
考慮到這些忙碌而群居的昆蟲無處不在，這也就不足為奇。而且它們自恐龍時代以來就一直在旺盛地繁殖，已知最古老的螞蟻化石可以追溯到大約1億年前的白堊紀時期。
重點詞彙
1. mediocre: not very good; of only average standard 平庸的，普通的
- a mediocre musician/talent/performance
2. thorough: done completely; with great attention to detail 徹底的，完全的
- a thorough search
3. quadrillion: the number 1,000,000,000,000,000 1000萬億
- It would be worth quadrillions of dollars today.
4. ubiquitous: seeming to be everywhere or in several places at the same time; very common 無所不在的
- The Swedes are not alone in finding their language under pressure from the ubiquitous spread of English.
5. Cretaceous: of, denoting, or formed in the last period of the Mesozoic era, between the Jurassic and Tertiary periods, lasting 80 million years during which chalk deposits were formed and flowering plants first appeared 白堊紀的
- It thrived in the late Cretaceous period only a few million years before all the dinosaurs on Earth became extinct.
延伸閱讀
「They are very important for nutrient cycling, decomposition processes, plant seed dispersal and the perturbation of soil. Ants are also an extremely diverse group of insects, with the different species fulfilling a wide range of functions. But most of all, it is their high abundance that makes them key ecological players,」 co-lead author of the study Patrick said.
「它們對養分循環、生物分解、植物種子傳播和土壤擾動都非常重要。螞蟻也是一種極其多樣化的昆蟲，不同種類的螞蟻履行著非常廣泛的職責。但最重要的是，其數量之多使它們成為關鍵的生態參與者，」該研究的共同主要作者派屈克說。
There are more than 12,000 known species of ants, which generally are black, brown or red in colour and possess bodies segmented into three parts. Ranging in size from about four-hundredths of an inch (1mm) to about 1.2 inches (3cm) long, ants typically inhabit soil, leaf litter or decaying plants – and occasionally human kitchens.
已知的螞蟻種類超過12000種，它們的顏色一般為黑色、棕色或紅色，身體分為三部分。體型從四百分之一英寸(1毫米)到1.2英寸(3厘米)長不等，通常棲息在土壤、落葉堆或腐爛的植物中，偶爾也棲息在人類的廚房裡。
Ants, whose closest relatives are bees and wasps, are native to nearly everywhere on Earth, as any picnicker knows, except Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland and some island nations.
螞蟻的近親是蜜蜂和黃蜂，任何野餐的人都知道，除了南極洲、格陵蘭島、冰島和一些島國，它們幾乎生活在地球上的任何地方。
Ants generally live in colonies, sometimes consisting of millions of them divided into groups with different roles such as workers, soldiers, and queens. The workers, all females, care for the bigger queen and her offspring, maintain the nest, and forage for food. Males mate with queens, then die.
螞蟻通常群居，有時由數百萬隻螞蟻組成，它們被分成不同的群體，扮演不同的角色，如工蟻、兵蟻和蟻后。工蟻都是雌性，照顧較大的蟻后和她的後代，維護巢穴，尋找食物。雄性與蟻后交配，然後死亡。