科学美国人60秒：昆虫的声音会随温度而变化
燕山大学 刘立军 供稿
【TRANSCRIPT】
This is Scientific American - 60-Second Science, I'm Shahla Farzan.
Insects can be noisy. But most of the sounds they produce, we can't hear. Take tiny insects called treehoppers. They communicate through vibrations. When a male treehopper is hunting for a mate, he vibrates his body to produce a special love song.
"They sound like oooo-boo-boo-boop."
Kasey Fowler-Finn is an assistant professor of biology at Saint Louis University. She says if a female treehopper is interested, she'll vibrate back to the male. Basically, her way of saying, "Hey, there."
Fowler-Finn wondered if treehopper mating songs might change at different temperatures, which could affect whether the species survives as the climate changes. So she and graduate student Dowen Jocson built custom incubators, using plywood and Ikea shelves - plus, a special laser that helps them listen to treehoppers.
"The laser receives information about these tiny vibrations on the plant stem, which we then amplify and process into sounds that we can hear."
Turns out, the treehoppers do sound different when the temperature changes. Here's a male singing at 65 degrees.
(CLIP: Insect sound)
And another at 97 degrees.
(CLIP: Second insect sound)
But that's not all. The team recorded these songs and played them for females to see if they still found them attractive.
"So essentially, we're having a conversation with the insect, because we can play back a bunch of different signals to females and ask her how much she likes each one."
As male treehopper love songs changed across temperatures, females still recognized them - saying, "Yep, I'm interested in mating with you." Jocson says that was exciting.
"I think when we saw that, we were just like, 'Wow, this is awesome.'"
The study appeared in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
She says this is just one piece of the puzzle. But it gives her some hope that treehoppers and other similar insect species will keep things steamy - even as the climate warms.
For Scientific American - 60-Second Science. I'm Shahla Farzan.
【VOCABULARY】
1. treehopper n. 角蝉
2. vibrate v. to move or make sth. move from side to side very quickly and with small movements （使）振动，颤动，摆动。例如：Every time a train went past the walls vibrated. 每当火车驶过，这些墙都会震动。
3. incubator n. a machine like a box where eggs are kept warm until the young birds are born 孵化器
4. plywood n. board made by sticking thin layers of wood on top of each other 胶合板；压合板；夹心板。例如：plywood furniture胶合板家具
5. amplify v. to increase sth. in strength, especially sound 放大，增强（声音等）。例如：to amplify a guitar / an electric current / a signal放大吉他声音 / 电流 / 信号
【QUESTIONS】
Read the passage. Then listen to the news and fill in the blanks with the information (words, phrases or sentences) you hear.
This is Scientific American - 60-Second Science, I'm Shahla Farzan.
Insects can be noisy. But most of the (Q1) ____________ they produce, we can't hear. Take tiny insects called treehoppers. They communicate through (Q2) ______________. When a male treehopper is hunting for a mate, he vibrates his body to produce (Q3) ___________________.
"They sound like oooo-boo-boo-boop."
Kasey Fowler-Finn is an assistant professor of biology at Saint Louis University. She says if a female treehopper is interested, she'll vibrate back to the male. Basically, her way of saying, "Hey, there."
Fowler-Finn wondered if treehopper mating songs might change at different (Q4) ______________, which could affect whether the species survives as the climate changes. So she and graduate student Dowen Jocson built custom incubators, using plywood and Ikea shelves - plus, a special (Q5) _____ that helps them listen to treehoppers.
"The laser receives information about these tiny vibrations on the plant stem, which we then (Q6) ___________ and process into sounds that we can hear."
Turns out, the treehoppers do sound different when the temperature changes. Here's a male singing at 65 degrees.
(CLIP: Insect sound)
And another at 97 degrees.
(CLIP: Second insect sound)
But that's not all. The team (Q7) _________________ these songs and played them for females to see if they still found them attractive.
"So essentially, we're having a (Q8) ______________________ with the insect, because we can play back a bunch of different signals to females and ask her how much she likes each one."
As male treehopper love songs changed across temperatures, females still recognized them - saying, "Yep, I'm interested in mating with you." Jocson says that wasexciting.
"I think when we saw that, we were just like, 'Wow, this is awesome.'"
The study appeared in the Journal of (Q9) __________________________.
She says this is just one piece of the (Q10) ___________________. But it gives her some hope that treehoppers and other similar insect species will keep things steamy - even as the climate warms.
For Scientific American - 60-Second Science. I'm Shahla Farzan.
【KEY 】
Read the passage. Then listen to the news and fill in the blanks with the information (words, phrases or sentences) you hear.
This is Scientific American - 60-Second Science, I'm Shahla Farzan.
Insects can be noisy. But most of the (Q1) sounds they produce, we can't hear. Take tiny insects called treehoppers. They communicate through (Q2) vibrations. When a male treehopper is hunting for a mate, he vibrates his body to produce (Q3) a special love song.
"They sound like oooo-boo-boo-boop."
Kasey Fowler-Finn is an assistant professor of biology at Saint Louis University. She says if a female treehopper is interested, she'll vibrate back to the male. Basically, her way of saying, "Hey, there."
Fowler-Finn wondered if treehopper mating songs might change at different (Q4) temperatures, which could affect whether the species survives as the climate changes. So she and graduate student Dowen Jocson built custom incubators, using plywood and Ikea shelves - plus, a special (Q5) laser that helps them listen to treehoppers.
"The laser receives information about these tiny vibrations on the plant stem, which we then (Q6) amplify and process into sounds that we can hear."
Turns out, the treehoppers do sound different when the temperature changes. Here's a male singing at 65 degrees.
(CLIP: Insect sound)
And another at 97 degrees.
(CLIP: Second insect sound)
But that's not all. The team (Q7) recorded these songs and played them for females to see if they still found them attractive.
"So essentially, we're having a (Q8) conversation with the insect, because we can play back a bunch of different signals to females and ask her how much she likes each one."
As male treehopper love songs changed across temperatures, females still recognized them - saying, "Yep, I'm interested in mating with you." Jocson says that was exciting.
"I think when we saw that, we were just like, 'Wow, this is awesome.'"
The study appeared in the Journal of (Q9) Evolutionary Biology.
She says this is just one piece of the (Q10)puzzle. But it gives her some hope that treehoppers and other similar insect species will keep things steamy - even as the climate warms.
For Scientific American - 60-Second Science. I'm Shahla Farzan.