横纹金蛛入侵美国：美轮美奂的入侵者，还是农业生态的隐形威胁？

A large, brightly colored invasive species called the Joro spider is on the move in the United States. Populations have been growing in parts of the South and East Coast for years, and many researchers think it's only a matter of time before they spread to much of the continental U.S.

But spider experts say we shouldn't be too worried about them.

"My sense is people like the weird and fantastic and potentially dangerous," said David Nelsen, a professor of biology at Southern Adventist university who has studied the growing range of Joro spiders. "This is one of those things that sort of checks all the boxes for public hysteria."

Scientists instead worry about the growing prevalence of invasive species that can do damage to our crops and trees — a problem made worse by global trade and climate change, which is making local environmental conditions more comfortable for pests that previously couldn't survive frigid winters.

"I think this is one of those 'canary in the coal mine' type species where it's showy, it's getting a lot of attention," said Hannah Burrack, professor and chair of the entomology department at Michigan state University. But the shy critter poses little risk to humans. Instead, Burrack said, introduced pests like fruit flies and tree borers can do more damage.

"This is a global concern, because it makes all the things that we do in terms of conservation, in terms of agricultural production, in terms of human health, harder to manage," she said.

一种名为“横纹金蛛”的大型、色彩鲜艳的入侵物种正在美国蔓延。多年来，这种蜘蛛在南部和东海岸部分地区的数量不断增长，许多研究人员认为它们扩散到美国大陆大部分地区只是时间问题。

但蜘蛛专家表示，我们不必对此过于担心。

“我认为人们喜欢怪异、神奇且潜在危险的事物，”南部浸信会大学生物学教授大卫·尼尔森(David Nelsen)说，他研究了横纹金蛛不断扩大的分布范围。“这是那种能引发公众恐慌的物种之一。”

科学家反而担心的是入侵物种日益猖獗的问题，它们可能会破坏我们的作物和树木——这一问题因全球贸易和气候变化而变得更加严重，因为后者让此前无法在严寒冬季生存的有害生物在当地环境条件下生存得更加舒适。

“我认为这是‘煤矿中的金丝雀’类型的物种之一，它引人注目，备受关注，”密歇根州立大学昆虫学系教授兼系主任汉娜·布拉克(Hannah Burrack)说。但这种害羞的生物对人类几乎没有威胁。布拉克表示，相比之下，引入的害虫如果蝇和蛀木虫造成的破坏更大。

“这是一个全球关注的问题，因为它让我们在保护、农业生产、人类健康方面所做的所有事情都难以管理，”她说。