《昆虫的艺术》内容简介

　　昆虫是我们非常熟悉的动物，也是很神秘的动物。许多昆虫本身就很美，而它们的历史远比人类要久远，很早就飞向天空的动物是昆虫（较翼龙要早1亿年），较早形成复杂社会结构的也是昆虫，开始改造植物的还是昆虫。昆虫的重要性远不止于授粉，它们在生态系统中扮演的其他角色同样可圈可点。正是因为它们与植物的协同进化才促使有花植物开遍天涯。一旦蜜蜂和其他传粉昆虫消失，地球上的生态系统会立刻分崩离析。同样严峻的是，在过去的几十年间，全世界昆虫的总体数量下降了70%至80%，物种数量则下降了约30%。

　　摄影师和美国自然历史博物馆合作的这个项目记录了馆内收藏的40个珍稀物种（濒危、灭绝）的不可磨灭的图像，图像中的标本由科学家团队从多达2000

　　万枚昆虫标本中精挑细选而来。它们包括人们熟悉的濒危物种君主斑蝶和九星瓢虫，以及遥远的澳岛䗛。人们曾认为澳岛䗛在20世纪的大部分时间里已灭绝，

　　直到2001年重新发现了澳岛䗛并进行了人工繁殖。

　　所有的藏品都被送到比斯的工作室，他在那里创作了令人惊艳的昆虫肖像，这些肖像被放大到真实昆虫大小的300倍，展现出生动的生命形式和色彩细节，这是我们肉眼看不见的世界。这本画册让人们看到了这些微小、不为人知的生物带来的视觉震撼、潜在的巨大艺术价值和科研意义。

　　作者简介

　　列文·比斯（Levon Biss）著

　　英国摄影师，英国皇家摄影学会高级会士（FRPS），被广泛认为是当代杰出的微距摄影大师。比斯受邀为世界各大自然博物馆的珍品拍摄了震撼的肖像作品，并因此受邀到TED和多所大学演讲。他的自然摄影作品在世界各地展出，是艺术与科学结合的典范。已出版作品集《牛津大学终极昆虫图鉴》(Microsculpture:Portraits of Insects)和《种子的隐秘之美》(The Hidden Beauty of Seeds&Fruits)，但比斯认为本书是他职业生涯中更有意义的作品集。

　　王建赟译

　　中国热带农业科学院环境与植物保护研究所科研人员，研究方向为蝽类昆虫的分类识别与天敌利用，近年发现并命名中国猎蝽新属种若干，关注微距摄影和显微摄影技术。著有《常见椿象野外识别手册》，另有译著《牛津大学终极昆虫图鉴》《飞越地球》等。

　　张辰亮审订

　　《博物》杂志副主编，《中国国家地理》融媒体中心主任。中国科普作家协会生态科普创作专业委员会委员，北京科学技术普及创作协会第八届理事，抖音、快手、bilibili 无穷小亮的科普日常运营者。中国农业大学昆虫学硕士，2017年中国科协“十大科学传播人物”。畅销科普图书《海错图笔记》系列作者，同时著有《掌中花园》等多部畅销科普图书。

Introduction to the Art of Insects

Insects are very familiar animals, but also very mysterious animals. Many insects are beautiful in their own right, and they are far older than humans. They were the first animals to take to the skies (100 million years before pterosaurs), the first to form complex social structures, and the first to transform plants. The importance of insects goes far beyond pollination; they also play other roles in ecosystems. It's because of their co-evolution with plants that flowering plants spread everywhere. When bees and other pollinators disappear, the Earth's ecosystems fall apart. Just as grim is the fact that over the past few decades, the overall number of insects worldwide has declined by 70 to 80 percent, and the number of species has declined by about 30 percent.

The project, a collaboration between photographers and the American Museum of Natural History, records indelible images of 40 rare (endangered, extinct) species in the museum's collection, with specimens from a team of scientists from as many as 2,000

From a million insect specimens. They include familiar endangered species such as the monarch butterfly and the nine-star ladybird, as well as the remote island of Ao 䗛. It was thought that 䗛 had been extinct for most of the 20th century,

It was not until 2001 that the island was rediscovered 䗛 and bred in captivity.

The entire collection is sent to Biss's studio, where he creates stunning insect portraits that are enlarged to 300 times the size of real insects, revealing vivid life forms and color details that are invisible to our naked eyes. The book offers a glimpse into the visual impact, potential artistic and scientific significance of these tiny, unknown creatures.

About the author

By Levon Biss

British photographer, a Senior Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS), is widely regarded as the pre-eminent master of contemporary macro photography. Biss has been invited to speak at TED and several universities for his stunning portraits of nature museums around the world. His nature photography is exhibited all over the world and is an example of the combination of art and science. His published collections include "Oxford University Microsculpture:Portraits of Insects" and "The Hidden Beauty of Seeds and Fruits." But Biss sees this book as the more meaningful collection of his career.

Translated by Wang Jianyun

He is a researcher at the Institute of Environment and Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences. His research direction is the classification and recognition of bug species and the utilization of natural enemies. In recent years, he has discovered and named several new species of bug in China, focusing on macro photography and photomicrography. He is the author of "Common stink bug Field Identification Manual", and translated "Oxford University Ultimate Insect Atlas" and "Flying across the Earth".

Reviewed by Zhang Chenliang

Deputy editor of "Natural Museum" magazine, Director of "China National Geographic" Financial media Center. He is a member of the Professional Committee of Ecological science Popularization and Creation of China Science Writers Association, the eighth director of Beijing Science and Technology Popularization and Creation Association, and the daily operator of science popularization of Tiktok, Kuaishou and bilibili Infinitesimal Liang. Master of Entomology, China Agricultural University, 2017 "Top Ten Science Communication Figures" of China Association for Science and Technology. Best-selling popular science books "sea wrong map notes" series author, while the palm of the Garden and other best-selling popular science books.