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Jeff Pettis on the continuing mystery of honeybees’ decline

EarthSky

Honeybees in the U.S. are still dying at an alarming rate. The story came to light four years ago, and it’s still true, according to Dr. Jeff Pettis, head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bee Research Laboratory in Maryland. He said figures released in spring 2010 show that, during the winter of 2010, the U.S. lost 34%, or just over a third of its managed honeybee colonies.

美國蜜蜂的數(shù)量正以驚人的速度銳減。國家農(nóng)業(yè)部馬里蘭蜜蜂研究者中心的主任杰夫?佩蒂斯表示，這個事情幾年前就被曝光過，但現(xiàn)在還是如此，從2010年春季的數(shù)據(jù)看，2010年冬季將會有34%的蜜蜂死亡，占被管理蜂群的1/3。

Jeff Pettis: What’s unusual is that they’re dying in such high numbers and so rapidly, so it’s just this dramatic depopulation.

杰夫?佩蒂斯：蜜蜂死亡的速度如此之快，數(shù)量如此之大，是不正常的。這簡直是戲劇性毀滅。

At first, scientists thought a new strain of disease might be responsible. Right now, he said, that doesn’t appear to be the case.

剛開始，科學(xué)家們認(rèn)為可能某種新型疾病是罪魁禍?zhǔn)住，F(xiàn)在，杰夫?佩蒂斯認(rèn)為情況并非如此。

Jeff Pettis: These bees have multiple viruses. They have multiple bacterial infections. And it’s the cumulative effect of all these that’s killing them.

杰夫?佩蒂斯：這些蜜蜂受各種病毒的侵?jǐn)_，被各種細(xì)菌感染。這些因素的綜合作用導(dǎo)致它們的死亡。

Pettis explained that, like humans, bees are more susceptible to illness when they’re stressed.

佩蒂斯解釋道，和人類一樣，蜜蜂有壓力時更易感染疾病。

Jeff Pettis: We ask a lot of them. We move them from crop to crop to pollinate and to feed on things that may not be ideal diet.

杰夫?佩蒂斯：我們追蹤了很多蜜蜂，將它們從一個莊稼地轉(zhuǎn)移到另一個，讓它們在不同地里授粉， 喂給它們算不上理想的食物。

He added that low-level pesticide exposure also weakens bees immune systems. Armed with this knowledge, said Pettis, bee experts are increasingly focused on boosting bees’ general health to prevent population crashes. He underscored that about a third of our diet comes from things that are pollinated by insects, often honeybees.

他補(bǔ)充道，劣等農(nóng)藥的影響也使蜜蜂免疫系統(tǒng)變?nèi)?。掌握這些知識后，研究蜜蜂的專家們會更注重提高蜂群的整體健康水平，防止其數(shù)量暴跌。他還強(qiáng)調(diào)，需經(jīng)過昆蟲授粉生長的食物占我們食物來源的1/3，這項工作通常都是由蜜蜂完成。

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