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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.

美国蜜蜂的数量正以惊人的速度锐减。国家农业部马里兰蜜蜂研究者中心的主任杰夫•佩蒂斯表示，这个事情几年前就被曝光过，但现在还是如此，从2010年春季的数据看，2010年冬季将会有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，数量如此之大，是不正常的。这简直是戏剧性毁灭。

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

刚开始，科学家们认为可能某种新型疾病是罪魁祸首。现在，杰夫•佩蒂斯认为情况并非如此。

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：这些蜜蜂受各种病毒的侵扰，被各种细菌感染。这些因素的综合作用导致它们的死亡。

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

佩蒂斯解释道，和人类一样，蜜蜂有压力时更易感染疾病。

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：我们追踪了很多蜜蜂，将它们从一个庄稼地转移到另一个，让它们在不同地里授粉， 喂给它们算不上理想的食物。

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.

他补充道，劣等农药的影响也使蜜蜂免疫系统变弱。掌握这些知识后，研究蜜蜂的专家们会更注重提高蜂群的整体健康水平，防止其数量暴跌。他还强调，需经过昆虫授粉生长的食物占我们食物来源的1/3，这项工作通常都是由蜜蜂完成。

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