The case of the vanishing honeybees - Emma Bryce

蜜蜂消失之谜 - Emma Bryce

翻译人员: Thunder Song 校对人员: Phillip Feng

There is an environmental mystery afoot,

有一个匪夷所思的自然现象正在进行，

and it begins with a seemingly trivial detail

这一切看似都源于一些琐碎的细节，

that reveals a disaster of global proportions.

它们揭示了全球均衡的灾难。

One day, you notice that the honey you slather on your morning toast

某一天，你发现你抹在面包上的蜂蜜

is more expensive.

变得更贵。

Instead of switching to jam,

于其改用果酱，

you investigate the reason for the price hike.

你开始调查价格上涨的原因。

What you find is shocking.

你所得出的结论令人震惊。

The number of domesticated honeybees in the US

美国家养蜜蜂的数量

has been decreasing at an alarming rate.

正在以一个惊恐的速度下降。

This decline appears too big

这样的一种减少程度太大

to be explained by the usual causes of bee death alone:

以至于不能用普通的理由去解释蜜蜂自身的死亡

disease, parasites or starvation.

比如疾病、寄生虫、或者缺少食物。

A typical crime scene has almost no adult bees left in the hive,

一个典型的犯罪场景使得几乎没有成年蜜蜂留在蜂房，

except, perhaps, a lonely queen and a few other survivors.

除了可能留下了一个蜂后和其它一些幸存者。

It's full of untouched food stores and a brood of unborn larvae,

里面放满了没有触碰过的食物以及一些还未出生的幼虫，

suggesting that the adults vacated without waiting for them to hatch.

就好像一些成年蜜蜂并未等到它们孵化就辞职了。

But what's particularly eerie

但是最怪异的是

is that there's no tell-tale mass of dead or dying bees nearby.

附近并没有任何已经死去或是正在死去的蜜蜂的迹象。

Either they have forgotten their way back to the hive,

要不就是是它们忘记回蜂房的路，

or they have simply disappeared.

要不就是它们纯粹的消失了。

These mysterious disappearances aren't new.

这样的神秘失踪并不是第一次。

Humans have been collecting honey for centuries.

几个世纪以来人们都在收集蜂蜜。

But it wasn't until European settlers in the 1600's

但是是从1600年欧洲的移民者开始

introduced the subspecies, Apis mellifera,

才引进了蜜蜂的亚种，意大利蜜蜂，

that we domesticated bees.

也就是我们家养的蜜蜂。

Since the 19th century,

从19世纪开始，

beekeepers have reported occasional mass disappearances,

养蜂人发现时而会有大量的蜜蜂消失，

giving them enigmatic names

因此赋予了它们一些神奇的名字

like disappearing disease, spring dwindle disease

比如“消失的疾病”、’“春天会减少的疾病”，

and autumn collapse.

以及”秋天的衰减“。 （这三个名字为译者直译。在这种疾病未规范前，因为各地均有这种疾病发生但叫法不同，最后美国统一了标准，称之为蜂群崩坏综合症）

But when in 2006 such losses were found to affect

但是到了2006年，人们发现这样的一种减少影响了

more than half of all hives in the US,

美国超过一半的蜂房，

the phenomenon got a new name:

人们给这样的现象一个新的名字，

colony collapse disorder.

蜂群崩坏综合症。

The most frightening thing about this mystery

这种不明的自然现象最恐怖的地方，

isn't that we'll have to go back to using regular sugar in our tea.

并不是我们必须回到只能在茶里放普通糖的时期。

We farm bees for their honey,

我们为了蜂蜜而养殖蜜蜂，

but they also pollinate our crops on an industrial scale,

它们同时对我们种植的农作物进行授粉，

generating over 1/3 of America's food production this way.

美国超过三分之一的食物是通过这样的方式生长的。

So, how can we find the culprit behind this calamity?

所以，怎样才能找到灾难背后的凶手？

Here are three of the possible offenders.

这里提供三个可能的凶手。

Exhibit A: Pests and Disease.

第一种：害虫和疾病。

Most infamous is the varroa mite,

最声名狼藉的是瓦螨，

a minuscule red pest that not only invades colonies and feeds on bees,

一种小型的红色害虫，不仅寄生在蜜蜂、以蜜蜂为食物，

but also transfers pathogens that stunt bee growth

而且还传播一种能阻碍蜜蜂生长的病原体，

and shortens their life span.

缩短它们的寿命。

Exhibit B: Genetics.

第二种：遗传问题。

The queen is the core of a healthy hive.

蜂后是整个健康的蜂房的核心。

But nowadays, the millions of queen bees distributed

但是如今，分布在商业蜂房的成千上万的蜂后

in commercial hives are bred from just a few original queens,

都是由很少的一些蜂后哺育出来的。

which raises the worry about a lack of genetic diversity

这种方式直接影响了遗传的多样性，

which could weaken bees' defenses against pathogens and pests.

并且可能直接降低了蜜蜂对害虫 和病原体的抵抗力。

Exhibit C: Chemicals.

第三种：化学药品。

Pesticides used both on commercial beehives

在进行商业蜜蜂养殖和大规模农作物种植时， 被用来消灭寄生虫的农药

and agricultural crops to ward off parasites

could be getting into the food and water that honeybees consume.

有可能参入蜜蜂所摄入的水和食物中。

Researchers have even found that some pesticides

研究者已经发现一些农药

damage the honeybees' homing abilities.

破坏了蜜蜂的归巢能力。

So we have a file full of clues

所以我们有这样的一些线索，

but no clear leads.

但并没有明确的证据。

In reality, scientists, the actual detectives on this case,

事实上，科学家们，也就是寻找真相的侦探们，

face disagreement over what causes colony collapse disorder.

在蜂群崩坏综合症的原因上有着不同的见解。

For now, we assume that several factors are the cause.

我们暂时假设这些因素就是原因。

Honeybees aren't necessarily in danger of extinction,

蜜蜂并不一定面临绝种的危险，

but fewer bees overall means less pollination and higher food costs,

但是蜜蜂数量的减少意味着授粉的减少， 以及食物价格的提高，

so it's crucial that scientists solve the case of the vanishing bees.

所以科学家们能否解开蜜蜂消失之谜 是至关重要的。

Because while having less honey might be a buzzkill,

虽然蜂蜜的减少可能只是一件令人扫兴的事， （“buzz”同蜜蜂所发出的声音）

crop shortages are something that would truly sting.

但是粮食的短缺就事关重大了。