The first 21 days of a bee’s life | Anand Varma

譯者: Xiaoya Song 審譯者: Seke Wei

（音樂）

(Music)

These bees are in my backyard in Berkeley, California.

這些是我在加州柏克萊房子後院的蜜蜂。

Until last year, I'd never kept bees before,

一直到去年，我從來沒有飼養過蜜蜂，

but National Geographic asked me to photograph a story about them,

但是國家地理頻道請我拍下蜜蜂的故事，

and I decided, to be able to take compelling images,

於是我決定，為了拍到令人信服的照片，

I should start keeping bees myself.

我應該開始自己養蜂。

And as you may know,

如你所知，

bees pollinate one third of our food crops,

蜜蜂為我們三分之一的農作物傳粉，

and lately they've been having a really hard time.

最近蜜蜂的生存狀況不是很好。

So as a photographer, I wanted to explore what this problem really looks like.

所以，身為攝影師， 我想探索這個問題的真實長相。

So I'm going to show you what I found over the last year.

所以接下來將展示我去年的發現成果。

This furry little creature

這個毛茸茸的小生物

is a fresh young bee halfway emerged from its brood cell,

是一隻正從撫幼室出來的新蜜蜂，

and bees right now are dealing with several different problems,

目前蜜蜂正面臨幾個生存難題，

including pesticides, diseases, and habitat loss,

包括殺蟲劑，疾病，和棲息地的減少。

but the single greatest threat is a parasitic mite from Asia,

其中，最大一種威脅來自亞洲的寄生蟲，

Varroa destructor.

瓦螨。

And this pinhead-sized mite crawls onto young bees

這個針頭大小的螨蟲爬到幼蜂身上，

and sucks their blood.

吸吮他們的血。

This eventually destroys a hive

這最後造成整個蜂窩的毀滅，

because it weakens the immune system of the bees,

因為瓦螨會降低蜜蜂的免疫力，

and it makes them more vulnerable to stress and disease.

讓他們無法抵抗壓力和疾病。

Now, bees are the most sensitive

這時蜜蜂處於其最敏感時期，

when they're developing inside their brood cells,

他們正在撫幼室內進行發育。

and I wanted to know what that process really looks like,

為了解這個過程到底真相為何，

so I teamed up with a bee lab at U.C. Davis

所以我和加州大學戴維斯分校的蜜蜂實驗室合作，

and figured out how to raise bees in front of a camera.

設法在攝影機前養育蜜蜂。

I'm going to show you the first 21 days of a bee's life

下面將為你展示一隻蜜蜂生命最開始的21天，

condensed into 60 seconds.

濃縮成60秒鐘。

This is a bee egg as it hatches into a larva,

這是一個蜜蜂卵，他正在孵化成幼蟲，

and those newly hatched larvae swim around their cells

這些新孵化的幼蟲在撫幼室中到處游動，

feeding on this white goo that nurse bees secrete for them.

吃這些保育蜂分泌的白色粘液。

Then, their head and their legs slowly differentiate

然後，他們的頭和腿慢慢的分化出來，

as they transform into pupae.

變態成蛹。

Here's that same pupation process,

這是同一次蛹化過程，

and you can actually see the mites running around in the cells.

但你可看到螨在撫幼室內到處爬動。

Then the tissue in their body reorganizes

然後他們體內組織重新排列，

and the pigment slowly develops in their eyes.

色素慢慢在其眼中積累。

The last step of the process is their skin shrivels up

最後一步是表皮變皺，

and they sprout hair.

體毛開始生長。

(Music)

（音樂）

So -- (Applause)

所以---（掌聲）

As you can see halfway through that video,

就像你在影片中途所看到的，

the mites were running around on the baby bees,

螨蟲在幼蜂周圍爬，

and the way that beekeepers typically manage these mites

養蜂人一般控制這些螨蟲的方法為

is they treat their hives with chemicals.

對著蜂巢噴灑化學藥品。

In the long run, that's bad news,

長久來說，這非好事，

so researchers are working on finding alternatives

所以研究員正尋找其他方案，

to control these mites.

來控制這些螨蟲。

This is one of those alternatives.

這就是其中一個方案。

It's an experimental breeding program at the USDA Bee Lab in Baton Rouge,

這個實驗性的育種計畫， 由位於巴頓魯治市的美國農業部 (USDA) 蜜蜂實驗室負責，

and this queen and her attendant bees are part of that program.

這個蜂后和其侍衛蜂為本計畫的一份子。

Now, the researchers figured out

現在，研究員已經弄清楚

that some of the bees have a natural ability to fight mites,

某些蜜蜂有天生抵抗螨蟲的能力，

so they set out to breed a line of mite-resistant bees.

所以他們開始同系交配出一種抗螨蟲蜜蜂。

This is what it takes to breed bees in a lab.

這是如何在實驗室為蜜蜂育種過程。

The virgin queen is sedated

先麻醉尚未生殖過的蜂后，

and then artificially inseminated using this precision instrument.

接著研究員用精密儀器對她人工授精。

Now, this procedure allows the researchers

現在，這個過程允許研究員

to control exactly which bees are being crossed,

準確的控制哪些蜜蜂要用來繁殖。

but there's a tradeoff in having this much control.

但是操控太多卻有個代價，

They succeeded in breeding mite-resistant bees,

他們成功的繁殖了抗螨蟲的蜜蜂，

but in that process, those bees started to lose traits

但是在這個過程中，這些蜜蜂也失去了一些特性

like their gentleness and their ability to store honey,

比如他們的溫順性，和儲存蜂蜜的能力。

so to overcome that problem,

所以為了解決這個問題，

these researchers are now collaborating with commercial beekeepers.

這些研究員和商業養蜂人合作。

This is Bret Adee opening one of his 72,000 beehives.

這是擁有72000個蜂巢的Bret Adee， 他正打開其中一個蜂巢。

He and his brother run the largest beekeeping operation in the world,

他和弟弟經營著世界最大的養蜂企業，

and the USDA is integrating their mite-resistant bees into his operation

美國農業部把抗螨蟲蜜蜂引進這個養蜂場，

with the hope that over time,

希望一段時間之後，

they'll be able to select the bees that are not only mite-resistant

他們可以挑選出既能抵抗螨蟲，

but also retain all of these qualities that make them useful to us.

又能保留其他有用特性的蜜蜂。

And to say it like that

這麼說，

makes it sound like we're manipulating and exploiting bees,

聽起來好像我們正在操控和利用蜜蜂，

and the truth is, we've been doing that for thousands of years.

事實上，我們已經這樣做了數千年。

We took this wild creature and put it inside of a box,

我們把這野生的生物放進一個箱子裏，

practically domesticating it,

實際馴養他們，

and originally that was so that we could harvest their honey,

本來這是為了獲取其蜂蜜。

but over time we started losing our native pollinators,

但是漸漸地我們也開始失去我們的天然傳粉者，

our wild pollinators,

我們的野生傳粉者，

and there are many places now where those wild pollinators

現在有很多地方，那些野生傳粉者

can no longer meet the pollination demands of our agriculture,

已經無法應付我們農業的傳粉需求，

so these managed bees have become an integral part of our food system.

所以這些受控的蜜蜂 已成為我們食物系統的重要一份子。

So when people talk about saving bees,

所以當人們談論如何拯救蜜蜂的時候，

my interpretation of that

我的看法是，

is we need to save our relationship to bees,

我們需要拯救我們和蜜蜂的關係，

and in order to design new solutions,

為了設計出新的解決方案，

we have to understand the basic biology of bees

我們需要了解蜜蜂的基本生物學知識，

and understand the effects of stressors that we sometimes cannot see.

及了解是否有什麼我們看不到的壓力來源對蜜蜂產生影響。

In other words, we have to understand bees up close.

簡單的說，我們要更詳細了解蜜蜂這個物種。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）