国外媒体:手机辐射导致美国蜜蜂离奇死亡

科学家曾对蜜蜂离奇死亡或消失的原因进行多番推论，包括全球气候暖化、疾病或杀虫药等。科学家和业界称这个蜜蜂消失现象为"蜂群衰竭失调"(Colony Collapse 1 Disorder 2，简称CCD)。爱因斯坦的"蜜蜂预言"真是所言不假，他曾经说过"没有蜜蜂，就没有授粉，就没有植物，就没有动物，就没有人类。"蜜蜂在大自然食物链中扮演非常重要的角色，依靠蜜蜂传播花粉的行业。在美国，每年经蜜蜂授粉而生产的水果、蔬菜及核果种子总值数以百亿美元计。现时大量蜜蜂失踪或死亡，也将威胁全球农作物收成。

Honey bees add billions of dollars in value to around one hundred thirty crops in the United States. But since the nineteen eighties, researchers have been concerned about the health of these valuable pollinators.

Worries grew after the winter of two thousand six. Some pollination 3 services reported losses of anywhere from thirty to ninety percent of their hives. The beekeepers did not find dead adult bees as they often do after winter. Instead, the bees were gone. Experts gave a name to this mysterious situation: colony collapse disorder.

A report in Agricultural Research magazine, from the Department of Agriculture, takes a fresh look at C.C.D. It says the disorder is truly a serious problem. But it says there were enough honey bees to provide all the agricultural pollination needed last year.

Still, beekeepers reported losing about thirty-five percent of their hives in the fall and winter of two thousand seven. It two thousand six, it was thirty-one percent.

The United States has almost two and one-half million managed beehives. Experts from the Agriculture Department and the Apiary 4 Inspectors 5 of America did a study involving about one-fifth of them.

One finding was that beekeepers who found no dead adult bees were more likely to have the most severe losses. Also, a virus called I.A.P.V., for Israeli acute paralysis 6 virus, was present in almost half the colonies studied.

But researchers say they do not know if this virus causes a colony to collapse. They say the lack of affected 7 bees to examine makes it difficult to know exactly what the new disorder is.

Losses in honey bee populations can result from a number of causes. A big problem, for example, is the varroa mite 8, a deadly parasite 9. And experts keep looking for other answers for the current situation.

Scientists at the University of Virginia recently reported that air pollution may prevent bees from finding flowers to pollinate. They think ozone 10 in the air is keeping bees and other pollinators from smelling the flowers. Bees feed on nectar and pollen 11 from flowers.

Jose Fuentes and his team at Virginia studied how far the scent 12 of flowers travels with the wind. Before the eighteen hundreds, they say, it was more than one thousand two hundred meters. Now, they say, the scent can travel only about three hundred meters at best. Their study is in the journal Atmospheric 13 Environment.