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Pesticide¹ Additive² Could Be One Culprit in Bee Deaths

农药添加剂是蜜蜂死亡的一大诱因

Springtime is flower season. And that includes some 90 million almond trees in California. It's the largest pollination³ event in the U.S.—and beekeepers truck in two thirds of the nation's captive honeybees to do the job. But for the last decade or so, the keepers have complained about failing colonies, with underdeveloped bees ejected from their hives.

春天是百花开放的季节。这当然包括加利福尼亚约900万棵的杏树。这是美国规模最庞大的授粉事件。养蜂人用该国家2/3的蜜蜂来做这项工作。但是，在过去十年，这些养蜂人抱怨道，蜜蜂数量下降，原因是一些未充分发育的蜜蜂被赶出蜂巢。

Now a study identifies one possible culprits. Not a pesticide, but one of the many ingredients used alongside them. "So these are added into a formulation to enhance the efficacy of the active ingredients." Julia Fine, an entomologist at Penn State. "It's just called "other ingredients" and they often are the bulk of the formulated⁴ product."

现在一项研究确定了可能的罪魁祸首。不是农药，而是很多农药中所有的一种成分。“这些成分添加到农药中以提高农药的有效性。”茱莉亚·法恩是宾州州立大学的昆虫学家。“我们通查将它称之为“其他成分”，并且在很多产品中都包含这些成分。”

The chemical in question is known as an organosilicone surfactant. Fine and her colleagues fed the chemical to honeybee larvae⁵ over time, and exposed them to a cocktail⁶ of common beehive viruses. And they found that larvae exposed to the chemical and the viruses together appeared to die in greater numbers than did bees exposed to the viruses or the chemical alone—a possible synergistic effect. And the symptoms they saw mirrored the ones beekeepers observed in their hives. The study is in the journal Scientific Reports.

存有问题的化学成分是一种有机硅表面活性剂。法恩和她的同事们长时间以来，将这样物质喂给这些蜜蜂的幼虫。并让这些幼虫接触各种常见蜂巢病毒,结果她们发现，接触这种化学成分以及病毒的幼虫的死亡数量远远大于仅接触这种化学成分或者病毒的幼虫——这可能是一种综合效应。研究人员所看到的症状反应了养蜂人在蜂巢中观察到的现象。该研究结果发表在《科学报告》杂志上。

Fine and her team still have to determine how much of these chemicals actually make it into the bees' food. But they do know hundreds of thousands of pounds of them are used in almond orchards⁷ each year. And elsewhere. "Agriculture is just one use for organosilicone surfactants. It's all over the place. So if we can find it has any effect in an organism, it will be relevant."

法恩和她的团队还必须确定有多少化学物质成为了蜜蜂的食物。但是，结果发现每年有大量的这些化学物质用于杏园子。以及其他地方。“不仅仅是农业应用有机硅表面活性剂。这种物质到处都是。如果我们发现，它对有机物产生影响，那么就存在相关性。”