Volunteers equipped with nothing more than digital cameras are taking part in an unusual bee hunt.
一些只带着数码相机的义工正在参与一项不寻常的环境研究。
It's part of an environmental study that has amateur photographers documenting the impact of climate change, pollution and other factors on the interplay between plants and the creatures that pollinate them.
这个“寻觅蜜蜂计划”要求业余摄影家们记录下气候变化、污染和其它因素对植物和传播花粉的蜜蜂之间相互作用所造成的影响。
Freeze frame
Bees pollinate $10 billion worth of fruits, nuts and a variety of row crops each year in the United States.
在美国，蜜蜂每年为价值100亿美元的果实、坚果和其它作物传授花粉。
Yet recent declines in the population of these essential insects threaten the lucrative agricultural industry.
可是，最近蜜蜂数量的减少，威胁到这些收益良好的农副产品的生产。
Sam Droege, a researcher at the US Geological Survey's Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab, is examining possible causes for the bee decline. Working with an online environmental encyclopedia called, "Discover Life," Droege has helped organize the Bee Hunt study.
为了找出导致蜜蜂数量下降的可能原因，德罗基利用网上环境百科全书“发现生命”，组织起一个叫作“寻找蜜蜂”的研究项目。
Bee hunters across the United States take pictures of pollinators and the plants they pollinate, and then upload them to the "Discover Life" website. The online database keeps track of trends in pollinator populations that show the effects of climate change, pollution or invasive species.
美国各地的寻蜂者拍摄传授花粉的昆虫和接受花粉传授的植物照片，并且将这些照片上载到“发现生命”网站。网路资料追踪因为气候变化、污染或外来物种入侵造成的传授花粉昆虫数量的变化趋势。
Tracking pollinator populations
Droege's lab is filled with boxes of dead bees at various stages of identification, but the part of his job he seems to really enjoy is being outside hunting for live bees.
山姆·德罗基的实验室里摆满了盒子，里面装着不同时期死亡的蜜蜂。这是他为美国地质调查局的“本土蜜蜂清查监测实验室”所做的工作。在这个工作当中，他最喜欢的是到野外寻找活着的蜜蜂。
After a short, bumpy car ride, Droege stops at a small grassy field filled with milkweed, Canada thistle and bees. He feels there is an urgent need for a large sampling of pollinator populations across the United States.
德罗基在崎岖道路上开了一小段路，然后停在一小片长满了紫云英和加拿大蓟荆、蜜蜂飞舞的草地上。他说，现在急需大范围采集全国各地传授花粉昆虫的样品：
"There's no bureau census of bees," he says. "So we are trying to create that in any way possible. There's not a lot of funding, so having citizens collect that kind of information would be advantageous."
Information on the status of pollinators helps researchers understand exactly how factors, such as disease or pollution, impact the numbers of these important insects.
Bee hunters
Amateur naturalists begin their bee hunts by noting the time of day and location they are photographing.
业余自然生物学家开始寻蜂作业时，要记下来他们拍摄照片的日期、时间和地点。
Once they find some bees, or other pollinating insects such as wasps, butterflies and beetles, it's time to pull out the camera and get some good close-ups. The volunteers upload the photos to the "Discover Life" website, where free online tools and experts are available to help identify the insects and the plants they're pollinating.
一旦他们找到了蜜蜂或者其它传授花粉的昆虫，例如黄蜂、蝴蝶、甲虫等，就马上拿出相机，拍摄近距离特写。最后，义工们将照片上载到“发现生命”网站，由专家们确认昆虫的种类和接受花粉传播的植物。
So far, 50 bee hunters across the U.S. have contributed to the database. Stephanie Urquhart took pictures of pollinators in the state of Oklahoma. She became interested in the study when she first heard that bees were disappearing due to an occurrence called colony collapse disorder.
目前，全美国有50名寻蜂者为这个资料库提供资讯。奥克拉荷马州的斯特凡尼·厄克特是听说蜜蜂消失的消息后，开始对这项研究发生兴趣的。
"My family, my father and my grandfather, they were beekeepers. And so when I heard that news, I knew what that meant. And it really scared me." Urquhart began researching colony collapse disorder and learned that, as far back as 1996, about 40 percent of the nation's wild pollinators had disappeared. "That includes bees, bats, butterflies, moths, the whole gamut."
她说：“我父亲和祖父都是从事养蜂的。所以，我听到这个消息时，我知道那意味着什么，我非常担心。所以我开始研究蜂群的反常消失和潜在的原因。我发现，早在1996年，我们就失去了百分之40的野生授粉昆虫，包括蜜蜂、蝙蝠、蝴蝶、飞蛾等等。”
In addition to her desire to help scientists understand what is causing this pollinator decline, Urquhart also uses Bee Hunt as part of her home-schooling routine with her two young daughters. For all three of them, she says, this is a way to have a positive impact on the world.
除了希望协助科学家了解授粉昆虫数量减少的原因，厄克特还把寻找蜜蜂作为她的两个小女儿家庭教育的内容。她说，这是她们母女三人能够为这世界做出积极贡献的途径：
"With digital photography, and the internet, now people can get directly involved with this - with climate, with wildlife issues, conservation, whatever. And really contribute something meaningful, and learn about themselves and start to understand where they live and how they can interact with their environment."
“由于数码摄影和网路，人们现在可以直接参与气象、野生生物、环境保育等许多问题，并且做出有意义的贡献，学习并了解自己居住的地方，以及如何与环境互动。”
Hope for the future
Fostering that community involvement in research is exactly why University of Georgia researcher John Pickering founded "Discover Life," and created Bee Hunt. With the study gaining momentum now that it has full funding, Pickering is excited to see what the data will tell us, and how we can use it.
促进社区参与研究工作，这正是乔治敦大学学者约翰·皮克林创立“发现生命”网站和开始“寻找蜜蜂”项目的初衷。随着研究工作渐入佳境和有了充裕的经费，皮克林现在非常希望知道这些数据将揭示什么，和我们如何去利用这些数据。
"I don't look at doom and destruction in our future," he says. "I really feel that if we work together, network together, collect the data that we need as a society, we can really understand and better manage this planet."
皮克林说：“我不认为前途一片黑暗。我确实觉得，如果我们一起努力，一起建立我们的网络，收集我们作为一个社会所需要的资讯，我们就能够懂得地球，懂得如何把地球治理得更好。”
Droege says combining data from multiple Bee Hunts can create an impressive database showing the status of pollinators today. It would also provide a valuable environmental baseline for understanding changes in the years to come.
"It's the foundation for all information to come. It'll be compared to, used over and over. We know that there were these kinds of bees and these kinds of critters on flowers at this time and this place. Twenty years later, 100 years later, you can go back and look at that again and you have the original data right there. You can look at it." |