【英语时差8,16】蜜蜂的死亡

The survival strategies of some species can seem counter-intuitive to us until we examine them in detail.  

Let's take the example of bees, which die after stinging once, because the stinger tears out their insides. How can this self-destructive trait possibly have evolved? 

 

The answer is found in the way bees reproduce. In evolutionary¹ terms, a "successful" organism is one that passes on its genes²--not necessarily one that lives a long life. In human beings, the best way to pass on genes is through your children. That means the advantage goes to the person who stays alive longest, reproduces most, and defends her or his children best. But there is another way to pass on genes: through your siblings³. After all, your brother or sister has some of the same genes you do, because you share the same parents. So if she or he survives, that much of you survives too. 

 

In bees, this is actually a better strategy than having offspring. Only one out of thousands of female bees becomes queen; all the others are sterile⁴. However, the sterile female bees are 75% genetically⁵ identical to each other. The result? For a bee, dying in order to defend the hive means a much better chance of your own genes surviving--in the form of all your sisters. 

 

Why have insects such as wasps⁶ not evolved to pull out their insides when they sting, then? The answer may lie in the size of the hive. The gene-passing strategy we have described only works if, by dying, you protect a large number of copies of yourself. In smaller hives where this is not the case, it then becomes important once again for the individual to survive.  

1 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

2 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

3 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

4 sterile   

adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上，保持奶嘴无菌。
• The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。

5 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

6 wasps   

黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人

参考例句：

• There's a wasps' nest in that old tree. 那棵老树上有一个黄蜂巢。
• We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. 我们不仅生活在对象蜘蛛或黄蜂这样的小虫的惧怕中，而且生活在对诸如飞蛾这样无害昆虫的惧怕中