蜜蜂都快死光了

幾個月前，在蜂群衰退之謎裏列了列世界，尤其是北美，蜜蜂大量消失（雞死亡，叫蜂群衰竭失調現象或蜂群衰竭失調症（Colony collapse disorder，CCD)）的原因，昨天，美國農業部一個新的報告說現在越來越嚴重了：

2015.05.13
路透社：U.S. honeybee losses soar over last year, USDA report finds

“Losses of managed honey bee colonies hit 42.1 percent from April 2014 through April 2015, up from 34.2 percent for 2013-2014”
“Causes: pesticides, loss of food and tiny mites”

綜合原因跟我上次說的相仿，不是單一的。時報周刊的科普：

2015.04.15
You Asked: Are the Honeybees Still Disappearing?

不過，前幾個月，大家嚷嚷的，是農藥乃最主要的因素：

2015.04.22
全國廣播電台：Buzz Over Bee Health: New Pesticide Studies Rev Up Controversy
技術時報網站：Bees Could Be Getting Hooked On Nicotine In Pesticides - Is This The Cause Of Colony Collapse Disorder?

這是全國廣播電台報道的采訪錄音：
裏麵的化學成分叫Neonicotinoid（維基），和尼古丁非常類似，說是蜜蜂吃上癮，吃死了。人類夠厲害，不過你又得咒罵農藥商（孟山都之類）惡毒，為了利潤啥都不顧。

普通媒體上聽不到的是懷疑的聲音：
2015.03.18
EPA Study Finds That Neonics Not Causing Colony Collapse Disorder In Bees

（參見在蜂群衰退之謎裏的資料）

時報周刊：

Dr. Dennis vanEngelsdorp—a University of Maryland entomologist who helps collect and publish the winter death data each spring—says there are three “primary drivers” of honeybee loss: The varroa mite, pesticides and poor nutrition. He doesn’t hesitate when asked to name the largest threat to bees: “I’d get rid of the varroa first.”

Varroa mites, properly (and frighteningly) named Varroa destructor, likely migrated to the U.S. sometime in the 1980s. They attach to a honeybee’s body and suck its blood, which kills many bees and spreads disease to others. The varroa can jump from one colony to another, wiping out whole populations of honeybees, vanEngelsdorp explains. There are treatments that combat the varroa. But many small-scale beekeepers don’t use them. “That’s bad, because they can spread mites to neighboring colonies,” he adds.

Of the two other major bee-killers vanEngelsdorp listed, pesticides have arguably gotten the most press—especially a commonly used category called neonicotinoids. While considered safe for humans, research suggests neonicotinoids may be extremely harmful to bees and many other insects, and so have been banned in some European countries. But the amount these chemicals contribute to bee deaths and colony collapse disorder is still debated. “We don’t find levels of neonicotinoids that are indicative of widespread exposure or harm,” vanEngelsdorp says.

堅持綜合症。這也是我相信的：原因難說單一的。

回顧一下：
公共電視（PBS）老片（2011）：Silence of the Bees


有什麽用呢？如以前說過，直接的經濟損失並不大，所以物價也不會大幅提高，就像氣候變暖似的，溫水煮青蛙，沒感覺，大家忙著下館子，來杯星巴克，死幾隻蜜蜂,小事兒。


華郵：How the White House plans to help the humble bee maintain its buzz
路透社圖：




【參見 】
合眾社：Survey: More than 40 percent of bee hives died in past year