大黃蜂竟然喜歡殺蟲劑

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，當大黃蜂接觸含有殺蟲劑的食物越多，他們就越離不開這個味道，這可能是上癮的征兆。

This study of bumblebee behaviour indicates that the risk of pesticide-contaminated food entering bee colonies may be higher than previously thought, which can have impacts on colony reproductive success.

這項與大黃蜂行為有關(guān)的研究表明，蜂群中，受殺蟲劑污染的食物所帶來的風險，可能更甚于之前的設(shè)想，甚至是對蜂群繁殖成功率產(chǎn)生重大影響。

In research published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a team from Imperial College London and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have shown that bumblebee colonies increasingly feed on pesticide-laced food (sugar solution) over time.

倫敦帝國理工學院(Imperial College London)和倫敦大學瑪麗皇后大學(Queen Mary University of London)組成了一個研究小組，該小組已經(jīng)將研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在《Proceedings of the Royal Society B》上。結(jié)果表明，隨著時間的推移，大黃蜂群體日益依賴含有殺蟲劑的食物(糖溶液)。

The researchers tested the controversial class of pesticides the 'neonicotinoids', which are currently one of the most widely used classes of pesticides worldwide, despite the near-total ban in the EU. The impact of neonicotinoids on bees is hotly debated, and the ban is a decision that has received mixed views.

研究人員測試了廣受爭議的農(nóng)藥"新煙堿"。盡管歐盟幾乎完全禁止了新煙堿的使用，但它卻是目前世界上使用最廣泛的殺蟲劑之一。人們就新煙堿對蜜蜂的影響進行了激烈的爭論，對這項禁令也是意見不一。

Lead researcher Dr. Richard Gill, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, said: "Given a choice, naïve bees appear to avoid neonicotinoid-treated food. However, as individual bees increasingly experience the treated food they develop a preference for it.

生命科學系的首席研究員理查德 · 吉爾博士說:"在蜜蜂可以自主選擇的情況下，是可以避免接觸到含有新煙堿的食物的。然而，隨著蜜蜂越來越多地嘗到‘新煙堿’的甜頭，它們也變得越來越喜歡這種食物了。“

"Interestingly, neonicotinoids target nerve receptors in insects that are similar to receptors targeted by nicotine in mammals. Our findings that bumblebees acquire a taste for neonicotinoids ticks certain symptoms of addictive behaviour, which is intriguing given the addictive properties of nicotine on humans, although more research is needed to determine this in bees."

”有趣的是，新煙堿是對昆蟲的神經(jīng)受體起作用，這類似于尼古丁對哺乳動物中的靶向受體的影響。我們的研究結(jié)果表明，大黃蜂對新煙堿有一定的嗜好。這就有點意思了，因為人們也對尼古丁上癮，不過我們需要進一步研究，以確定蜜蜂中的這種成癮行為。”

The team tracked ten bumblebee colonies over ten days, giving each colony access to its own foraging arena in which bees could choose feeders that did or did not contain a neonicotinoid.

研究小組對10個大黃蜂蜂群進行了十天的跟蹤調(diào)查。每個蜂群都可以自由進出自己的覓食場所，在這里蜜蜂可以選擇含有或不含新煙堿的喂食器。

They found that while the bees preferred the pesticide-free food to begin with, over time they fed on the pesticide-laced food more and visited the pesticide-free food less. They continued to prefer the pesticide-laced food even when the positions of the feeders were changed, suggesting they can detect the pesticide inside the food.

他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，雖然蜜蜂最初喜歡無殺蟲劑的食物，但隨著時間的推移，它們食用含有殺蟲劑的食物更多了，并且吃無殺蟲劑食物的次數(shù)越來越少。即使喂食器的位置發(fā)生變化，他們?nèi)匀桓矚g含有殺蟲劑的食物，這表明它們可以檢測到食物中的殺蟲劑。

Lead author Dr. Andres Arce, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, said: "Many studies on neonicotinoids feed bees exclusively with pesticide-laden food, but in reality, wild bees have a choice of where to feed. We wanted to know if the bees could detect the pesticides and eventually learn to avoid them by feeding on the uncontaminated food we were offering.

主要作者安德烈斯 · 阿爾斯博士說:"許多關(guān)于新煙堿的研究僅僅是用含有殺蟲劑的食物喂養(yǎng)蜜蜂，但他們忽略了，野生蜜蜂是自己可以選擇覓食地點的。我們想知道蜜蜂是否能夠檢測出殺蟲劑，并在吃了我們提供的沒有殺蟲劑的食物后，能否學會不再吃那些含有新煙堿的食物了。”

"Whilst at first it appeared that the bees did avoid the food containing the pesticide, we found that over time the bumblebees increased their visits to pesticide-laden food. We now need to conduct further studies to try and understand the mechanism behind why they acquire this preference."

“起初看來，蜜蜂確實避開了含有殺蟲劑的食物，但我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，慢慢地，大黃蜂吃含有殺蟲劑的食物更多了。但我們現(xiàn)在需要進行進一步的研究，以試圖理解他們有這種偏好的原因。”

Dr. Gill added: "This research expands on important previous work by groups at Newcastle and Dublin Universities. Here, we added a time dimension and allowed the bees to carry out more normal foraging behaviour, to understand the dynamics of pesticide preference. Together these studies allow us to properly assess the risks of exposure and not just the hazard posed.

吉爾博士補充說:"這項研究是對紐卡斯爾和都柏林大學之前的重要研究成果的擴充。本次實驗中，我們增加了時間維度，并且允許蜜蜂進行更正常的覓食行為，以動態(tài)地了解它們的偏好。所有這些研究使我們能夠不失偏頗地評估接觸的風險，而不僅僅只關(guān)注造成的危害。”

"Whilst neonicotinoids are controversial, if the effects of replacements on non-target insects are not understood, then I believe it is sensible that we take advantage of current knowledge and further studies to provide guidance for using neonicotinoids more responsibly, rather than necessarily an outright ban."

“雖然新煙堿的使用頗具爭議，但如果目前我們還不清楚它對其非目標群體的影響，那么我認為，我們可以利用目前的知識，進一步研究，為更負責任地使用新煙堿素提供導向，而不是徹底禁用它。”