時差N小時:黃蜂和玫瑰的對話

The conversation of wasps and roses on today'smoment of science.

時差N小時：黃蜂和玫瑰的對話

Have you ever started talking to someone, only todiscover you have nothing in common and, therefore,nothing to say?

你曾有過這樣的經(jīng)歷嗎?想打破堅冰跟別人交流，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)毫無共同語言。

You might imagine that a yellow jacket, flying aboutits waspy business, and a rose bush, intent ongrowing green leaves in the sun, would be in asimilar fix:

想象一下，一只忙著采蜜的黃蜂，一堆在陽光下茁壯成長的玫瑰花叢，它們之間也會出現(xiàn)這樣的尷尬場面嗎?

nothing in common, nothing to say. Actually, rose bushes and other plants have a time honoredmethod of communicating with yellow jackets and other wasps.

兩種截然不同的生物，怎么會有共同語言呢。但實際上植物，包括玫瑰花叢，與黃蜂有著經(jīng)得起時間考驗的交流方式。

A yellow jacket's waspy business is probably finding food. One of the things it likes to eat isnice, juicy caterpillars.

黃蜂的工作可能就是找食物。肥美的毛蟲是它們喜愛的食物之一。

The caterpillar, of course, likes to eat nice, green leaves.

當(dāng)然毛蟲喜歡吃嫩綠的樹葉。

So you see, the plant and the yellow jacket have something in common after all: The plant iseaten by the very thing the wasp likes to eat.

所以，玫瑰與黃蜂有著共同的對手毛蟲;黃蜂吃毛蟲，而植物被毛蟲吃。

Yellow jackets have good eyes for spotting caterpillars and other prey, but a plant that is beingeaten doesn't want to just wait around for the wasp to notice.

盡管黃蜂視力非常靈敏，一眼就能偵查出毛蟲和其他獵物，但是玫瑰還是不想坐以待斃，她要想辦法引起黃蜂的注意。

Fortunately for your roses, evolution has provided the plant with its very own distress signal,based on smell.

幸運的是，進(jìn)化賦予了玫瑰獨一無二的求救方式，氣味信號。

When a caterpillar chops into a leaf, the plant releases an acid that smells the same as freshcut grass.

當(dāng)毛蟲蠶食葉片時，玫瑰會釋放出一種酸性物質(zhì)，聞起來像青草的香氣。

The caterpillar's bites also spill a kind of alcohol from the damaged leaf cells.

毛蟲咬過之后，損壞的葉片細(xì)胞也會溢出一種物質(zhì)，酒精。

This alcohol mixes with the cut grass aroma and carries it upward in a rising plume where itcan be smelled by our circling yellow jacket.

酒精味與青草味混合，并一縷一縷地向上揮發(fā)，以便讓在上空盤旋的黃蜂聞到。

Millions of years of evolution have taught the yellow jacket that following this smell often leadsto a delicious meal.

經(jīng)過上百萬年的進(jìn)化，黃蜂學(xué)會了一個道理，跟著香味走就會能飽餐一頓。

So what do wasps and roses talk about? They talk about what's for lunch.

現(xiàn)在你知道黃蜂和玫瑰在談?wù)撌裁磫?他們在談?wù)撐绮统允裁础?/p>