您现在的位置: Language Tips> Audio & Video> Special Speed News  
   
 





 
Honey bee losses still a problem in US
[ 2008-05-13 09:17 ]

 

Download

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Honey bees add billions of dollars in value to around one hundred thirty crops in the United States. But since the 1980s, researchers have been concerned about the health of these valuable pollinators.

Honey bee Worries grew after the winter of 2006. Some pollination services reported losses of anywhere from thirty to ninety percent of their hives. The beekeepers did not find dead adult bees as they often do after winter. Instead, the bees were gone. Experts gave a name to this mysterious situation: colony collapse disorder.

Honey bee losses still a problem in US

A report in Agricultural Research magazine, from the Department of Agriculture, takes a fresh look at C.C.D. It says the disorder is truly a serious problem. But it says there were enough honey bees to provide all the agricultural pollination needed last year.

Still, beekeepers reported losing about thirty-five percent of their hives in the fall and winter of 2007. In 2006, it was thirty-one percent.

The United States has almost two and one-half million managed beehives. Experts from the Agriculture Department and the Apiary Inspectors of America did a study involving about one-fifth of them.

One finding was that beekeepers who found no dead adult bees were more likely to have the most severe losses. Also, a virus called I.A.P.V., for Israeli acute paralysis virus, was present in almost half the colonies studied.

But researchers say they do not know if this virus causes a colony to collapse. They say the lack of affected bees to examine makes it difficult to know exactly what the new disorder is.

Losses in honey bee populations can result from a number of causes. A big problem, for example, is the varroa mite, a deadly parasite. And experts keep looking for other answers for the current situation.

Scientists at the University of Virginia recently reported that air pollution may prevent bees from finding flowers to pollinate. They think ozone in the air is keeping bees and other pollinators from smelling the flowers. Bees feed on nectar and pollen from flowers.

Jose Fuentes and his team at Virginia studied how far the scent of flowers travels with the wind. Before the 1800s, they say, it was more than 1,200 meters. Now, they say, the scent can travel only about three hundred meters at best. Their study is in the journal Atmospheric Environment.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For more about bees, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Faith Lapidus.

pollination:授粉

(Source: VOA 英语点津姗姗编辑)

 
英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
相关文章 Related Story
 
 
 
本频道最新推荐
 
Walking in the US first lady's shoes
“准确无误”如何表达
英国新晋超女苏珊大妈改头换面
猪流感 swine flu
你有lottery mentality吗
翻吧推荐
 
论坛热贴
 
别乱扔垃圾。怎么译这个乱字呀?
橘子,橙子用英文怎么区分?
看Gossip Girl学英语
端午节怎么翻译?
母亲,您在天堂还好吗?