Honey Bee Losses Still a Problem in US

Honey Bee Losses Still a Problem in US
Beekeepers reported losing about 35 percent of their hives in the fall and winter of last year. Transcript of radio broadcast:
12 May 2008

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 nineteen eighties, researchers have been concerned about the health of these valuable pollinators.

Worries grew after the winter of two thousand six. 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.

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 two thousand seven. It two thousand six, 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 eighteen hundreds, they say, it was more than one thousand two hundred 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.

----------------------------Google Translate

蜜蜂的损失仍是一个问题，在美国
养蜂人报道，失去约35 ％的配置单元，在秋季和冬季的去年。全文电台广播：
2008年5月12日

这是美国之音特别英语农业的报告。

蜜蜂新增数十亿美元的价值约130作物在美国。但自19八十年代，研究人员一直关心的健康，这些宝贵的授粉。

长大后的忧虑，冬季2000 6 。一些授粉服务报告的损失，在任何地方从30到90 ％的配置单元。该养蜂人没有找到死亡的成年蜜蜂，因为他们往往后的冬季。相反，蜜蜂被荡然无存。专家作了一个名称，以这个神秘的情况：殖民地崩溃的混乱。

一份报告，在农业研究杂志，从农业部门，需要重新审视在防治荒漠化公约它说，真正的障碍是一个严重的问题。但它说，有足够的蜜蜂，提供一切所需的农业授粉去年。

还有，养蜂人报道，失去约35 ％的配置单元，在秋季和冬季的2000 7 。它2000六，这是31 ％ 。

美国已差不多两年半万管理beehives 。专家从农业部门和apiary督察美国做了研究，涉及约五分之一。

一发现是养蜂人谁没有发现死亡的成年蜜蜂的人更可能有最严重的损失。此外，病毒所谓iapv ，以色列急性瘫痪病毒，是目前在几乎一半的殖民地的研究。

但研究人员说，他们不知道，如果这一病毒的原因，一个殖民地崩溃。他们说，由于缺乏影响蜜蜂研究使人们难以确切地知道什么新的障碍。

损失在蜜蜂种群的结果可以从众多的原因。一个大问题，举例来说，是varroa螨，一种致命的寄生虫。和专家继续寻找其他的答案，目前的情况。

科学家们在美国弗吉尼亚大学的最近报告说，空气污染可能会阻止蜜蜂从寻找花授粉。他们认为臭氧在空气中保持蜜蜂和其他授粉媒介，从闻鲜花。蜜蜂饲料对蜜粉源从鲜花。

圣荷西富恩特斯和他的团队在弗吉尼亚州的研究多远的气味花卉旅游与风。前18数百人，他们说，这是多一千二百米。现在，他们说，气味可以旅行，只有约300米在最好的。他们的研究是在杂志上的大气环境。

这是该美国之音特别英语农业的报告，书面，由jerilyn沃森。为更多地了解蜜蜂，去voaspecialenglish.com 。我真诚地拉皮迪。