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是什么导致蜜蜂不断消失--以及如何拯救它们

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Pollinator decline is a grand challenge in the modern world.

在现代世界中,传粉物种的减少是个很大的挑战。
Of the 200,000 species of pollinators, honeybees are the most well-understood,
在二十万种传粉者当中,蜜蜂是大家最了解的,
partly because of our long history with them dating back 8,000 years ago to our cave drawings in what is now modern-day Spain.
有一部分是因为我们与蜜蜂的历史可以追溯到八千年前,位于现在西班牙地区的洞穴壁画。
And yet we know that this indicator species is dying off.
但是这种指标性的物种正渐绝迹。
Last year alone, we lost 40 percent of all beehives in the United States.
光是去年,在美国,我们就失去了所有蜂巢的40%。
That number is even higher in areas with harsh winters, like here in Massachusetts,
在严冬地区,比如麻州,那个比例还更高,
where we lost 47 percent of beehives in one year alone.
我们单单一年就失去了47%的蜂窝。
Can you imagine if we lost half of our people last year? And if those were the food-producing people?
你们能否想象如果去年我们失去了一半人类的情况?且失去的还是会生产食物的人呢?
It's untenable. And I predict that in 10 years, we will lose our bees.
真的会走不下去。我预测,在十年内,我们就会失去蜜蜂。
If not for the work of beekeepers replacing these dead beehives,
如果不是靠养蜂人努力更换死去的蜂巢,
we would be without foods that we rely upon: fruits, vegetables, crunchy almonds and nuts, tart apples, sour lemons.
我们就会失去我们赖以为生的食物:水果、蔬菜、松脆的杏仁和坚果、爽口的苹果、酸柠檬。
Even the food that our cattle rely upon to eat, hay and alfalfa, gone,
就连我们的牛赖以为生的食物,干草和苜蓿,都没了,
causing global hunger, economic collapse, a total moral crisis across earth.
造成全球饥荒、经济崩盘,全世界都将陷入道德危机。
Now, I first started keeping bees here in Cape Cod right after I finished my doctorate in honeybee immunology.
我最早开始在鳕鱼角养蜂,是在我拿到蜜蜂免疫学博士学位之后。
Imagine getting such a degree in a good economy -- and it was 2009: the Great Recession.
想象一下,在经济状况很好的时期拿到那种学位,然而那是2009年:经济大衰退那年。
And I was onto something. I knew that I could find out how to improve bee health.
但我有所打算。我知道我能研究出如何改善蜜蜂的健康。
And so the community on Cape Cod here in Provincetown was ripe for citizen science, people looking for ways to get involved and to help.
在普罗威斯顿鳕鱼角的小区都为公众科学做好准备了,大家都在想办法参一脚、提供协助。
And so we met with people in coffee shops.
所以,我们在咖啡店和大家会面。
A wonderful woman named Natalie got eight beehives at her home in Truro,
娜塔莉慷慨提供她在特鲁罗家中的八个蜂箱,
and she introduced us to her friend Valerie, who let us set up 60 beehives at an abandoned tennis court on her property.
并介绍我们认识她的朋友瓦莱丽,让我们于她的废弃网球场设立60个蜂箱。
And so we started testing vaccines for bees. We were starting to look at probiotics.
我们便开始测试蜜蜂用的疫苗。我们开始研究益生菌。
We called it "bee yogurt" -- ways to make bees healthier. And our citizen science project started to take off.
我们称它为“蜜蜂优格”,这能让蜜蜂更健康。我们的公众科学计划开始起飞。
Meanwhile, back in my apartment here, I was a bit nervous about my landlord. I figured I should tell him what we were doing.
这段期间,在我的公寓这里,我有点担心我的房东。我觉得我应该要告诉他我们在做什么。
I was terrified; I really thought I was going to get an eviction notice, which really was the last thing we needed, right?
我很害怕;我真的以为我会收到驱逐通告,这是我们最不需要的,对吧?
I must have caught him on a good day, though,
不过,我大概碰到他心情很好的日子,
because when I told him what we were doing and how we started our nonprofit urban beekeeping laboratory,
因为当我告诉他我们在做什么及我们如何成立非营利的都市养蜂实验室时,
he said, "That's great! Let's get a beehive in the back alley."
他说:“那真棒!我们在后巷弄个蜂箱吧。”
I was shocked. I was completely surprised. I mean, instead of getting an eviction notice, we got another data point.
我很吃惊。我完全没料到。我不但没收到驱逐通告,还多拿到了一个数据点。
And in the back alley of this image, what you see here, this hidden beehive
在这张图上的后巷,各位现在所看见的,这个隐藏式蜂箱,
that beehive produced more honey that first year than we have ever experienced in any beehive we had managed.
这个蜂箱在第一年所产的蜂蜜量超越我们曾经管理过的任何一个蜂箱。
It shifted our research perspective forever.
它永远转变了我们的研究角度。
It changed our research question away from "How do we save the dead and dying bees?" to "Where are bees doing best?"
它让我们的研究问题从“我们要如何拯救已死和濒死的蜜蜂?”转变为“蜜蜂在哪里活得最好?”
And we started to be able to put maps together,
我们开始能够把地图拼凑起来,
looking at all of these citizen science beehives from people who had beehives at home decks, gardens, business rooftops.
研究所有这些公众科学蜂箱,这些都是大家放在家中露天平台、花园、商店屋顶上的蜂箱。
We started to engage the public, and the more people who got these little data points, the more accurate our maps became.
我们开始接触大众,越多人有这些小小的数据点,我们的地图就会更精确。
And so when you're sitting here thinking, "How can I get involved?"
所以,当你们坐在这里想着“我要如何参与?”
you might think about a story of my friend Fred, who's a commercial real estate developer.
你们可以想想我的朋友佛莱德的故事,他经营商业不动产开发。
He was thinking the same thing.
他也在想同样的事情。
He was at a meeting, thinking about what he could do for tenant relations and sustainability at scale.
他在一场会议上,想着他能够做些什么,来大规模的改善房客关系及永续性。
And while he was having a tea break, he put honey into his tea
当他喝下午茶的时候,他把蜂蜜加到茶里面时,
and noticed on the honey jar a message about corporate sustainability from the host company of that meeting. And it sparked an idea.
注意到在蜂蜜罐上主办单位印上一段有关于企业永续性的信息。这段信息让他灵机一动。
He came back to his office. An email, a phone call later, and -- boom! -- we went national together.
他回到他的办公室。在写了一封电子邮件,打了一通电话之后。砰!我们就迈向全国了。
We put dozens of beehives on the rooftops of their skyscrapers across nine cities nationwide.
我们在他们的摩天楼屋顶上放了数十个蜂箱,遍及全国九个城市。
Nine years later... Nine years later, we have raised over a million dollars for bee research.
九年后...九年后,我们为蜜蜂研究募得了一百万美元。
We have a thousand beehives as little data points across the country, 18 states and counting,
我们有一千个蜂箱遍布全国,都是我们的数据点,遍布十八个州,且持续增加,
where we have created paying jobs for local beekeepers, 65 of them, to manage beehives in their own communities,
我们为当地的养蜂人创造了共65个有薪的工作机会,他们的工作是管理自己小区内的蜂箱,
to connect with people, everyday people, who are now data points together making a difference.
与人连结,日常老百姓,这些人现在也成为数据点,一起创造不同。
So in order to explain what's actually been saving bees, where they're thriving, I need to first tell you what's been killing them.
所以,要解释什么拯救了蜜蜂、它们在哪里活得最好,我就得先告诉各位是什么让它们死亡。
The top three killers of bees are agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, fungicides;
杀害蜜蜂的前三名杀手是农业用化学物质,如杀虫剂、除草剂、杀菌剂;
diseases of bees, of which there are many; and habitat loss.
蜜蜂的疾病,它们有许多种疾病;以及失去栖息地。
So what we did is we looked on our maps and we identified areas where bees were thriving. This was mostly in cities, we found.
所以,我们做的就是去看我们的地图,找出蜜蜂在哪些区域活得比较好。我们发现,大部分是在城市。
Data are now showing that urban beehives produce more honey than rural beehives and suburban beehives.
现在的数据显示,都市蜂箱所产生出来的蜂蜜量高于乡村蜂箱以及近郊蜂箱。
Urban beehives have a longer life span than rural and suburban beehives,
比起乡村蜂箱以及近郊蜂箱,都市蜂箱的寿命比较长,
and bees in the city are more biodiverse; there are more bee species in urban areas.
城市中的蜜蜂生物多样性也较高;在都市地区的蜜蜂物种比较多。
Right? Why is this? That was our question.
对吗?为什么会这样?我们想了解这个问题。
So we started with these three killers of bees, and we flipped it: Which of these is different in the cities?
所以我们从这三种蜜蜂杀手开始着手,我们反过来看:蜜峰杀手在城市中有什么不同?
So the first one, pesticides. We partnered up with the Harvard School of Public Health.
第一种,杀虫剂。我们和哈佛公共卫生学院合作。
We shared our data with them. We collected samples from our citizen science beehives at people's homes and business rooftops.
我们跟他们分享数据。我们的样本收集自放在民众家中和商店屋顶上的公众科学蜂箱。
We looked at pesticide levels. We thought there would be less pesticides in areas where bees are doing better. That's not the case.
我们研究了杀虫剂的量。我们以为,在蜜蜂活得比较好的区域杀虫剂会少一些。结果不是如此。
So what we found here in our study is -- the orange bars are Boston,
我们的研究发现--橘色的长条是波士顿,
and we thought those bars would be the lowest, there would be the lowest levels of pesticides.
我们以为那些长条会是最低的,杀虫剂的量是最低的。

是什么导致蜜蜂不断消失--以及如何拯救它们

And, in fact, there are the most pesticides in cities.

事实上,在城市中,那些区域的杀虫剂最多。
So the pesticide hypothesis for what's saving bees -- less pesticides in cities -- is not it.
所以,杀虫剂和蜜蜂生存有关的假设,即城市中比较少杀虫剂,这点不成立。
And this is very typical of my life as a scientist.
在我的科学家人生中这是很常见的状况。
Anytime I've had a hypothesis, not only is it not supported, but the opposite is true.
每当我有一个假设时,不仅没有证据支持它,并且和假设相反的情况才是真的。
Which is still an interesting finding, right?
这仍然是个有趣的发现,对吧?
We moved on. The disease hypothesis. We looked at diseases all over our beehives.
我们继续下一项,疾病假设。我们探究了我们所有蜂箱的疾病。
And what we found in a similar study to this one with North Carolina State is:
我们在一篇于北卡罗莱纳州的类似研究中发现:
there's no difference between disease in bees in urban, suburban and rural areas.
蜜蜂的疾病状况,在都市、近郊以及乡村地区都没有差异。
Diseases are everywhere; bees are sick and dying.
疾病无所不在;蜜蜂都会生病死亡。
In fact, there were more diseases of bees in cities. This was from Raleigh, North Carolina.
事实上,在城市中还有更多种蜜蜂疾病。以上数据来自北卡罗莱纳州的罗里。
So again, my hypothesis was not supported. The opposite was true.
所以,又一次,没有证据支持我的假设。相反的状况才是真的。
We're moving on. The habitat hypothesis.
我们继续下一项。栖息地假设。
This said that areas where bees are thriving have a better habitat -- more flowers, right?
这个假设是说,蜜蜂数量繁多的地区,有比较好的栖息地,即花朵比较多,对吧?
But we didn't know how to test this. So I had a really interesting meeting.
但我们不知该如何检测这个假设。所以,我开了一场很有意思的会议。
An idea sparked with my friend and colleague Anne Madden, fellow TED speaker.
这个想法鼓舞了我的朋友兼同事安麦登,也是TED的讲者。
We thought about genomics, kind of like AncestryDNA or 23andMe.
我们考虑了基因组学,有点像AncestryDNA或23andMe。
Have you done these? You spit in a tube and you find out, "I'm German!"
你们做过这些基因检测吗?对试管吐口水之后发现“我是德国人”!
Well, we developed this for honey. So we have a sample of honey and we look at all the plant DNA, and we find out, "I'm sumac!"
我们为蜂蜜开发出了这类检测。我们取得蜂蜜样本,去比对所有的植物DNA,我们就会发现“我是漆树”!
And that's what we found here in Provincetown.
那就是我们在普罗威斯顿这里的发现。
So for the first time ever, I'm able to report to you what type of honey is from right here in our own community.
这是史上第一次,我能向各位报告,在我们自己的小区中,蜂蜜是自哪来的。
HoneyDNA, a genomics test. Spring honey in Provincetown is from privet.
HoneyDNA是一种基因组学检测。普罗威斯顿的春季蜂蜜来自水蜡树。
What's privet? Hedges. What's the message? Don't trim your hedges to save the bees.
什么是水蜡树?树篱。结论是什么?不要修剪你的树篱,就能拯救蜜蜂。
I know we're getting crunchy and it's controversial,
我知道我们越来越环境主义了,且这会有争议性,
so before you throw your tomatoes, we'll move to the summer honey, which is water lily honey.
所以,在你们拿蕃茄丢我之前,我们来看夏日蜂蜜,也就是睡莲蜂蜜。
If you have honey from Provincetown right here in the summer, you're eating water lily juice; in the fall, sumac honey.
如果夏天时你喝到来自普罗威斯顿的蜂蜜,那你就是在喝睡莲汁;在秋季是漆树蜂蜜。
We're learning about our food for the first time ever.
这是我们史上第一次去了解我们的食物。
And now we're able to report, if you need to do any city planning:
现在,我们可以向各位报告,如果你们需要做任何都市规划:
What are good things to plant? What do we know the bees are going to that's good for your garden?
种植什么会比较好?有什么植物会吸引蜜蜂去,且对你的花园有好处?
For the first time ever for any community, we now know this answer.
我们终于知道对任何小区而言答案是什么。
What's more interesting for us is deeper in the data.
更深入数据后,还能找到对我们来说更有趣的信息。
So, if you're from the Caribbean and you want to explore your heritage,
如果你来自加勒比海,想要探究你的文化资产,
Bahamian honey is from the laurel family, cinnamon and avocado flavors.
巴哈马蜂蜜是来自月桂树家族,肉桂和酪梨口味。
But what's more interesting is 85 different plant species in one teaspoon of honey.
但更有趣的是,85种不同的植物能同时存在于一匙蜂蜜中。
That's the measure we want, the big data. Indian honey: that is oak.
那就是我们想要的测量量,大数据。印度蜂蜜:橡树。
Every sample we've tested from India is oak, and that's 172 different flavors in one taste of Indian honey.
我们检测过的所有印度样本都有橡树,尝一口印度蜂蜜,就有172种不同的口味。
Provincetown honey goes from 116 plants in the spring to over 200 plants in the summer.
普罗威斯顿蜂蜜则是从春季的116种植物,到夏季超过200种植物。
These are the numbers that we need to test the habitat hypothesis.
若要检定栖息地假设,我们就需要这样的数据。
In another citizen science approach, you find out about your food and we get some interesting data.
使用另一种公众科学方法,你能更了解你的食物,我们则得到一些有趣的数据。
We're finding out now that in rural areas, there are 150 plants on average in a sample of honey.
我们发现,在乡村地区,在一个蜂蜜样本中,平均就有150种植物。
That's a measure for rural. Suburban areas, what might you think?
那是乡村的数据。至于近郊地区,你们认为呢?
Do they have less or more plants in suburban areas with lawns that look nice for people but they're terrible for pollinators?
在有草皮的近郊地区,植物种类会比较多或比较少?那些人们觉得看起来很棒,其实对传粉昆虫很不好的草皮?
Suburbs have very low plant diversity, so if you have a beautiful lawn, good for you, but you can do more.
近郊的植物多样性非常低,所以,若你有一块很漂亮的草坪,很好,但你还可以做更多。
You can have a patch of your lawn that's a wildflower meadow to diversify your habitat, to improve pollinator health.
你可以把草坪的其中一小块留给野花,让你的栖息地更多样化,来改善传粉昆虫的健康。
Anybody can do this. Urban areas have the most habitat, best habitat, as you can see here: over 200 different plants.
大家都能做得到。都市地区有最多栖息地,最好的栖息地,如画面上所示:200种以上的植物。
We have, for the first time ever, support for the habitat hypothesis.
这是史上第一次,我们找到了支持栖息地假设的证据。
We also now know how we can work with cities. The City of Boston has eight times better habitat than its nearby suburbs.
现在我们也知道该要如何和城市合作。波士顿市的栖息地比它的邻近近郊要好八倍。
And so when we work with governments, we can scale this.
若我们能和政府合作,就能把这规模扩大。
You might think on my tombstone, it'll say, "Here lies Noah. Plant a flower." Right?
你们可能在想,我的墓碑上会写:“诺亚长眠于此。请种一朵花。”对吧?
I mean -- it's exhausting after all of this.
我是说,做所有这些事,真的是让人筋疲力竭。
But when we scale together, when we go to governments and city planners -- like in Boston,
但若我们能一起把规模做大,若我们能去找政府和城市规划者--以波士顿为例,
the honey is mostly linden trees, and we say, "If a dead tree needs to be replaced, consider linden."
蜂蜜大部分是菩提树,我们可以说:“若有树木死亡需要更换,请考虑换菩提树。”
When we take this information to governments, we can do amazing things. This is a rooftop from Fred's company.
当我们把这些信息提供给政府,我们就能做很了不起的事。这是佛莱德的公司的屋顶。
We can plant those things on top of rooftops worldwide to start restoring habitat and securing food systems.
我们可以在全世界的屋顶上种植那些植物,开始恢复栖息地,保护食物系统。
We've worked with the World Bank and the presidential delegation from the country of Haiti.
我们已经在和世界银行以及海地的总统委任代表合作。
We've worked with wonderful graduate students at Yale University and Ethiopia.
我们已和耶鲁大学及埃塞俄比亚很棒的研究生合作。
In these countries, we can add value to their honey by identifying what it is,
在这些国家,我们能辨识出它们的蜂蜜是什么,并为它加值,
but informing the people of what to plant to restore their habitat and secure their food systems.
还能告知大众该种植什么以恢复他们的栖息地,保护他们的食物系统。
But what I think is even more important is when we think about natural disasters.
但我认为,更重要的是去思考自然灾害。
For the first time, we now know how we can have a baseline measure of any habitat before it might be destroyed.
有史以来第一次,我们知道我们可以在任何栖息地被摧毁前,就先对它做基线测量。
Think about your hometown. What risks does the environment pose to it?
想想你的家乡。那里的环境要面临什么风险?
This is how we're going to save Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
这就是在飓风玛莉亚过后,我们拯救波多黎各的方式。
We now have a baseline measure of honey, honey DNA from before and after the storm.
现在,我们有蜂蜜的基线测量值,在暴风发生前和发生后的蜂蜜DNA。
We started in Humacao. This is right where Hurricane Maria made landfall.
我们从乌马考开始着手。这正是飓风玛莉亚的登陆地。
And we know what plants to replace and in what quantity and where by triangulating honey DNA samples.
我们知道要种什么植物、数量要多少、种在何处,用蜂蜜DNA样本来做三角定位就能办到。
You might even think about right here, the beautiful land that connected us, that primed us, all the citizen science to begin with,
各位也可以想想这里,连结我们、让我们进行公众科学准备的美丽土地,
the erosion, the winter storms that are getting more violent every year.
水土流失、冬季暴风,每年越来越剧烈。
What are we going to do about this, our precious land?
我们要怎么处理我们珍贵的土地所面临的危机?
Well, looking at honey DNA, we can see what plants are good for pollinators that have deep roots,
通过研究蜂蜜DNA,我们可以找出哪些深根的植物对于传粉昆虫是有益的,
that can secure the land, and together, everybody can participate. And the solution fits in a teaspoon.
它们能保护土质,并且大家可以一同参与。解决方案就在一匙的蜂蜜中。
If your hometown might get swept away or destroyed by a natural disaster,
如果你的家乡被天然灾害侵袭或摧毁,
we now have a blueprint suspended in time for how to restore that on Earth, or perhaps even in a greenhouse on Mars.
现在,我们就能实时挂起蓝图,规划如何在地球上重建那个地区,或也许甚至移至火星上的温室里。
I know it sounds crazy, but think about this: a new Provincetown, a new hometown,
我知道这听起来很疯狂,但试想看看:一个新的普罗威斯顿,一个新的家乡,
a place that might be familiar that's also good for pollinators for a stable food system, when we're thinking about the future.
一个熟悉的地方,对传粉昆虫有益,对稳定的食物系统有益,这是值得想想的未来。
Now, together, we know what's saving bees -- by planting diverse habitat.
把所有信息整合之后,我们知道是什么拯救了蜜蜂--种植多样化的栖息地。
Now, together, we know how bees are going to save us -- by being barometers for environmental health,
把所有信息整合之后,我们知道蜜蜂要如何拯救我们--它们可以扮演环境健康的气压计,
by being blueprints, sources of information, little data factories suspended in time. Thank you.
扮演蓝图、信息来源,实时的小小数据工厂。谢谢。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
erosion [i'rəuʒən]

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n. 腐蚀,侵蚀

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produce [prə'dju:s]

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n. 产品,农作物
vt. 生产,提出,引起,

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trim [trim]

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n. 整齐,装饰,修剪下来的部分
adj. 整

 
collapse [kə'læps]

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n. 崩溃,倒塌,暴跌
v. 倒塌,崩溃,瓦解

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accurate ['ækjurit]

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adj. 准确的,精确的

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untenable ['ʌn'tenəbl]

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adj. 不能防守的,不能维持的,支持不住的

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rural ['ru:rəl]

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adj. 农村的

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hypothesis [hai'pɔθisis]

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n. 假设,猜测,前提

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community [kə'mju:niti]

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n. 社区,社会,团体,共同体,公众,[生]群落

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lily ['lili]

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adj. 纯白的 n. 百合花

 

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