气候变化正将大黄蜂推向灭绝的边缘

气候变化正将大黄蜂推向灭绝的边缘

Climate change could deliver a fatal blow to the humble bumblebee.

气候变化可能对不起眼的大黄蜂造成致命打击。

Paired with other existing threats to the 250-plus species of bumblebee, new research has shown that climate change will result in extreme losses for many populations as they can’t adapt fast enough to ever-increasing temperatures.

与现存的250多种大黄蜂面临的其他威胁相比，新的研究表明，气候变化将导致许多种群的极端损失，因为它们无法足够快地适应不断上升的温度。

Tom Hale

The new study, reported in the journal Science this week, found that the likelihood of a bumblebee population surviving in any given place in Europe and North America has declined by 30 percent since the 1970s. According to the researchers, this rate of loss is “consistent with a mass extinction.”

本周发表在《科学》杂志上的这项新研究发现，自上世纪70年代以来，欧洲和北美任何地方的大黄蜂种群存活的可能性下降了30%。根据研究人员的说法，这种消失的速度“与大规模灭绝是一致的”。

“We were surprised by how much climate change has already caused bumblebee declines,” study co-author Dr Tim Newbold, from the UCL Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, said in a statement.

来自伦敦大学学院生物多样性与环境研究中心的研究合著者蒂姆·纽博尔德博士在一份声明中说:“气候变化已经导致大黄蜂数量减少，这让我们很惊讶。”

“Our findings suggest that much larger declines are likely if climate change accelerates in the coming years, showing that we need substantial efforts to reduce climate change if we are to preserve bumblebee diversity.”

“我们的研究结果表明，如果未来几年气候变化加速，蜜蜂数量的下降幅度可能会更大。这表明，如果我们要保护大黄蜂的多样性，就需要大量的努力来减少气候变化。”

The researchers examined data on 66 species of bumblebee across North America and Europe between 1900 and 2015. The data was then paired with information on temperature changes and different species’ tolerance to changing temperatures. This framework revealed one clear trend: populations are disappearing much faster in areas where temperatures have risen higher.

研究人员调查了北美和欧洲1900年至2015年间66种大黄蜂的数据。然后将数据与温度变化和不同物种对温度变化的耐受性的信息配对。这个框架揭示了一个明显的趋势:在气温升高的地区，大黄蜂消失的速度要快得多。

“Using our new measurement of climate change, we were able to predict changes both for individual species and for whole communities of bumblebees with a surprisingly high accuracy,” Peter Soroye, first author and ecologist from the University of Ottowa, explained in a statement.

“利用我们对气候变化的新测量，我们能够预测单个物种和整个大黄蜂群落的变化，准确度高得惊人，”奥托瓦大学的第一作者和生态学家彼得·索罗耶在一份声明中解释说。

In simple terms, parts of Central Europe have seen increasingly more frequent extreme warm years. The research shows that the rise in temperature is clearly correlated with declines in bees in certain pockets of Central Europe, most notably in Slovenia. By contrast, Italy’s temperature has remained relatively stable, as has the number of bees in the country.

简单地说，中欧的部分地区经历了越来越频繁的极端暖年。研究表明，气温上升与中欧某些地区蜜蜂数量下降明显相关，尤其是在斯洛文尼亚。相比之下，意大利的气温相对稳定，该国的蜜蜂数量也相对稳定。

Climate change is not the only threat to bumblebees. Declines in bumblebee populations have been shown to be linked to an array of causes, namely the reckless use of pesticides, disease, and the destruction of habitat.

气候变化并不是大黄蜂面临的唯一威胁。大黄蜂数量的下降被证明与一系列的原因有关，即不顾后果的使用杀虫剂、疾病和栖息地的破坏。

Of course, this isn’t good news for us either. Over a third of the world's food crops rely on animal pollinators to reproduce. Effectively, one out of every three bites of fruit and veg we eat exists because of animal pollinators such as butterflies, birds, bats, beetles, and – last but not least – bees.

当然，这对我们来说也不是好消息。世界上超过三分之一的粮食作物依靠动物传粉来繁殖。事实上，我们吃的每三口水果和蔬菜中就有一口是动物传粉者，比如蝴蝶、鸟类、蝙蝠、甲虫，还有——最后但并非最不重要的——蜜蜂。

If unmitigated climate change manages to take out some of our planet's chief pollinators, the global food system will be put in serious danger.

如果完全的气候变化能够消灭我们星球上的一些主要传粉者，那么全球粮食系统将面临严重的危险。