Lost 400 million!Where are the 7.8 billion bees going?

Text ｜ "China Science News" reporter Feng Lifei

Fang Yu showed honey sealed with beeswax after the bee was used. According to reports, continuous high temperature weather may cause beeswax to melt, honeycomb damage, and bees die. Photo by Feng Lifei

One afternoon in mid -June, a bee flew back to the nest from all directions in a building on the top of the North Fifth Ring Road in Beijing, and was busy drilling into the beehive to "unload".

This is the beekeeping test site of the Bee Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the bee). Fang Yu, an associate researcher, introduced that there were about 80 bee colonies about 1.6 million bees here. "Every 20 thousand bees constitute a bee colony, and they are busy with honey early and late." Fang Yu told the Journal of China.

Bee is a ability to go home by light and smell navigation, but they may also be lost to miss. Recently, about 7.8 billion bees raised by more than 4,000 bee farmers in South Korea have disappeared, causing huge losses and causing attention.

Xu Calligraphy, the chief researcher of the Insect Biology and Breeding Innovation Team of the Bee, briefly calculated the account for reporters: 7.8 billion bees, calculated by 20,000 per group, about 400,000 groups. If calculated by the honey of a honey of a bee colony in my country, the loss of South Korean bee farmers may reach about 400 million yuan.

Why "evaporates" collectively? Harm is the hazard? What are the warnings for China, the world's largest number of beekeepers in the world? "China Science News" interviewed relevant experts.

The bee colony that continues to "evaporates"

Globally, the phenomenon of "evaporation" similar to the collective "evaporation" similar to Korean bee colony is not the first time.

In 2006, the beekeeper in Florida, David Hakinberg, suffered losses of 2,000 bee, which accounted for nearly 68%of his beekeeping ratio. As more and more beekeeper loses a large number of bee colony, the loss rate of some people even reaches more than 95%. CCD).

By 2008, there were 35 states in the United States reported CCD. This phenomenon has also spread to Europe and Asia. CCDs have occurred in Japan, India and Taiwan, and it is still continuing to this day, and the loss is difficult to estimate.

"CCD has two typical characteristics: a buffalo population of a bee colony suddenly disappears, but it is rarely found or there are no death bees near the bee colony; the bee boxes are bee, minor workers, larvae, honey and pollen reserves." Chinese Academy of Sciences. "Chinese Academy of Sciences. Zhu Chaodong, a researcher at the Institute of Animal Research, explained to the China Science News, "Obviously, there is no adult worker bee collecting pollen, nectar and breeding, and nesting.

Researcher Dai Pingli, a researcher of the Bee Resources Insect Protection Team, also said that the bee of adult workers did not return to the bee nest and disappeared. This is an extremely abnormal phenomenon with the inherent social nature of raising bees.

"The impact of bee colony failure is an urgent issue." Peng Wenjun, director of the bee, said that bees have dual identities of key species and environmental indications. great influence.

He said that from a young age, this would cause the output of bee products and the livelihood of beekeepers. However, if there is no corresponding strategy for a long time, it will cause pollination crisis and affect agricultural output, which may lead to food shortage.

"The head of trouble" more than one

What is the cause of the bee colony "evaporation"? Is the disappearance of South Korean bee colony is considered to be related to climate change?

Several experts told the Journal of China that under extreme weather, the health and survival of bees would indeed be greatly affected.

"Bee is a temperature -changing animal, the most suitable living temperature is 15 ° C to 25 ° C." Xu's calligraphy introduced, "Korean -breed bee (Western bee) individual critical temperature is 13 ° C ~ 39 ° C, and when the temperature exceeds 39 ° C, the temperature exceeds 39 ° C. In addition to the water collection, the nest activity is basically not available. China Bee (Chinese Bee) has a stronger adaptability to the temperature than the bee.

He said that if there is extreme high or low temperature in a certain year, it will have a great impact on the growth and development of bees and the production activities such as honey picking. For example, it is in extreme temperature conditions for a long time, not only bees, but also the growth, flowering, and group distribution of plants, which are a huge challenge for the long -term interaction between bees and plants.

Wu Yanyan, an associate researcher at the Bee Resources Insect Protection Team, also said that the continuous high temperature drought caused by climate change will also affect plants, causing reducing the source of bee colony food and inducing bee colony failure.

However, Wu Yanyan and Dai Pingli believed that the disappearance of Korean bee colony, climate change may not be the only factor, but more likely to be the result of the collaboration of "climate+other interference factors".

"For example, continuous high temperature will cause bees to stop honey, continuously picking water and fanwind to cool down, affecting food supply and larvae nurturing, and it is more likely to breed pests and cause bee collar failure." Wu Yanyan said.

In the past ten years, scientists have been exploring the reasons behind the collapse of the bee collapse. Because it is difficult to obtain samples to disappear workers, there is no precise conclusion so far. However, more and more views believe that this is caused by a comprehensive role of various factors, the so -called "syndrome".

Several experts said that there are natural factors behind the bee CCD, such as the invasion of various parasites and pathogens such as bee mites, fungi and viruses; there are also human factors, such as chemical pesticides, inferior feeds, industrial pollution, and damage to the habitat of bees. As well as the potential interference of bee navigation capabilities, the increase in mobile phone communication facilities. my country's long -term monitoring of bee colony health. The results showed that there were relatively few CCDs in my country.

The reason, Wu Yanyan believes that this has nothing to do with whether the breeding model is extensive. Foreign beekeeping models often do not check the bee colony for a few weeks, which can easily lead to escape after a problem with bees. Chinese bee farmers usually check every day, diligent in care, and timely discover and deal with problems in time.

Nevertheless, experts believe that in the context of climate change, we should pay more attention to the health of bees.

"For the negative impact of extreme climate, home -raising bees can eliminate or reduce the impact through transportation between different climate belts and different places. Plants and bee populations may collapse, endangered, and even disappear. "Zhu Chaodong said.

He introduced that the latest research shows that there are 20,555 wild bee species in the world (10,000 species are expected to be discovered), and there are currently 1,372 wild bees in my country. Together with their home -raising bees, they play an important powder service function in the ecosystem. However, relevant monitoring shows that the number of wild bee species has declined. Its influencing factors include climate change, environmental changes, excessive use of pesticides and pesticides and herbicides, and shortage of powder source plants.

"Bee insects have already existed on the earth for 150 million years, which is much longer than humans. The decline of global bee colony still reflects the relationship between man and nature, which shows that we must pay attention to the health of the bees itself, human activities of human activities, human activities To leave the insects to leave a line of vitality, "Peng Wenjun said.

Pay attention to the motivation of agricultural change

China has the world's largest number of breeding bee colony. Relevant reports show that the total number of bee colonies in our country has reached 9.2 million groups, accounting for 13%of the total number of bee colony. Dai Pingli said that my country attaches great importance to the healthy development of the bee industry. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Ministry supports the monitoring of the main diseases and insect pests in the main bee -kernel areas in my country, formulated the "Bee Quarantine Regulations", and conducts technical training and demonstration applications for bee farmers.

According to reports, the modern beekeeping model, which is dominated by prevention and green prevention and control in my country, is gradually being promoted.

For the impact of climate change on plants -bee interaction, Zhu Chaodong suggested to gradually establish a more stable, professional knowledge of bee industry management and bee quarantine technology team; The flowering period of the flowering period has plans to plant plants suitable for local conditions; promote the census of bee germplasm resources and strengthen the protection of bee's genetic resources; establish breeding teams from the national level, conduct the selection of anti -medical products of the bee, and fundamentally improve the anti -anti -resistance. Disease force.

Zhu Chaodong hopes that in the environmental assessment of major projects, the friendly and ecological value assessment of bees will be carried out. "Taking the Beijing Olympic Forest Park as an example, the scientific allocation and planting various local flowers and plants can provide habitat and the source of the bee. Through daily monitoring, we have found that the diversity and richness of bees have increased year by year." He also suggested that the popularization of pink insects, especially bees, and the popularization of scientific knowledge of bees to enhance public participation awareness.

"Bees are ecological friendly insects, and bees are also environmentally friendly industries." Xu's calligraphy said that protecting bees should also increase bee benefits. It cannot be excessive to the bee, especially raising scientificly. "Take the honey and royal jelly picked by the bees, and replaced it with sugar water to feed bees, which causes bees to malnutrition and worsening health. In addition, the survival of bees is greatly threatened." He said.

In Peng Wenjun's view, bees themselves are production materials and the driving force for agricultural changes. They cannot only pay attention to the honey industry, but ignore the key role of bee pollination in agricultural quality and efficiency and green ecological development.

"Chinese honey output value is 50 billion yuan per year, and the pollination value exceeds 100 times it." Peng Wenjun said that taking Beijing Miyun as an example, the annual income of the bee breeding industry is about 300 million yuan. At the same time, through the "small insect carrier" of bees, we can see that the diversity of surrounding plants is continuously abundant, and the local area of ​​ecological cultivation meets the safety needs of Beijing. This is a real "ecological resource value".

In the next step, he hopes to promote the use of bees to realize the concept of intensive agricultural pollination and facilities agricultural pollination. "At present, the production of agricultural products in my country's agricultural products is rare to increase pesticide fertilizer. It is difficult to increase production by 5%. If you use bees to make pollination, the output will not only increase by 5%, but also can be obtained to ensure food safety, serve ecological protection, and realize people's good life for a better life. Pursue. "Peng Wenjun said.

"China Science News" (2022-06-23 The first edition of the original title is "7.8 billion bee disappearing behind")

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