大黃蜂能誘使植物提早開花

大黃蜂能誘使植物提早開花

Bumblebees are pretty cool. They’re not nasty like wasps, and while they can sting if they are threatened, they’re usually content to just live their lives and avoid humans as much as possible. Now, a new study published in Science reveals a secret trick that bumblebees use to fool plants into flowering early. This makes them even cooler.

大黃蜂很酷。它們不像黃蜂那樣討厭，雖然它們受到威脅時會蜇人，但它們通常滿足于過自己的生活，盡可能避開人類。現(xiàn)在，一項(xiàng)發(fā)表在《科學(xué)》雜志上的新研究揭示了大黃蜂用來誘騙植物早花的一個秘密訣竅。這讓他們更酷了。

The research, which was conducted by scientists in Switzerland, blows the lid off of a technique the bees use when pollen is scarce. It seems all they have to do is let the plants know they’re waiting, and they do that by chewing a very specific pattern into the leaves.

這項(xiàng)由瑞士科學(xué)家進(jìn)行的研究，揭開了大黃蜂在花粉稀少時使用的一項(xiàng)技術(shù)的面紗。似乎它們所要做的就是讓植物知道它們在等待，它們通過咀嚼樹葉的特定圖案來做到這一點(diǎn)。

This whole thing is almost too incredible to believe but let me lay it out for you: Due to a combination of the variability of climates and mankind’s own impact on it, bumblebees sometimes find themselves with immature plants and a shortage of pollen. Not content to just wait it out or die, the bees have somehow learned that by chewing a special pattern into the plant’s leaves they can force it to begin flowering earlier than it would have otherwise.

這整件事幾乎難以置信，但讓我告訴你：由于氣候的變化和人類自身的影響，大黃蜂有時發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的植物不成熟，花粉短缺。大黃蜂不想干等著，卻不知從哪里學(xué)會了，通過咀嚼植物葉子上的特殊圖案，進(jìn)而迫使它比其他植物更早開始開花。

It’s absolutely bonkers.

真是太瘋狂了。

As the researchers explain in their study, their observations reveal that bumblebees that use this special chewing technique can get a plant to produce flowers 30 days early. That’s a huge shift in the life of the plant, but the bees can make it happen.

正如研究人員在他們的研究中所解釋的，他們的觀察顯示，使用這種特殊咀嚼技術(shù)的大黃蜂可以讓植物提前30天開花。這是植物生命中的一個巨大變化，但大黃蜂可以使之發(fā)生。

Even more interesting — this is where your mind is really going to be blown — when the researchers closely replicated the damage the bees cause, using previously-untouched plants, the plants didn’t care, and didn’t produce flowers as early as they did when the bumblebees did their magic trick to them. The scientists can’t explain it.

更有趣的是——讓人想不通的是——當(dāng)研究人員用以前未被接觸過的植物，仔細(xì)復(fù)制大黃蜂所造成的圖案，而這些植物卻并沒有反應(yīng)，也沒有像大黃蜂對它們施魔法時那樣盡快開花?？茖W(xué)家們無法解釋。

“When faced with a shortage of pollen, bumblebees actively damaged plant leaves in a characteristic way, and this behavior resulted in earlier flowering by as much as 30 days,” the researchers write. “Experimenters were not able to fully replicate the results with their own damage, suggesting that there is a distinct method that the bees use to stimulate earlier flowering.”

研究人員寫道：“當(dāng)面臨花粉短缺時，大黃蜂以一種特有的方式積極破壞植物的葉子，這種行為使植物提前30天開花。”。“實(shí)驗(yàn)人員無法完全復(fù)制出實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果，這表明大黃蜂有一種獨(dú)特的方法來刺激植物提前開花。”

That’s it. That’s all they could come up with. The bees just have “a distinct method” that, for some incredible reason, triggers plants to flower early.

就這樣。這就是他們能想到的。大黃蜂只是有一種“獨(dú)特的方法”，由于某種不可思議的原因，促使植物早早開花。

How did the bees learn to do this? How is it passed on from generation to generation? It’s almost too much to really wrap your head around, but it’s so, so cool.

大黃蜂是如何學(xué)會這樣做的?它是如何代代相傳的?這實(shí)在是太復(fù)雜了，但它就是如此，如此的酷。