Smith Kristine M, Loh Elizabeth H, Rostal Melinda K, Zambrana-Torrelio Carlos M, Mendiola Luciana, Daszak Peter
EcoHealth Alliance, 460 West 34th Street, 17th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, USA.
Ecohealth. 2013 Dec;10(4):434-45. doi: 10.1007/s10393-013-0870-2. Epub 2014 Feb 5.
The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is responsible for ecosystem services (pollination) worth US$215 billion annually worldwide and the number of managed colonies has increased 45% since 1961. However, in Europe and the U.S., two distinct phenomena; long-term declines in colony numbers and increasing annual colony losses, have led to significant interest in their causes and environmental implications. The most important drivers of a long-term decline in colony numbers appear to be socioeconomic and political pressure on honey production. In contrast, annual colony losses seem to be driven mainly by the spread of introduced pathogens and pests, and management problems due to a long-term intensification of production and the transition from large numbers of small apiaries to fewer, larger operations. We conclude that, while other causal hypotheses have received substantial interest, the role of pests, pathogens, and management issues requires increased attention.
西方蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）为全球每年价值2150亿美元的生态系统服务（授粉）做出贡献，自1961年以来，管理蜂群数量增加了45%。然而，在欧洲和美国，出现了两种不同的现象：蜂群数量长期下降以及每年蜂群损失不断增加，这引发了人们对其成因及环境影响的极大兴趣。蜂群数量长期下降的最重要驱动因素似乎是蜂蜜生产所面临的社会经济和政治压力。相比之下，每年蜂群损失似乎主要是由外来病原体和害虫的传播以及由于生产长期集约化和从小型养蜂场大量存在向数量更少、规模更大的经营模式转变所导致的管理问题造成的。我们得出结论，虽然其他因果假设也受到了广泛关注，但害虫、病原体和管理问题的作用需要更多关注。
