NTU researchers discuss how insecticide may be to blame for honeybee colony collapses (2014/04/14)
National Taiwan University researchers made an important advance in uncovering the mystery behind a worldwide decline in honeybee populations. Today the team held a news conference to discuss its findings.
In 1994, a large number of honeybees began disappearing around the world. These incidents led Yang An-cheng, a professor at National Taiwan University’s Department of Entomology, to dedicate eight years of his life to this mystery. Recently, he discovered that the insecticide imidacloprid may be to blame.
Yang En-cheng
NTU Department of Entomology
We tested a new neonicotinoid called imidacloprid, which didn’t affect growth of larvae or mortality during maturation. However, when we did neurobehavioral tests after they became worker bees, we found that exposure led to learning problems and memory loss.
Yang’s experiments confirmed that honeybees were made dumber through exposure to imidacloprid, including increased disorientation. The chemical is already banned in the European Union, and this latest discovery at NTU is attributed to unprecedented interdisciplinary cooperation within the university.
Jiang Joe-air
NTU Dep’t of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics
When honeybees come and go, our system uses infrared sensors to measure differences between entering and leaving the hive. We also record and take into account environmental factors inside and outside the hive, such as temperature and humidity.
The research also included using lasers to tattoo the backs of honeybees and track them. In total, five different disciplines joined the effort.
消失的蜜蜂
國際上不斷傳出蜜蜂大量離奇消失事件，台大研究團隊歷經8年，進行跨領域追蹤發現主因之一，是一種類尼古丁的農藥殺蟲劑「益達胺」，造成工蜂中毒後沒有能力飛回，還會減低幼蜂學習能力，導致蜂群生態崩解。今天團隊也於臺大舉辦成果發表記者會。
從1994年開始，國際上蜜蜂大量消失事件，層出不窮，台大昆蟲系教授楊恩誠耗時8年，總算有新發現，原來就是常被農民用來防治害蟲的益達胺惹的禍。
[[台大昆蟲系教授 楊恩誠]]
“我們所測試的這個新尼古丁的農藥叫益達胺。幼蟲還是很正常的長大，在長大的過程裡面，你完全看不出來牠有死亡狀況，成蟲變成工蜂的時候，我們把牠抓來做神經行為上的測試，我們就發現說牠對於學習記憶上面的能力，事實上是消失的”
楊恩誠實驗證實，益達胺會讓蜂群變笨，失去方向感，已經列為歐盟禁用名單。這個突破性發現，歸功於跨領域研究。
[[台大生物機電工程系教授 江昭皚]]
“蜜蜂在進跟出的時候，我們這個系統就可以用紅外線的那種感測方式，知道牠進巢跟出巢是不是有差異，在進巢跟出巢的同時，我們也把所有的環境參數，場內場外的溫度溼度那些參數都紀錄下來”
其他還有蜜蜂背上雷射刺青技術、雷達追蹤技術等，共跨越五大領域。
本文引用自： 民視新聞網 http://englishnews.ftv.com.tw/
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