本期Scientific Reports上发表的一篇研究论文显示,接触柴油尾气污染中所含常见空气污染物,会影响蜜蜂识别其已知道的花卉气味的能力。蜜蜂利用花卉气味来帮助定位、识别和辨识它们所吃的花卉。本文作者猜测,这些变化,可能会影响蜜蜂的觅食效率,最终还可能会影响它们所提供的授粉服务。
蜜蜂(Apis mellifera)有灵敏的嗅觉以及学习和记忆新气味的极强能力。氮氧化物气体(一氧化氮和二氧化氮)代表着柴油和其他化石燃料燃烧所产生的最活跃的一些气体,但二氧化氮的排放上限一般都会被超过,尤其是在城市地区。
Tracey Newman及同事研究了柴油尾气污染是否会改变一种合成花粉气味混合物的成分。他们分析了高度活跃的气体在环境相关浓度下在这种变化中所起的潜在作用以及所造成的变化可能会对蜜蜂识别花粉混合物的能力产生的潜在影响。
研究结果表明,氮氧化物气体,尤其是二氧化氮,也许能够扰乱蜜蜂依靠其定位花粉食物源的气味识别过程。蜜蜂利用一种花粉混合物中的全部化学物质来辨别不同混合物,而这些结果表明,一种混合物中的一些化学物质也许比其他的更为重要。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐的英文摘要
Scientific Reports doi:10.1038/srep02779
Diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral odours used by honeybees
Robbie D. Girling,Inka Lusebrink,Emily Farthing,Tracey A. Newman& Guy M. Poppy
Honeybees utilise floral odours when foraging for flowers; we investigated whether diesel exhaust pollution could interrupt these floral odour stimuli. A synthetic blend of eight floral chemicals, identified from oilseed rape, was exposed to diesel exhaust pollution. Within one minute of exposure the abundances of four of the chemicals were significantly lowered, with two components rendered undetectable. Honeybees were trained to recognise the full synthetic odour mix; altering the blend, by removing the two chemicals rendered undetectable, significantly reduced the ability of the trained honeybees to recognize the altered odour. Furthermore, we found that at environmentally relevant levels the mono-nitrogen oxide (NOx) fraction of the exhaust gases was a key facilitator of this odour degradation. Such changes in recognition may impact upon a honeybee's foraging efficiency and therefore the pollination services that they provide.