Honey Bee Losses Still a Problem in US (2/2)

One finding was that beekeepers who found no dead adult bees were more likely to have the most severe losses. Also, a virus called I.A.P.V., for Israeli acute paralysis virus, was present in almost half the colonies studied.

But researchers say they do not know if this virus causes a colony to collapse. They say the lack of affected bees to examine makes it difficult to know exactly what the new disorder is.

Losses in honey bee populations can result from a number of causes. A big problem, for example, is the varroa mite, a deadly parasite. And experts keep looking for other answers for the current situation.

Scientists at the University of Virginia recently reported that air pollution may prevent bees from finding flowers to pollinate. They think ozone in the air is keeping bees and other pollinators from smelling the flowers. Bees feed on nectar and pollen" class="hjdict" word="pollen" target=_blank>pollen from flowers.

Jose Fuentes and his team at Virginia studied how far the scent of flowers travels with the wind. Before the eighteen hundreds, they say, it was more than one thousand two hundred meters. Now, they say, the scent can travel only about three hundred meters at best. Their study is in the journal Atmospheric Environment.

参考译文：

一项发现表明，那些未发现工蜂尸体的养蜂人可能成为蜂巢消失最严重的。而且，研究发现一种名为以色列急性麻痹病毒（I.A.P.V.）存在于半数被研究的蜂群中。

但是研究者说他们不知道是否是这些病毒引起了蜂群的崩溃。他们谈到，由于缺乏对受感染蜂的检查，使确切了解这种新的紊乱变的更为困难。

蜂群的消失可能是由多种原因引起的。例如，最大的问题就是瓦螨-一种致死性寄生虫。专家仍然在寻找其他可以解释现状的原因。

近期，在弗吉尼亚大学的科学家报道称空气污染可能阻止蜜蜂发现花朵以进行授粉。他们认为，空气中的臭氧阻止蜜蜂和其他授粉媒介闻到鲜花。蜜蜂以花朵的琼浆和花粉为生。

Jose Fuentes和他的团队在弗吉尼亚研究花朵的香气可以随风飘多远。他们说，在19世纪前，香气可飘至1200米以外。现在，香气最多可以飘300米左右。他们的研究发表于《大气环境杂志》中。

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