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Bees Prefer Flowers That Proffer¹ Nicotine² 蜜蜂更偏爱含有尼古丁的花朵

We humans enjoy coffee and tea, to give our brains a caffeine boost. And bees sometimes sip³ nectar that naturally contains caffeine, which seems to enhance their memory. Now a study suggests that bees enjoy another familiar drug produced by plants: nicotine.

人类喜饮咖啡和茶，以使大脑受到咖啡因的刺激。然而，有时蜜蜂吸到天然含有咖啡因的花蜜，似乎也会增强它们的记忆力。目前一项研究表明，蜜蜂们也喜爱另一种由植物制造出的我们熟识的药物：尼古丁。

"As it turns out, not just in humans, but even the bees seem to have difficulties quitting." Lars Chittka, a professor of behavioral and sensory⁴ ecology at Queen Mary University of London.

“事实证明，不仅是人类，就连蜜蜂似乎也很难戒烟。”伦敦玛丽女王大学行为与感官生态学教授Lars Chittka说道。

Chittka and his colleagues studied bumblebees as they visited fake flowers that contained varying levels of nicotine. Unnaturally⁵ high nicotine concentrations deterred⁶ the bees. But at real-world levels, the drug attracted bees. And they even learned a flower's color faster, if that flower offered a nicotine fix.

Chittka和他的同事研究了吸食过含有不同程度尼古丁的假花的大黄蜂。尼古丁浓度异常高会使蜜蜂望而却步。但是当浓度保持在自然水平时，这时药物就会吸引蜜蜂。如果这种花一直提供尼古丁，蜜蜂们甚至会更快地识别这种花的颜色。

Sometimes bees paid a steep price for this preference. "They returned actually to flowers that had previously⁷ sold them nicotine, so to speak, even if these flowers no longer contained nectar."

有时蜜蜂会为这种偏爱付出昂贵的代价。“实际上它们会回来吸食以前曾给它们供给过尼古丁的花朵——即使这些花不再含有花蜜。”

Which might give nicotine-pushing plants, like tobacco, an edge. "It provides these plant species with an unfair advantage over competing plants, because they can retain the faithful services of pollinators, even if they're offering suboptimal nectar in this case."

这可能会为制造尼古丁较多的植物——比如烟草——带来一种优势。“它为这些植物物种提供了不公平的竞争优势——即使是在这些植物提供的花蜜是次优水平的情况下，它们依然能够保有传粉者的忠实服务。”

The results are in the journal Scientific Reports.

该研究结果发表在《科学报告》杂志上。

And if caffeine and nicotine have these effects on bees? Perhaps natural floral pharmacies⁸ stock other drugs too—that enhance pollination⁹, and give bees a buzz.

如果咖啡因和尼古丁会对蜜蜂产生这些影响？那么也许“天然的植物药房”还存有其他能够增加授粉几率的药物促使着蜜蜂们为之奔忙。