谢菲尔德的欧洲蜜蜂, 英格兰

© Deborah Vernon/Alam

一片蜂群

春日百花盛开时，你会听到蜜蜂在花丛间嗡嗡作响。世界蜜蜂日这一天正处于授粉高峰期，同时也是现代养蜂先驱者——斯洛文尼亚人安东·扬沙的生日。蜜蜂是授粉昆虫，因此它们对陆地生态系统至关重要。蜜蜂在觅食时收集花粉带回蜂巢，由此让花粉从一株植物传到另一株植物，帮助植物繁殖。我们107种农作物中，超9成都需要蜜蜂“照料”。所以“勤劳的蜜蜂”这一标签并非夸张，而是事实。但如今，世界范围内的蜜蜂数量已经减少。所以，今天就让我们减少使用杀虫剂、种植本地植物，让它们安心地“工作”吧。

European honeybees in Sheffield, England

© Deborah Vernon/Alam

A bevy of buzzers. World Bee Day

As flowers bloom in springtime, you'll hear the soft hum of bees buzzing from blossom to blossom. World Bee Day coincides with this peak pollination period and falls on the birthday of Anton Janša, a Slovenian pioneer of modern beekeeping. Bees are plant pollinators, which makes them vital to our terrestrial ecosystem. While feeding, they gather pollen to take back to their hives. Some of this pollen gets carried from plant to plant, helping them to reproduce and yield better crops. Bees attend to over 90% of our top 107 crops, so the label 'busy bee' is no myth! Bee populations worldwide have declined, so today, let's support our industrious friends by reducing pesticide use, growing native plants and letting them go about their work in peace.