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It seems like everyone is talking about bees.
好像人人都在谈论蜜蜂。
It might be because there are 2.8 million honeybee hives in the U.S. alone.
这可能是因为仅在美国就有280万个蜂箱。
With 20 to 60,000 bees per hive, that's more than 50 billion honeybees flying around our farms and neighborhoods every summer.
每个蜂箱有20到60000只蜜蜂，相当于每年夏天有超过500亿只蜜蜂在我们的农场和社区飞来飞去。
The honeybee is the closest thing there is to a domesticated insect.
蜜蜂是世界上最近似家养昆虫的东西。
We take care of them so that they can take care of us by helping many of our crops reproduce.
我们照顾它们，它们便可以帮助我们的许多农作物繁殖，从而反过来照顾我们。
But honeybees aren't the only bees in town.
但蜜蜂并不是镇上唯一的蜂类。
In fact, it's a little strange that they're are here at all.
事实上，它们出现在这里还是挺奇怪的。
Settlers from England brought the first honeybees to North America in 1622.
1622年，来自英国的定居者将第一批蜜蜂带到了北美。
But those European honeybees arrived to a continent that was already teeming with wild bees, more than 4,000 species of them.
但这些欧洲蜜蜂来到的是一个已经有4000多种野生蜜蜂的大陆。
Yeah, there are 4,000 species of wild native bees living here in North America.
是的，北美有4000种野生本土蜜蜂。
Some of those wild bees species are bumblebees.
其中一些野生蜜蜂物种是大黄蜂。
They're probably our most famous wild bees, and they have a lot in common with honeybees.
它们可能是我们最著名的野生蜜蜂，它们与蜜蜂有很多共同之处。
They're often striped with yellow and black, and they live in colonies that can be active all summer long.
它们通常有黄色和黑色的条纹，大黄蜂群落一整个夏天都可能很活跃。
But most wild bees are pretty different.
但大多数野生蜜蜂都跟它们不一样。
Many of them are solitary, meaning that they live their lives alone.
许多野生蜜蜂都是独居的，这意味着它们独自生活。
In these species, each female is a hardworking single mom who builds her own nest, usually in a wood tunnel or underground burrow, lays her own eggs, and works alone to gather nectar and pollen to feed her babies.
在这些物种中，每一只雌性都是勤劳的单身母亲，它们通常会在木洞或地下洞穴中建造巢穴，自己产卵，并独自工作来收集花蜜和花粉来喂养幼蜂。
Some of these solitary bees only live a few weeks as adults.
一些独居蜜蜂成年后只能活几周。
Wild bees come in just about every size, shape, and color you can imagine.
野生蜜蜂几乎有你能想象到的各种大小、形状和颜色。
Some are big, some are tiny, some are fuzzy, some are shiny.
有些很大，有些很小，有些身上茸毛很多，有些很锃光发亮。
They can be yellow, orange, red, green, black, even blue.
它们可能是黄色、橙色、红色、绿色、黑色，甚至蓝色。
More than 80% of all plant species rely on animals to move their pollen from flower to flower.
超过80%的植物依靠动物帮助它们在花朵之间传递花粉。
This process, called pollination, is how these plants reproduce.
这一过程被称为授粉，这就是植物繁殖的方式。
All kinds of animals play a role in pollination: butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, wasps, ants, even birds and bats, but bees are the best pollinators out there.
各种动物都在授粉过程中扮演着重要的角色：蝴蝶、飞蛾、苍蝇、甲虫、黄蜂、蚂蚁，甚至鸟类和蝙蝠，但蜜蜂是最好的授粉者。
And while honeybees get most of the attention, wild bees can be just as a effective, oftentimes even more so.
虽然蜜蜂获得了最多的关注，但野生蜂类也同样有效，甚至更甚于蜜蜂。
Bumblebees, for instance, can use their wing muscles to vibrate their bodies and release the pollen from certain kinds of flowers...
例如，大黄蜂可以使用它们的翅膀肌肉来震动身体，并释放某些花的花粉。
A trick we call buzz pollination.
这种技巧我们称之为蜂鸣授粉。
And unlike honeybees, which pollinate lots of different plants, many wild bees only visit a few flower species or even just one, like the death camas mining bee, the only bee that can eat the toxic pollen of the death camas flower.
与为许多不同植物授粉的蜜蜂不同，许多野生蜂类只采集少数几种花，甚至只采集一种，比如棋盘花地蜂，是唯一可以吃掉棋盘花有毒的花粉的蜂类。
Some of these relationships have developed over millions of years, and the survival of each partner depends on the other.
一些花朵与授粉者之间的关系已经发展了数百万年，它们之间生死相依。
For plants, pollination can be just as important as water and sunlight.
对于植物来说，授粉可能与水分和阳光一样重要。
It's pollination that ensures that plants can produce enough fruits and seeds to feed all the animals that eat them, with enough left over to make the next generation of plants.
只有授粉才能确保植物产生足够的果实和种子来喂养其食用者，并留下足够的剩余种子来培育下一代植物。
And plants don't just feed animals and people; they provide habitat for other creatures, they help maintain healthy soil and water, and even produce the oxygen that we breathe.
植物不仅仅是动物和人类的食物；它们为其他生物提供栖息地，它们有利于维持健康的土壤和水，甚至产生我们呼吸的氧气。
So a healthy community of pollinators is part of a healthy planet.
因此，健康的授粉者群体是健康地球的一部分。
Unfortunately, be population around the world are dwindling because of human impacts.
不幸的是，由于人类的影响，世界各地的授粉者正在减少。
In 2017, the rusty patched bumblebee became the first North American bee species to be listed as an endangered species in the U.S., and it's not alone.
2017年，铁锈色的大黄蜂成为美国第一个被列为濒危物种的北美蜜蜂物种，而且它并不是唯一一个。
By one estimate, about half of our wild bee species may be declining, and about half of those could be at risk of extinction.
据估计，大约一半的野生蜜蜂物种可能正在减少，其中大约一半可能面临灭绝的危险。
Now here's the good news: we can all do something about it right where we live.
现在有个好消息：我们都可以做些力所能及的事情。
Wild bees need places to nest, and they don't ask for much.
野生蜜蜂需要筑巢的地方，而且它们要求不高。
For many species, a wood pile or a patch of loose soil could be just what they're looking for.
对于许多物种来说，一堆木头或一小块松散的土壤可能正是它们所寻找的。
And don't worry.
别担心。
While most wild bees can sting if you bother them, they're really pretty friendly.
虽然大多数野生蜜蜂在受到打扰时会蜇人，但它们其实很友好。
Wild bees also need to stay healthy, so try to avoid using insecticides and other harmful chemicals, like weed killers, in places that wild bees frequent.
野蜂也需要保持健康，所以尽量避免在野蜂经常出现的地方使用杀虫剂和其他有害化学物质，如除草剂。
And of course, wild bees need food.
当然，野生蜜蜂需要食物。
If you have a yard, a community garden, a rooftop, or even a window box, you can grow flowering plants native to your area.
如果你有一个院子，一个社区花园，一个屋顶，甚至一个窗户盒子，你都可以种上本地会开花的植物。
Plant even one square foot of wild flowers, and I promise you, bees will find them and appreciate them.
哪怕你只种一平方英尺的野花，我向你保证，蜜蜂都会找到它们并好好利用。
And finally, share the good news.
最后，把这个好消息分享出去。
Once you start attracting bees, tell everyone about your bee sanctuary.
一旦你吸引到了蜜蜂，把你的蜜蜂庇护所告诉所有人吧。
Bees need all the friends they can get, and each one of us can make a difference.
蜜蜂的朋友越多越好，而我们每个人都能有所作为。
