Official 32 Passage 1

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Distributions of Tropical Bee Colonies

纠错

Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

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click one different oval.

  • A
    The limited number of colonies was not due to the distribution or availability of potential nesting sites.
  • B
    There was no lack of suitable trees or potential nesting sites in the study area.
  • C
    The number of nests was directly related to the number or the distribution of suitable trees.
  • D
    Neither the number nor the distribution of colonies could be explained by the availability of suitable nest sites.
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正确答案: D

我的笔记 编辑笔记

  • 原文
  • 译文
  • In 1977 ecologists Stephen Hubbell and Leslie Johnson recorded a dramatic example of how social interactions can produce and enforce regular spacing in a population. They studied competition and nest spacing in populations of stingless bees in tropical dry forests in Costa Rica. Though these bees do not sting, rival colonies of some species fight fiercely over potential nesting sites.



    Stingless bees are abundant in tropical and subtropical environments, where they gather nectar and pollen from a wide variety of flowers. They generally nest in trees and live in colonies made up of hundreds to thousands of workers. Hubbell and Johnson observed that some species of stingless bees are highly aggressive to members of their species from other colonies, while other species are not. Aggressive species usually forage in groups and feed mainly on flowers that occur in high-density clumps. Nonaggressive species feed singly or in small groups and on more widely distributed flowers.



    Hubbell and Johnson studied several species of stingless bees to determine whether there is a relationship between aggressiveness and patterns of colony distribution. They predicted that the colonies of aggressive species would show regular distributions, while those of nonaggressive species would show random or closely grouped (clumped) distributions. They concentrated their studies on a thirteen-hectare tract of tropical dry forest that contained numerous nests of nine species of stingless bees.



    Though Hubbell and Johnson were interested in how bee behavior might affect colony distributions, they recognized that the availability of potential nest sites for colonies could also affect distributions. So as one of the first steps in their study, they mapped the distributions of trees suitable for nesting. They found that potential nest trees were distributed randomly through the study area. They also found that the number of potential nest sites was much greater than the number of bee colonies. What did these measurements show the researchers? The number of colonies in the study area was not limited by availability of suitable trees, and a clumped or regular distribution of colonies was not due to an underlying clumped or regular distribution of potential nest sites.



    Hubbell and Johnson mapped the nests of five of the nine species of stingless bees accurately, and the nests of four of these species were distributed regularly. All four species with regular nest distributions were highly aggressive to bees from other colonies of their own species. The fifth species was not aggressive, and its nests were randomly distributed over the study area.



    The researchers also studied the process by which the aggressive species establish new colonies. Their observations provide insights into the mechanisms that establish and maintain the regular nest distribution of these species. Aggressive species apparently mark prospective nest sites with pheromones, chemical substances secreted by some animals for communication with other members of their species. The pheromone secreted by these stingless bees attracts and aggregates members of their colony to the prospective nest site; however, it also attracts workers from other nests.



    If workers from two different colonies arrive at the prospective nest at the same time, they may fight for possession. Fights may be escalated into protracted battles. The researchers observed battles over a nest tree that lasted for two weeks. Each dawn, fifteen to thirty workers from two competing colonies arrived at the contested nest site. The workers from the two colonies faced off in two swarms and displayed and fought with each other. In the displays, pairs of bees faced each other, slowly flew vertically to a height of about three meters, and then grappled each other to the ground. When the two bees hit the ground, they separated, faced off, and performed another aerial display. Bees did not appear to be injured in these fights, which were apparently ritualized. The two swarms abandoned the battle at about 8 or 9 A.M. each morning, only to reform and begin again the next day just after dawn. While this contest over an unoccupied nest site produced no obvious mortality, fights over occupied nests sometimes kill over 1,000 bees in a single battle.


  • 1977年,生态学家Stephen Hubbell和Leslie Johnson记录了一个有关社会交互作用如何能在种群中产生并维持空间分布规则的生动例子。 他们在Costa Rica的热带旱地森林中研究了无刺蜜蜂种群中的竞争关系和巢穴间距。 尽管这些蜜蜂不能叮刺,一些种类的敌对群体间会为了潜在筑巢位置激烈斗争。

    无刺蜜蜂在热带和亚热带环境中广泛存在,它们从各种各样的花上收集花蜜和花粉。 它们一般栖居在树上,群居生活,一个蜂巢由几百到几千工蜂组成。 Hubbell和Johnson观察到,一些种类的无刺蜜蜂对于来自其他蜂巢的本种蜜蜂具体很强的攻击性,但其他种类的蜜蜂则不然。 攻击性物种通常集体出动觅食,主要以密集的花丛为食。 无攻击性的物种通常单独觅食,或以小团体形式觅食,它们主要以分散的花为食。

    Hubbell和Johnson研究了几种无刺蜜蜂来确定攻击性和群体分布之间是否存在联系。 他们预测攻击性物种的群体将呈现规则分布,而无攻击性物种的群体将呈现随机分布或集群分布。 他们把研究集中于热带旱地森林中一个13公顷的地带,这个地带中包含了9种无刺蜜蜂众多的巢穴。

    尽管Hubbell和Johnson对蜜蜂的行为怎样影响群体分布很感兴趣,他们意识到潜在筑巢位置的可获得性也会影响群体的分布。 因此在他们研究的第一步,他们绘制了适合筑巢的树的分布图。 他们发现潜在筑巢的树在研究区域内是随机分布的。 他们还发现潜在筑巢位置的数量比蜜蜂群体的数量要多得多。 这些测量结果说明什么呢? 研究区域的蜜蜂群体数量并不受可获得的适宜的树的限制,蜂群集群分布或规则分布不是由于潜在筑巢位置的集群分布或规则分布。

    Hubbell和Johnson精确绘制了9种无刺蜜蜂中5种蜜蜂的巢穴,其中4种蜜蜂的巢穴是规则分布的。 这四种巢穴规则分布的物种都对来自其他群体的本物种蜜蜂具有高度攻击性。 第五个物种不具有攻击性,它们的巢穴在研究区域是随机分布的。

    研究者们也研究了攻击性物种建立新蜂巢的过程。 他们的观察洞悉了这些物种建立和维持巢穴规则分布的机制。 攻击性物种显然是利用信息素来标记可能的巢穴地点,信息素是一些动物分泌出来用于和同种类其他成员交换信息的化学物质。 这些无刺蜜蜂分泌的信息素吸引并召集同群的成员前往可能的筑巢地点,然而,信息素也会吸引其他群体的工蜂。

    如果来自不同蜂巢的工蜂同时到达潜在的筑巢地点,它们会为了占有而打斗。 打斗会恶化为持久的战役。 研究者观测到因为一棵筑巢树持续两周的战役。 每天清晨,15到30只来自敌对蜂巢的工蜂到达争议筑巢地点。 来自两个蜂巢的工蜂迎面飞成两群,相互示威打斗。 在示威中,一对蜜蜂相互面对,慢慢垂直飞到大约三米的高度,然后相互扭打到地面。 当两只蜜蜂撞到地面,它们分开,各自飞走,去执行另一轮空中示威。 在这些打斗中蜜蜂并没有表现出被伤害,这些打斗显然是仪式性的。 两群蜜蜂每天早上在8点或9点时放弃战斗,而第二天清晨又重新整队开始战斗。 尽管针对潜在筑巢点的竞争没有明显的致命性,对已有筑巢点的战斗有时在一场战斗中就能杀死1000只蜜蜂。
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    解析

    【解析】

    题型分类:句子简化题

    原文定位:The number of colonies in the study area was not limited by availability of suitable trees, and a clumped or regular distribution of colonies was not due to an underlying clumped or regular distribution of potential nest sites. 这句话最主要的逻辑是并列逻辑,表达了2个意思: 1. 实际巢穴的数量不受潜在数量的限制; 2 成群还是规则分布也不受潜在巢穴的分布样式的影响

    选项分析:

    A选项错在limited number of colonies, 原句没有提到;

    B选项错在于原句意思完全无关;

    C选项错在意思与原句相反;

    D选项neither nor2个否定完全表现出了原句中关系, 正确。

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