Name: 政府為何向加州投放蒼蠅 (Why the government drops flies on California)
Uploaded: 2025-06-17T15:16:36.000Z
Duration: 6 min 36 s

The Mediterranean fruit fly, or medfly, is an invasive pest in California.

地中海果蠅是加利福尼亞州的一種入侵害蟲。

Medflies lay their eggs inside fruit and breed incredibly fast.

地中海蠅在水果裡產卵，繁殖速度驚人。

But today, and almost every day, aircraft hired by the California and federal governments are going to drop millions of them over Southern California, and over the Los Angeles metro area specifically.

但今天，幾乎每天，加利福尼亞州和聯邦政府僱用的飛機都會在南加州上空，特別是在洛杉磯市區上空投下數百萬顆炸彈。

California experienced recurring infestations from 1987 to 1994.

從 1987 年到 1994 年，加利福尼亞州反覆遭受蟲害。

So in 1994, California began a two-year test to determine if releases of sterile flies as a preventive measure would reduce the size and scope of the infestations.

是以，加利福尼亞州在 1994 年開始了一項為期兩年的試驗，以確定釋放不育蒼蠅作為預防措施是否會減少蟲害的規模和範圍。

And during that two-year test period, California experienced zero infestations.

而在這兩年的測試期間，加州的蟲害發生率為零。

So in 1996, the Medfly Preventive Release Program began, and the program currently today is 1,750 square miles.

是以，1996 年開始實施 "蠅蛆預防性釋放計劃"，目前該計劃的覆蓋面積已達 1,750 平方英里。

So the plan is, breed male flies in areas where it's safe to do so, because they're already established.

是以，我們的計劃是，在安全的地方繁殖雄蠅，因為它們已經定居下來了。

Sterilise the flies when they're in the pupal stage with radiation, and tag them with an ultraviolet marker dye.

在蒼蠅處於蛹期時對其進行輻射消毒，並用紫外線標記染料對其進行標記。

To be clear, irradiating something does not make that thing radioactive, but it does make the flies sterile.

說白了，輻照某樣東西並不會使其具有放射性，但會使蒼蠅不育。

Then they're shipped here, hatched, bundled up into planes, and dropped onto California, where their job is to out-compete any wild medflies that have made it to the area.

然後，它們被運到這裡孵化，捆成一捆裝上飛機，再被投放到加利福尼亞州，在那裡，它們的任務就是戰勝所有來到這裡的野生鱂魚。

We maintain our colonies offshore in areas where medfly is already established, because we don't want to risk that any flies escape our facility and start an infestation.

我們在枚蠅已經滋生的地區近海維持蠅群，因為我們不想冒任何蒼蠅逃出我們的設施並引發蟲害的風險。

We're sourcing approximately 24 million sterile males per day, seven days a week.

我們每週 7 天、每天採購約 2400 萬個無菌男性。

Our staff inspect the flies for sterility.

我們的工作人員會檢查蒼蠅是否無菌。

Then they're poured into a hopper that sits above a volumizer.

然後將它們倒入位於增容器上方的料斗中。

The volumizer measures out the desired amount of pupa, and it will distribute it around the perimeter of each tray.

增容器會測量出所需的蛹量，並將其分佈在每個托盤的四周。

When the flies emerge from the pupa, they'll migrate to the center of the tray, where there are two pieces of agar, which will serve as their food and water source during incubation.

蒼蠅破蛹而出後，會遷移到托盤中央，那裡有兩塊瓊脂，是它們孵化期間的食物和水源。

So then they're stacked into towers with our goal of placing one million pupa in each tower.

我們的目標是在每座塔中放置一百萬個蛹。

Those towers are moved to an incubation room.

After two days, most of the flies will start emerging.

兩天後，大部分蒼蠅會開始出現。

On the third day, we place one milliliter of ginger root oil under each tower.

第三天，我們在每個塔下放置一毫升姜根油。

Ginger root oil contains a naturally occurring compound that increases the chance that those sterile males will have successful matings.

姜根油含有一種天然化合物，能增加不育雄性交配成功的機率。

If female medflies that have arrived in shipping containers, or the post, or traveller's baggage mate with these, the eggs will never hatch.

如果裝在貨櫃、郵寄物或旅客行李中的雌性冥蠅與之交配，蟲卵將永遠無法孵化。

Which means there's nothing burrowing through the fruit to destroy it, and no population explosion.

這就意味著沒有什麼東西會鑽進果實裡去破壞它，也就不會出現人口爆炸。

We will typically load six to twelve towers into a refrigeration trailer.

我們通常會將六到十二個塔裝入一輛製冷拖車。

The flies will enter a chill coma, so they'll essentially be immobilized.

蒼蠅會進入寒冷昏迷狀態，基本上無法動彈。

We have a specially engineered vacuum that will vacuum the empty pupa casings from the perimeter of each tray, but leave the flies in the center of the tray.

我們有一種專門設計的真空吸塵器，可以吸走每個托盤周邊的空蛹殼，但會把蒼蠅留在托盤中央。

We will process those adults and load them into the release box that's then transported to the aircraft.

我們將處理這些成人，並將其裝入放行箱，然後運到飛機上。

Those boxes contain anywhere from 50 to 130 pounds of flies, depending on the release area and the release rate.

這些箱子裡裝有 50 到 130 磅的蒼蠅，具體數量取決於放生區域和放生率。

It's approximately six to nine million flies.

大約有六百萬到九百萬只蒼蠅。

And while hundreds of millions of flies sounds like a huge amount, it's actually not that many over an area the size of Southern California.

雖然數以億計的蒼蠅聽起來數量龐大，但在南加州這麼大的區域內，數量其實並不算多。

The aircraft are equipped with the release machine that has an AC unit that keeps the flies in an immobile state until release.

飛機上裝有放飛機，放飛機上有一個空調裝置，可使蒼蠅在放飛前保持不動狀態。

Drop time can vary from 30 minutes to an hour.

投放時間從 30 分鐘到一個小時不等。

The aircraft are traveling at 161 miles per hour when they're releasing, so the volume of those flies are distributed fairly evenly throughout the target area.

飛機在釋放時的時速為 161 英里，是以這些蒼蠅的數量在整個目標區域的分佈相當均勻。

If you were to see the plane flying overhead, you would not see the flies falling from the chutes, especially at the altitudes that we release, which are typically around 2,000 feet above ground level.

如果你看到飛機從頭頂飛過，你就不會看到蒼蠅從降落傘上掉下來，尤其是在我們放飛的高度，通常是離地面 2000 英尺左右。

Big numbers are scary, but I did the maths, and they're aiming to have a density of about one sterile fruit fly every 20 to 40 square meters across thousands of square kilometers of Californian cities and farmland.

大數字很嚇人，但我算了一筆賬，他們的目標是在加利福尼亞數千平方公里的城市和農田中，每 20 到 40 平方米就有一隻不育果蠅。

That density is orders of magnitude less than all the insects already out there, and that includes the quarantine areas.

這個密度比外面已經存在的所有昆蟲都要小得多，這還包括隔離區。

We should talk about the quarantine areas.

California deploys approximately 100,000 exotic fruit fly detection traps throughout the state.

加州在全州部署了大約 10 萬個外來果蠅檢測誘捕器。

The insect detection traps are collected from the field and they're transported to our identification unit.

昆蟲檢測誘捕器從田間採集後，會被運送到我們的鑑定部門。

The flies are screened under a UV light, looking for the presence of the marker dye, so we're able to identify and differentiate a sterile fly from a wild fly.

在紫外線燈下對蒼蠅進行篩選，尋找標記染料的存在，這樣我們就能識別和區分不育蒼蠅和野生蒼蠅。

If we detect two wild met flies within three miles of one another, or a larva, a pupa, or a mated female, we will consider that an infestation.

如果我們在相距三英里的範圍內發現兩隻野生甲蠅，或發現一隻幼蟲、一隻蛹或一隻交配的雌蠅，我們就會認為這是一次蟲害。

And that triggers a response, so there will be increased delimitation trapping to identify exactly where that infestation's occurring.

這就觸發了反應，是以將增加劃界誘捕，以確定蟲害發生的確切位置。

The rate of release of steriles will increase, as well as possibly fruit removal within a particular area.

殺菌劑的釋放速度會加快，特定區域內的水果摘除量也可能增加。

As I record this, anyone growing fruit in more than 150 square kilometers of the LA metro area just can't legally sell it or even give it away to avoid the chance of spreading the infestation.

據我記錄，在洛杉磯市區 150 平方公里範圍內種植水果的人都不能合法出售甚至贈送水果，以免傳播蟲害。

There are other larger quarantine areas out in the farmland that makes up a lot of this region.

在這個地區的大部分農田裡，還有其他更大的隔離區。

In theory, there is a possible video titled I Released Two Million Fruit Flies Over Los Angeles, and yes, I want to press that button.

理論上，可能會有一個名為《我在洛杉磯上空放飛了 200 萬隻果蠅》的視頻，是的，我想按下那個按鈕。

But unfortunately, there isn't a spare seat on the plane, and plus, the quarantine area includes under and around the approach paths to Los Angeles International Airport, so flying it is not an easy job and they do not want the distraction.

但不幸的是，飛機上沒有多餘的座位，再加上隔離區包括洛杉磯國際機場進場通道的下方和周圍，所以飛行並不是一件容易的事，他們也不想分心。

But I can show you a shot from inside the release tubes as millions of fruit flies are slowly dropped over LA.

不過，我可以給你看一個從釋放管內拍攝的鏡頭，數百萬只果蠅被緩緩地投放到洛杉磯上空。

We always want to have fresh, viable flies distributed into those regions, so we're releasing every three to four days.

我們總是希望向這些地區分發新鮮、有生命力的蒼蠅，所以我們每隔三到四天就會放飛一次。

The goal is to release sufficient numbers of sterile males into the environment to prevent any wild females that are introduced from finding a wild male and reproducing.

其目的是向環境中釋放足夠數量的不育雄性，以防止引入的任何野生雌性找到野生雄性並繁殖後代。

So it's essentially biological birth control.

Well, in the area they're dropping flies, there used to be seven or eight infestations a year on average, each one needing quarantine and pesticides and a huge amount of effort.

在他們丟蒼蠅的地方，過去平均每年有七八次蟲災，每次都需要隔離、殺蟲劑和大量的人力物力。

Since they started the program, about one a year.

自從他們開始實施該計劃以來，每年大約有一個。

Compared to the cost if medflies got established here, it's a pretty good deal.

與 medflies 在這裡建立的成本相比，這是一筆相當划算的交易。