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Few pests wreak more havoc on coffee plantations than the berry-borer beetle.
咖啡漿果甲蟲能對咖啡種植園造成很大破壞，很少有害蟲能比它們更厲害。
In Brazil alone its depredations are reckoned to cost $300m a year,
僅在巴西，預計其造成的損失為每年三億美元，
so keeping the insects under control is a priority for plantation owners around the world.
因此對全世界的種植園主而言，控制這些昆蟲成為頭等大事。
That is easier said than done. Berry borers spend most of their lives inside the berries.
說比做要容易。漿果蛀蟲一生大部分時間都呆在漿果中。
Their eggs hatch there. Their larvae feed, grow and pupate there. And their adults mate there.
它們在那里孵卵。它們的幼蟲在那里進食、生長和化蛹。成年后也在那里交配。
Only pregnant females seeking another berry to lay their eggs actually see the light of day. This makes attacking the beetles with insecticides tricky.
僅有懷孕的雌性會出來尋找另一顆漿果產卵，那時它們才真正見到了陽光。因此難以用殺蟲劑對付它們。
Researchers have, however, known for some time that a species of Central American ant called Azteca sericeasur is adept at keeping berry-borer populations at bay.
但研究人員知道一種被稱為Azteca sericeasur的中美洲螞蟻很擅長牽制這種咖啡漿果蛀蟲的數量。
These ants live in trees grown alongside coffee bushes to provide shade—for coffee bushes do not thrive in direct sunlight.
這些螞蟻住在樹上，而這些樹和咖啡灌木共同生長并為它們提供樹蔭，因為在陽光直射的地方咖啡灌木無法茁壯成長。
In particular, the ants prefer to nest in a tree called the cuaniquil.
這些螞蟻尤其喜歡在一種被稱為cuaniquil的樹上筑巢。
The question is how to encourage Azteca's foraging workers down from their cuaniquil eyries
問題是如何能鼓勵Azteca的覓食工從它們位于cuaniquil樹上的巢穴中出來
and into coffee bushes in large enough numbers to keep berry borers under control.
并大批進入咖啡灌木中抑制這些漿果蛀蟲。
And, as they report in Biotropica, Esteli Jimenez-Soto of the University of California, Santa Cruz,
并且正如他們在《Biotropica》期刊中所述，圣克魯茲加利福尼亞大學的Esteli Jimenez-Soto
and Jonathan Morris of the University of Michigan think they have an answer: build bridges.
以及密歇根大學的Jonathan Morris認為他們有了一個答案：建立橋梁。
Working with a team of colleagues, Dr Jimenez-Soto and Dr Morris studied a coffee plantation in Chiapas, Mexico.
通過和同事合作，Jimenez-Soto博士和Morris博士對墨西哥恰帕斯的一個咖啡種植園進行了研究。
All of the coffee bushes there were growing under a canopy of shade trees, and some of these trees were cuaniquil.
所有咖啡灌木都在能遮蔭的樹下生長，并且其中一些樹就是cuaniquil樹。
The researchers selected 20 sites, each separated from the others by at least ten metres, for their experiment.
研究人員選擇了20個地方用于實驗，且每處相隔至少10米。
All included a cuaniquil that hosted an active ant colony and six coffee bushes that were not touching one another.
每一處都有一棵蟻群寄居的cuaniquil樹以及六個互不干涉的咖啡灌木。
To the trunks of three of these bushes, selected at random, they tied strings that led to branches of the ant-bearing cuaniquil.
他們隨機從這些灌木中選擇了三支，并綁上了線以連接cuaniquil樹的樹干。
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