荷蘭協同非洲厄立特里亞的生態學家13日警示，就近來乳香樹的栽植率來看，芳香樹脂萃取的產量有短缺之虞。此類樹脂二千多年來廣作為提煉焚香與香水之用，每年聖誕節時特別受教會團體歡迎。生態學家指出，非洲之角的乳香樹脂產量減少的原因是由於乳香木森林無法再生。
根據《聖經》故事，聖誕節時三位智者給了剛出生的耶穌乳香。因此，這種樹脂在現今的聖誕節慶中成為必需品，在數千齣聖誕劇中都要表演這段情節。
在許多阿拉伯國家，現今的許多節慶例如婚禮、開齋節和新生兒誕生，都要燃燒乳香，儀式才完整。在伊斯蘭世界阿曼的家庭裡，乳香在歡迎賓客的儀式上是不可或缺的。
科學家為了找出乳香木會不再生長的原因，推測出密集地採集乳汁造成樹木將太多碳水化合物轉成樹脂，使得生長的器官如花朵、果實和種子不再生長。
生態學家在厄立特里亞進行研究，他們觀察那些密集採乳汁的樹木生長出多少種子，以及它們的萌芽率，並跟未採汁的樹木進行比較，來測試這項假設。「在所有的研究地點，實驗中被採汁的樹和未採汁的樹木相比，長出較少的花朵、果實和種子，」熱帶森林生態學者龐格斯說，「此外，採集乳汁的樹木所長的果實較小，種子也較輕，而且比未採集的樹木更沒有生氣。」
為了採得乳香樹脂，要在乳香木樹幹上切一道很深很長的切口，在切口之下剝去一長條樹皮，當滲出的乳汁因接觸空氣而凝固，就將切口切得更深。大約三個月後，樹脂凝固成清澈黃色的大球後，就把它們從樹幹上刮下來放入籃子裡。 研究的生態學家表示，如果要讓產量能永續，採集乳汁的方式比須改變。
Current rates of tapping trees for frankincense are endangering the fragrant resin’s sustained production, ecologists from the Netherlands and Eritrea warned today. For 2000 years, the resin has been used in incense and perfumes, popular in Christian communities at Christmas. Ecologists say frankincense production in the Horn of Africa is declining because Boswellia woodlands are failing to regenerate.
According to the Bible, frankincense was given to the baby Jesus by the three wise men at Christmas. As a result the resin is especially in demand for modern Christmas celebrations, and it will be featured in thousands of Nativity plays
In many Arab communities today, festive events like weddings, Eid celebrations, and the birth of a newborn are incomplete without the burning of frankincense. In Omani homes across the sultanate, frankincense is indispensable to the ritual of demonstrating one's hospitality to visiting guests.
To determine why the Boswellia trees are failing to regenerate, the ecologists hypothesized that intensive tapping is causing the trees to divert too much carbohydrate into resin, at the expense of reproductive organs, such as flowers, fruit and seeds.
Working in southwestern Eritrea, they tested the hypothesis by looking at how many seeds intensively tapped trees produced, and their germination rates, compared with untapped trees. "At all study sites, trees subject to experimental tapping produced fewer flowers, fruits and seeds than trees that were exempt from tapping," said Bongers, an expert in tropical forest ecology. "Furthermore," he said, "tapped trees produced smaller fruits with seeds of lower weight and reduced vitality than non-tapped trees."
To obtain the frankincense, a deep, longitudinal incision is made in the trunk of the Boswellia tree and below it a narrow strip of bark is peeled off. When the milky juice which exudes has hardened by exposure to the air, the incision is deepened. In about three months the resin hardens into large clear yellow globules which are scraped off into baskets. Based on their findings, the authors say that for production to be sustainable, the way that frankincense is tapped needs to be changed.
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