US bumblebees in 'alarming' declineoutlook for 'important pollinators'

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

US bumblebees in 'alarming' decline ? The Register

Posted in Biology, 4th January 2011 11:14 GMT

US researchers have announced that numbers of four species of Stateside bumblebees have declined to the point of extinction, and have fingered a pathogen genus thought to be responsible for a similar collapse in honeybee populations worldwide as a contributory cause.

A team led by Sydney Cameron of the University of Illinois conducted a three-year survey of eight species at 382 sites across 40 states, comparing the resulting data with 73,000 historical records.

The sobering conclusion is that "the relative abundances of four species have declined by up to 96 per cent and that their surveyed geographic ranges have contracted by 23–87 per cent, some within the last 20 years".

Speaking to Reuters, Cameron described bumblebees as "the most important pollinators of native plants", which also play an crucial role in pollinating blueberries, cranberries and tomatoes.

Significantly, the team found "declining populations have significantly higher infection levels of the microsporidian pathogen Nosema bombi". The related Nosema ceranae has been associated with Colony Collapse Disorder, which has seriously affected honeybee numbers worldwide.

In 2007, Professor Dave Goulson of the UK's Bumblebee Conservation Trust warned that Britain had already lost three of its 50 bumblee species in the last 50 years, and 10 were "severely threatened", while two were "teetering on the edge of extinction and could be gone in five to 10 years quite easily".

While Goulson attributed this to "pesticides and agricultural intensification", the US research now suggests a possible link with Nosema fungi.

Whatever the ultimate cause of the bumblebee's woes, Cameron concluded: "This is a wake-up call that bumblebee species are declining not only in Europe, not only in Asia, but also in North America."

Cameron's findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (abstract here). ®

__________________
"Patriotism means being loyal to your country all the time and to its government when it deserves it."-- Mark Twain

"Inter arma silent Musae"--when the weapons speak, the muses fall silent.

An't nanum hearm deth, doth hwaet ye willath.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. -Voltaire

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.36

Bumble bees need to realise, before it is too late, that socialist structures in a nanny state cannot work in America, even if they are promoted by insects. Bees would be best advised to fly across the Pacific to China, where the dire state of its socialist economy contrasts sadly with the current vibrant one that will see the United States continue to have the most of the richest people in the world.

Nobody ever met a bee that wanted to be rich. They do not share the American Dream.