"Bumble bees are some of nature’s most efficient pollinators. They are essential for pollinating a long list of wildflowers and are especially important in the pollination of crops like tomatoes, peppers and cranberries. Unfortunately, like most pollinators, their populations are in decline nationwide. In the Pacific Northwest, recent research has linked the range-wide decline of the once common Western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis) to a more recent factor – climate change .
The study analyzed a range of climate change variables and showed that temperature had the largest effect on bumble bee occupancy. With their large body size and fuzzy hair, bumble bees are more adapted to colder climates and do not tolerate extended periods of high temperatures very well. This means bad news for bumble bees during heat waves, which have become more frequent and severe due to climate change. But direct heat-related mortality is not the only way heat waves are impacting bumble bees. Heat waves also tend to decimate native floral communities, limiting forage availability at a critical time in the bumble bee colony’s development. Unfortunately, heat waves are only predicted to increase in the years to come.
To conserve bumble bees in the face of a changing climate, scientists need to better understand their ecology. Overshadowed by other pollinator species in conservation and recovery for decades, most native bees are relatively new to conservation, with significant gaps in our understanding of these animals. In particular, there are significant parts of bumble bee ecology which are under studied – such as colony site selection and queen bee over-wintering dynamics. Both of these life history stages typically occur underground and can represent up to half of a bumble bee’s lifetime. These knowledge gaps make conserving, protecting, and recovering these species particularly challenging. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and partners are doing a lot of really good work to fill these knowledge gaps and conserve bumble bees into the future."
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biologist, Jeff Everett
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