10 Devastating Details Surrounding The American Bumblebee Being Close To An Endangered Species

6 /10 1st Reason For The Disappearance Of Bees

The decline of the bumble population has been shown to come from the use of common agriculture chemical pesticides, including neonicotinoids.

They work to disrupt the bees’ home and habits and cause problems in communicating, making them more susceptible to parasites.

5 /10 2nd Reason For The Disappearance Of Bees

In some cases, such as in Maine, researchers have found relatively low exposure to pesticides, prompting their decline from other stressors.

However, as climate change and land-use changes come into play, bees find it hard to adapt.

Bees are adapted to cold climates, not warm, and as bees can only find food and reproduce on cold days, hot days are incredibly hard on them.

4 /10 Changing Weather Patterns Leads To Issues With Food

Bees also rely on the spring with the rise of wildflowers as their primary food source.

However, with extreme weather rising, recent droughts in the spring contribute to wildflowers not producing enough nectar to give bees the food they need, along with long stretches of rain preventing bees the time they need to find food as well.

3 /10 Changing Landscape

In some places, the landscape is also changing where the bees typically live.

For example, what used to be open land, has now become forests in some places, causing a shift from crop production to solid woods, which lack wildflowers and flowering plants.

Other issues include having a single crop in an area due to the lack of plant diversity.

2 /10 Process Of Becoming An Endangered Species

After completing the initial review, the Fish and Wildlife must confirm that one of the threats listed in the petition is significant.

As the American bumblebee is currently dwindling in number, they decided to focus on diseases carried and spread by domesticated, non-native species.

The next step is a 12-month long review, where a decision will be made to add the American bumblebee to the endangered species or not.

The other option is warranted by precluded finding, meaning the species should be listed, but others are higher priority.

1 /10 Is The American Bumblebee Endangered?

The American bumblebee is no longer found or is very rare in 16 states. In places such as Illinois, it was once approximately 1 in 4 bumblebees in the state but is now down to 1 in 20.

Their habitat, the grasslands, is also the least protected, as native prairie ecosystems have declined by up to 99.9%.

In addition, as domesticated bees are transported, new diseases and parasites have been introduced to pollinate crops in greenhouses and outdoors.

If the American bumblebee is added to the list, it will join the rusty batched bumblebee and Franklin’s bumblebee.