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<font size=6>Bumble Bees on the Brink? <br>
</font><font size=5>Your help is needed<br>
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In the late 1990’s, bee researchers began to notice a decline in the
abundance and distribution of several North American bumble bee species.
Three of these species, the Western Bumble Bee (<i>Bombus
occidentalis</i>), the Yellow-banded Bumble Bee (<i>Bombus terricola</i>)
and the Rusty-patched Bumble Bee (<i>Bombus affinis</i>) were once among
the most common bumble bees in North America. In recent years, these bees
have become very rare in most parts of their ranges.<br>
<br>
There are a number of threats facing bumble bees that may be causing the
decline of these species, including: the spread of pests and diseases
through commercial bee rearing, other pests and diseases, habitat loss,
pesticides, invasive species, and climate change. Dr. Robbin Thorp has
hypothesized that wild populations of Western, Rusty-patched and
Yellow-banded Bumble Bees were infected by an introduced pathogen carried
by commercially reared colonies of Western Bumble Bees and Eastern Bumble
Bees (<i>Bombus impatiens</i>). Between 1992 and 1994, Western and
Eastern Bumble Bees were sent to Europe where colonies were produced in
facilities that also reared European Buff-tailed Bumble Bees (<i>Bombus
terrestris</i>). Dr. Thorp suggests that these colonies were infected
with a pathogen (probably a virulent strain of the microsporidian
<i>Nosema bombi</i>) while in Europe. When the colonies were
returned to the U.S. for use as commercial pollinators, they may have
spread pathogens to wild populations of bumble bees. While this
hypothesis is still in need of validation, the timing, speed, and
severity of the population crashes supports the idea that an introduced
disease has led to the decline of these bumble bees.<br>
<br>
To better understand the decline of these three species, the Xerces
Society is documenting their former and current ranges. Please
<a href="mailto:info@xerces.org">contact us</a> if you have any records
of the Western Bumble Bee, the Yellow-banded Bumble Bee or the
Rusty-patched Bumble Bee from field surveys, student collections, or
other sources from the past ten years. We would also like to know if you
have conducted surveys in the former ranges of any of these bees and have
not encountered them. We have developed a series of WANTED posters to
raise public awareness about the plight of these bumble bees. Please
email (<a href="mailto:info@xerces.org">info@xerces.org</a>) or call the
Xerces Society at 503-232-6639 to request a poster. To learn more about
the identification and distribution of these bumble bees and our efforts
to conserve them, please visit
<a href="http://www.xerces.org/bumblebees">www.xerces.org/bumblebees</a>.
<br><br>
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________________________________________<br>
<font size=2><b>The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<br>
</b></font><font size=1>The Xerces Society is an international, nonprofit
organization that <br>
protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their
<br>
habitat. To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our
<br>
work, please visit <a href="http://www.xerces.org/">www.xerces.org</a>
<br><br>
Sarina Jepsen<br>
Senior Conservation Associate<br>
4828 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Portland, OR 97215<br>
tel: 503-232-6639 fax: 503-233-6794<br>
email: sarina@xerces.org<br>
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