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<td style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 120%; font-family: trebuchet ms;" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top" width="558" height="887"><p>For Immediate Release<br>
February 4, 2009<br>
<br>
Contacts:<br>
<b>Eric Mader</b>, National Pollinator Outreach Coordinator, The Xerces Society; (608) 628-4951<br>
<b>Bill Smith</b>, Natural Heritage Inventory Program Zoologist, WI DNR; (608) 266-0924</p>
<p align="center"><span>WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES <br>
<br>
TO TRACK DECLINING BUMBLE BEES</span><br>
</p>
<p>Madison, WI: Two of Wisconsin's bumble bees have been added to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' Special Concern List. </p>
<p>This action, a response to dramatically declining populations of the yellowbanded bumble bee (<i>Bombus terricola</i>) and the rusty-patched bumble bee (<i>Bombus affinis</i>), will result in official monitoring of both species through the DNR's Natural Heritage Inventory database. Field biologists will now start keeping records of when and where these species are found. Over time, this database will provide a picture of the bees' abundance and distribution in the state.</p>
<p>"This is a very significant step", said Eric Mader, National Pollinator Outreach Coordinator for the Xerces Society. "The Department of Natural Resources has taken the first step in protecting these species." </p>
<p>Both species were once among the most common of state's bumble bees prior to the late 1990's. In a 1995 survey, over 90% of all bumble bees collected in the northern part of the state were the yellowbanded bumble bee. Recent surveys have found that the yellowbanded and rusty-patched bumble bees represent less than 1% of all bumble bees observed in the region.</p>
<p>"This is really a very dramatic decline", said Sarina Jepsen, Endangered Species Coordinator for the Xerces Society and co-author of a recent status review of the species. "The two bumble bees have declined across the eastern U.S. and a closely related species, the western bumble bee is experiencing similar declines on the west coast."</p>
<p>This decline is especially alarming because bumble bees are important pollinators of many native plants, as well as some of the state's high-value agricultural crops, including cranberries. Several studies have shown that on a bee-for-bee basis bumble bees are several times more efficient than honey bees for some crops. </p>
<p>The exact reason for the decline of these species is unclear. The leading theory is that one or more European bumble bee diseases were introduced to North America during efforts by a European company to rear American bumble bees for managed crop pollination in their European facility. However, habitat loss as well as pesticide use are likely contributing factors. The decline of these bumble bees does not appear directly related to similar highly publicized declines of the non-native European honey bee (<i>Apis</i><i> mellifera</i>).</p>
<p>In 2007 and 2008, isolated populations of the yellowbanded bumble bee were found around the towns of Mountain, Manitowish Waters, and Two Rivers in northeastern Wisconsin. There is also a 2007 report from the UW-Milwaukee Cedarburg Bog Field Station, in Ozaukee Co. These populations represent the only remaining known yellow-banded bumble bees in the Midwest. While the rusty-patched bumble bee has not been documented in the state in recent years, some individuals have been found in isolated areas of Illinois.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/xerces_2008_bombus_status_review.pdf" target="_blank">Status Review of Three Formerly Common Species of Bumble Bee in the Subgenus Bombus</a> documents the decline of these two species throughout their native ranges in the eastern U.S. It also includes information on the decline of the western bumble bee in the western U.S. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.xerces.org/bumblebees/" target="_blank">Download the report or read more about declining bumble bees</a><a href="http://www.xerces.org/bumblebees/" target="_blank"><br>
</a><a href="http://www.xerces.org/rusty-patched-bumble-bee/" target="_blank">Read about the rusty-patched bumble bee</a><a href="http://www.xerces.org/bumblebees/" target="_blank"><br>
</a><a href="http://www.xerces.org/yellow-banded-bumble-bee/" target="_blank">Read about the yellowbanded bumble bee</a></p>
<p><span>PHOTO CREDIT</span><br>
The rusty-patched bumble bee (<i>Bombus affinis</i>) by Johanna James-Heinz</p>
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