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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:.5in;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><img width=400
height=60 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01CBB626.3D760BB0"
alt="cid:image001.png@01CBB625.E3B49920"></span></b><b><span style='font-size:
18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:.5in;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>WILDLIFE: Steep
drop in 4 bumble bee species is a 'wake-up call' (01/17/2011)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a
href="http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2011/01/17/12/">http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2011/01/17/12/</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Amanda Peterka,
E&E reporter<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>For a handful of
scientists in the country, a study published earlier this month detailing the
drastic decline of four North American bumble bee species was confirmation of a
trend they have been observing for years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The three-year
study, published in the <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</i>,
found that the populations of four common species of bumble bees have declined
by up to 96 percent in North America. And not only have the populations gone
down in number, but their geographic ranges have also become smaller.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Bumble bee
scientists have observed declines among individual species for about a decade
now, but this is among the first long-term studies on a national scope and
among the first to gain strong media attention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The study's lead
author, Sydney Cameron, said she hopes the results serve as a "wake-up
call to be observant toward our wild bees and to pay attention to our wild
bees."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>For the most
part, long-term research and funding has focused on commercially raised honey
bees and their decline, termed "colony collapse disorder" for lack of
a clear understanding of its cause. The honey bee industry has the backing of
lobbyists, almond boards and much U.S. Department of Agriculture funding due to
its multibillion-dollar economy, Cameron said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Meanwhile, there
are perhaps fewer than 20 scientific researchers working with the approximately
50 North American wild bumble bee species, according to David Inouye, one of
those researchers and a professor of biology at the University of Maryland.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Interest,
however, is growing. Scientists credit Robbin Thorp, a professor emeritus of
entomology at the University of California, Davis.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>In 1998, USDA
was investigating whether a species known as Franklin's bumble bee should be
listed as endangered, and Thorp began monitoring the species found only in
Northern California and southern Oregon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"I found it
everywhere I looked," Thorp said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>In a couple of
years, though, the numbers began to drop off precipitously, as did the
population of the Western bumble bee, one of the study's declining species.
Other species were doing well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"It began
to occur to me that this was a problem that was kind of unique to those two
species, and they happened to be very closely related, and they're very closely
related to the one in Europe that is being used commercially for greenhouse
pollination," Thorp said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Thorp's
hypothesis is that U.S. queen bees caught a bug from European bees when USDA
shipped bees to Europe to rear them there in the early 1990s because the United
States did not have commercial rearing facilities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Researchers now
advocate for bans on overseas and cross-country shipments of bumble bees and
support local commercial bumble bee production. USDA's Animal and Plant Health
Protection Service has already prohibited the importation of foreign bumble
bees, something that Inouye called "shutting the barn door after the
horses are out."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Only one
Franklin's bumble bee has been found in the past four years, according to Scott
Hoffman Black, executive director of the Xerces Society, an invertebrate
conservation organization. Xerces is petitioning the U.S Fish and Wildlife
Service to list the species under the Endangered Species Act.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"Robbin
Thorp has potentially watched and studied as Franklin's bumble bee has gone
extinct," Black said. "Although we are hopeful there are some
resilient populations we don't know about out there, at this point, this bumble
bee is on the verge of extinction."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Thorp's work
spurred interest in the U.S. bumble bee community, and researchers began observing
declines in other species. But, "for the vast majority of our bumble bees,
we have no knowledge of what their populations are doing at all because
nobody's out there looking at them," Thorp said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Meanwhile,
declines in England have been well-documented, where there is much more readily
available information about the distribution, diversity and abundance of bumble
bees, Inouye said. He attributes that information to a wealth of historical
data.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"I think
there's a growing interest here in the United States in terms of that kind of
natural history, but it's a relatively recent change here whereas in England
there's just a long tradition of people being interested in that kind of
thing," Inouye said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span
style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>'Potentially
catastrophic' losses seen<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The report released
this month studied eight different species and compared more than 73,000 museum
records to nationwide surveys of living bumble bees. Some of the species were
chosen because researchers had previously observed declines, and others were
chosen because they showed signs of expansion. Franklin's bumble bee was not
included.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Some of the
species found to be declining had very broad ranges. The species known as the
American bumble bee is found in the eastern United States all the way to the
Rocky Mountains. The study showed the bee absent from much of its historical
northern and eastern territory.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The four species
"were dominant where they were, they have wide ranges, some of them
especially wide ranges," said Cameron, an entomologist at the University
of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "And they occurred in high abundance where
they were found."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Seventy percent
of wild plants are pollinated by insects, mostly bees, Black said. He called
the declines "potentially catastrophic."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Bumble bees are
especially important because they are robust animals and able to withstand cold
temperatures, meaning they are the primary bees in tundra regions, Cameron
said. Bumble bees also have long tongues, allowing them to pollinate long-tubed
flowers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>They also
pollinate plants important to humans -- tomatoes, eggplants, peppers,
blueberries and cranberries -- through a behavior called "buzz
pollination." When a bumble bee buzzes at a specific frequency near the
flowers of these plants, the plants' pores open in response.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The study cites
the spread of <i>Nosema bombi</i>, the disease bumble bees may have gotten from
Europe, as one possible cause of the decline. Reduced genetic diversity may be
responsible, but the study is clear that the causes for the decline are still
uncertain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>A study published
in <i>PLoS ONE</i> in December found that disease from honey bees can spread to
bumble bees through pollen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Inouye also
points to climate change as a possible cause. He found evidence that bumble
bees are moving up in altitude in the Rocky Mountains as lowlands become
warmer. There, they come into contact and possibly into competition with
species already found at those altitudes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Cameron and
Thorp recently received funding from USDA to test the hypothesis that the
European disease pathogen could be causing the decline. They will study museum
specimens to see if they can find <i>Nosema bombi</i>'s signature, Thorp said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>In general,
researchers say much more study is needed. The bumble bee community, while
galvanized, lacks the manpower and funding needed to observe all of North
America's species.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"We are
heartened that our efforts and the efforts of other conservation organizations
have highlighted the need for more funding for bumble bees and other native
species, and we are seeing a move in that direction," Black said. "I
don't think it's enough yet, I think we can do more, and I think we do need
additional funding. But at least we've started to take a serious look at these
species."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>*************************<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Scott
Hoffman Black<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Executive
Director<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>The
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Chair<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>IUCN
(International Union for Conservation of Nature) Butterfly <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Specialist
Group<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>4828
SE Hawthorne<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Portland,
OR 97215<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Direct
line (503) 449-3792<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><a
href="https://webmail.integra.net/src/compose.php?send_to=sblack%40xerces.org"><span
style='color:blue'>sblack@xerces.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>The
Xerces Society is an international, nonprofit organization that <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>protects
wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>To
join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>please
visit <<a href="http://www.xerces.org/" target="_blank"><span
style='color:blue'>http://www.xerces.org/</span></a>>www.xerces.org.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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