<div dir="ltr">Just a quick note to everyone. Be very careful here. The media report is extremely misleading:<div><br></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div><div>"More than 700 of the 4,000 native bee species in North America and Hawaii are believed to be inching toward extinction due to increased pesticide use leading to habitat loss, a scientific study showed on Wednesday.</div></div><div><div><br></div></div><div><div>The Center for Biological Diversity's report concluded that of the 1,437 native bee species for which there was sufficient data to evaluate, about 749 of them were declining. Some 347 of the species, which play a vital role in plant pollination, are imperiled and at risk of extinction, the study found."</div></div><div><br></div></blockquote>None of these statements would bear up under scrutiny and these figures should never be cited as is. The report:<div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/native_pollinators/pdfs/Pollinators_in_Peril.pdf" target="_blank" style="font-family:"trebuchet ms",sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">http://www.<wbr>biologicaldiversity.org/<wbr>campaigns/native_pollinators/<wbr>pdfs/Pollinators_in_Peril.pdf</a></div><div><br></div><div>Uses Heritage/NatureServe Ranking Schemes and a not well documented process of looking at Historic records to make statements about threatened, endangered, and declining species without clear definitions of those terms and how the data were derived.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/native_pollinators/pdfs/native_bees_index.pdf">http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/native_pollinators/pdfs/native_bees_index.pdf<br></a></div><div><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/native_pollinators/pdfs/native_bees_index.pdf"><br></a></div><div></div><div>There are statistical, taxonomic, and natural history problems here and they are not addressed in the report. A quick review of the list of species show claims of declining species that I know well and cannot think of any evidence of declines.</div><div><br></div><div>Its is safer to say that we have very few skilled people currently collecting and looking for rare and uncommon bees and that appearances of decline may be both a combination of habitat loss or it may be that we just aren't looking. </div><div><br></div><div>I don't argue that many uncommon bees are declining, they must, as habitats and floral resources dwindle, but I don't see good evidence here that we have the data to make those claims.</div><div><br></div><div>In any case the report, as presented, is very problematic hopefully a more complete report with more details will come out. Or perhaps there is a website with those details that I am unaware.</div><div><br></div><div>sam</div><div><br></div><div><div> Sam Droege <a href="mailto:sdroege@usgs.gov">sdroege@usgs.gov</a> </div><div>w 301-497-5840 h 301-390-7759 fax 301-497-5624</div><div>USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center</div><div>BARC-EAST, BLDG 308, RM 124 10300 Balt. Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705</div><div><a href="Http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov">Http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov</a></div><div><br></div><div>"Earth laughs in flowers."</div><div> -Ralph Waldo Emerson</div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 12:28 AM, Tom Van Arsdall <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tva@pollinator.org" target="_blank">tva@pollinator.org</a>></span> wrote:</div><div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_2003630769074214921m_5846450798944454841WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><a href="http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/hundreds-of-north-american-bee-species-face-extinction-study/ar-AAnGP3P" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/<wbr>technology/hundreds-of-north-a<wbr>merican-bee-species-face-extin<wbr>ction-study/ar-AAnGP3P</span></a></span><u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Tom<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div><br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail-m_2003630769074214921gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div style="text-align:center"><i><b>Bees are Not Optional</b></i></div><div style="text-align:center"><i><b><font size="1">Apes sunt et non liberum</font><br></b></i></div></div></div>
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