[Pollinator] FYI-NA Bee Extinction Study

[Droege, Sam]

Just a quick note to everyone.  Be very careful here.  The media report is
extremely misleading:

"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.

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."

None of these statements would bear up under scrutiny and these figures
should never be cited as is.  The report:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/native_pollinators/
pdfs/Pollinators_in_Peril.pdf

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.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/native_pollinators/pdfs/native_bees_index.pdf

<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/native_pollinators/pdfs/native_bees_index.pdf>
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.

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.

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.

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.

sam

 Sam Droege  sdroege at usgs.gov
w 301-497-5840 h 301-390-7759 fax 301-497-5624
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
BARC-EAST, BLDG 308, RM 124 10300 Balt. Ave., Beltsville, MD  20705
Http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov

"Earth laughs in flowers."
                -Ralph Waldo Emerson



On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 12:28 AM, Tom Van Arsdall <tva at pollinator.org> wrote:

> http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/hundreds-of-north-a
> merican-bee-species-face-extinction-study/ar-AAnGP3P
>
>
>
> Tom
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-- 
*Bees are Not Optional*

*Apes sunt et non liberum*
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