[Pollinator] Fwd: Greens seek protection for American bumblebee

[David Inouye]

  Greens seek protection for American bumblebee

Michael Doyle <https://www.eenews.net/staff/Michael_Doyle>, E&E News 
reporterPublished: Monday, February 1, 2021

American Bumble Bee, Bombus pennsylvanicus, on coneflower. Photo credit: 
Adam Jones/Danita Delimont Photography/Newscom

An American bumblebee on a coneflower.Adam Jones/Danita Delimont 
Photography/Newscom

Environmental groups today sought Endangered Species Act protections for 
the American bumblebee, noting a serious population decline some 
estimate at 89% over the past two decades.

"We're asking President Biden to be the hero that steps up and saves the 
American bumblebee from extinction," said Jess Tyler, a staff scientist 
at the Center for Biological Diversity. "It's unthinkable that we would 
carelessly allow this fuzzy, black-and-yellow beauty to disappear forever."

The organization joined with the Bombus Pollinator Association of Law 
Students of Albany Law School in filing thepetition 
<https://www.eenews.net/assets/2021/02/01/document_gw_03.pdf>with the 
Fish and Wildlife Service.

The petition reports that "in the last 20 years, the American bumble bee 
has vanished from at least eight states, mostly in the Northeast, and it 
is in precipitous decline" elsewhere.

"Once the most commonly observed bumble bee in the United States, the 
American bumble bee ... continues to decline toward extinction due to 
the disastrous, synergistic impacts of threats including habitat loss, 
pesticides, disease, climate change ... and loss of genetic diversity," 
the petition states.

Urged along by litigation, the Fish and Wildlife Service previously 
listed a distinct species, the rusty patched bumblebee, as endangered in 
2017.

Once common throughout the midwestern and northeastern United States, 
the rusty patched bumblebee has since vanished from 87% of the counties 
it formerly inhabited. Habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change and 
disease have all been identified as threats to its continued existence 
(/Greenwire/ <https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063712793/>, Aug. 31, 2020).

"It is highly unlikely that any one threat has acted to precipitate the 
decline of the American bumble bee, rather a combination of factors 
creates conditions that amplify impacts," the new petition states.

The Trump administration proposed listing the Franklin's bumblebee.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the species is "thought to 
have the most limited distribution of all known North American bumble 
bee species ... and one of the most limited geographic distributions of 
any bumble bee in the world."

Twitter:@MichaelDoyle10 
<https://twitter.com/MichaelDoyle10>Email:mdoyle at eenews.net 
<mailto:mdoyle at eenews.net>

-- 
Dr. David W. Inouye
Professor Emeritus
Department of Biology
University of Maryland

Principal Investigator
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20210201/2b29424a/attachment.htm>