Giant Patagonian bumblebees used to be abundant in Chile and Argentina, but are now an uncommon sight Eduardo E. Zattara
The number of bee species recorded worldwide has been sharply decreasing since the 1990s.
Eduardo Zattara and Marcelo Aizen at the National University of Comahue in Argentina analysed how many wild bee species are observed each year as recorded in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility – a publicly available platform where researchers and citizens can record sightings of bee species.
They found that there were a quarter fewer species reported between 2006 and 2015, as compared with the records we have from before 1990.
The decline is especially alarming considering the number of bee records in this database has increased by around 55 per cent since 2000, so it isn’t down to a lack of observations.
“Our work is the first long-term assessment of global bee decline,” says Zattara. Previous bee research has been confined to a specific species or a particular location.
The researchers found that the decline isn’t consistent across all bee families. Records of the rare Melittidae family of around 200 bee species have fallen by as much as 41 per cent since the 1990s, versus 17 per cent for the more common Halictidae family.
Read more: Maths explains how bees can stay airborne with such tiny wings
It may not necessarily mean unrecorded bee species are extinct, but they are now rare enough that people who tend to report bee sightings aren’t encountering them.
The destruction of natural habitats, heavy use of pesticides and climate change could explain this decline in species richness, says Zattara.
“We are producing more food to feed our growing population,” says Zattara. “[We are] using highly economically convenient ways to grow single-culture crops, which is removing a lot of the bees’ natural habitat.”
The global decline in species mirrors what has previously been reported in Britain. But the researchers note that studies in more remote areas are needed to gain a full picture, as most existing data comes from North America and Europe, where it may be easier to record bee species.
For example, it is easier to record and identify wildlife in places where people have increased access to smartphones with high quality cameras, says Gary Powney at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, who is worried about the findings. “These declines are alarming for both food security and the health of the natural world.”
Journal reference: One Earth, DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2020.12.005
Burndy on January 24th, 2021 at 19:31 UTC »
I feel like I used to see way more butterflys around too. What happened to them?
pezathan on January 24th, 2021 at 19:18 UTC »
Want to help out whats left??
It's not as helpful as politicians doing their jobs, but if you want to do something that can really help these animals and all the others that live near you, plant native plants on any piece of land you can influence. Fill your yard. Tell your neighbors. Plant them at church or school or work. We need native plants everywhere. Ecosystems are built on plants. Planting native plants feeds insect that can only feed on native plants, which is most of them. Many of our native bees are need the pollen of specific native flowers to feed their young and complete their life cycle. There are 500 or so species of caterpillar that can eat oaks in north america. There are 4 species that can eat asian crepe myrtle. These insects feed other species. Like birds which take something like 900 insects/day to raise a nest of babies. Or these foxes which get 1/4 of their calories from insects. Invest in your ecosystem! Invest in diversity! Obviously we need systemic change, but part of the change that will save our future is building Home Grown National Park!!!
Worthyteach on January 24th, 2021 at 19:12 UTC »
I feel like this should be headline news in all papers