[PCA] NEWS:You're Worrying About the Wrong Bees

[Robert Layton Beyfuss]

Interestingly, with the very obvious decline of feral honey bees in upstate NY, we have seen a huge increase in the observed populations of bumblebees. These bees seem to be doing a fine job pollinating fruit trees as well as small fruit such as blueberries etc.
The commercial bee keeping lobby is a powerful force in Washington.


From: native-plants [mailto:native-plants-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of James, Rosalind
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 9:20 AM
To: Kwong, Olivia; native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: Re: [PCA] NEWS:You're Worrying About the Wrong Bees

Most of the losses seem to be with bumble bees.  Not a lot of losses have been found for the solitary bees, not that we have especially accurate measures.

The best documentation for bee declines are certain species of bumble bees.  There are 49 species of bumble bees native to the US.  Well, there were.  Now is probably 48.  like Franklin’s Bumble bee in Oregon is probably extinct.


Rosalind James

From: native-plants [mailto:native-plants-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Kwong, Olivia
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2015 9:48 AM
To: native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: [PCA] NEWS:You're Worrying About the Wrong Bees

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/youre-worrying-wrong-bees/

You're Worrying About the Wrong Bees
Gwen Pearson
Date of Publication: 04.29.15.

"Save the Bees!" is a common refrain these days, and it's great to see people interested in the little animals critical for our food supply around the globe. But I have one quibble: you're talking about the wrong bees.

Honey bees will be fine. They are a globally distributed, domesticated animal. Apis mellifera will not go extinct, and the species is not remotely threatened with extinction.

The bees you should be concerned about are the 3,999 other bee species living in North America, most of which are solitary, stingless, ground-nesting bees you've never heard of. Incredible losses in native bee diversity are already happening.

See the link above for the full article text.

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