According to the U.S., the American bumblebee population (Bombus pennylvanicus), has declined by 89% in the last 20 years and could face an "endangered species” listing. Fish and Wildlife Service.
After a one year review, the agency could protect the species under the Endangered Species Act. This law provides a legal framework to safeguard endangered species from extinction.
This announcement was made in response to an August 2021 petition by the Center for Biological Diversity and an Albany Law School student group called Bombus Pollinator Association of Law Students in support of the listing.
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According to the CBD, the American Bumblebee, a vital pollinator for wildflowers and crops in North America, has disappeared completely from eight U.S. States Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. In New York, the species has seen a population drop of 99%. The population of 19 other states in the Southeast and Midwest has dropped by over 50%.
The petition authors stated that the American bumblebee was once the most widespread bumblebee species in North America. However, the ESA has not taken immediate action to protect the species. They fear it will continue their alarming decline towards extinction.
According to the CBD, habitat destruction, pesticide exposure, climate change, loss of genetic diversity, and competition from non-native bees are all factors that contribute to the bumblebee's decline. According to the CBD, states with the greatest declines in American Bumblebee population "are also the ones that have experienced the largest quantified increases in pesticide usage, including neonicotinoid and fungicides."
Research has shown that chemicals such as neonicotinoids can cause bees to lose their natural homing system, make them more vulnerable to parasites like the Varroa mite (Varroa destroyor), and disrupt their "waggle dance", the bee's communication method. Another study on buff-tailed bees (Bombus Terrestris), found that neonicotinoids interfered with their natural sleeping patterns. This could have an impact on their daytime foraging and possibly limit a colony's growth.
Developers and farmers could be held responsible for the deaths of American bumblebees if they place them under the protection of ESA.
According to Keith Hirokawa (an environmental law professor at Albany Law School), "The implications could really be significant." To protect the bees' habitat, a far-reaching solution is to make fundamental changes in how we build our agricultural operations.
The American bumblebee would be the third member of the Apidae Family in the continental United States to become an endangered species. It would join the presumed extinct Franklin’s bumblebee and the rusty-patched Bumblebee (Bombus albus) in this list.
Original publication on Live Science
