US Bumblebee Could Be Listed as Endangered Species
The American bumblebee could officially be listed as an endangered species. Pesticides and climate change are dramatically decimating populations.
The population of the American bumblebee (Bombus pensylvanicus) has declined by 89% over the past 20 years.
A listing as an «endangered species» could be imminent, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The agency will conduct a one-year review, after which the species could be placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which provides a legal framework for protecting endangered species from extinction.
The announcement comes in response to a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and a group of law students from Albany Law School in August 2021, advocating for the species to be listed.
«The American bumblebee was once the most common bumblebee species in North America, but without immediate measures to protect it under the ESA, it will continue its alarming decline toward extinction«, the authors of the petition write.
According to the CBD, the decline of bumblebees is attributed to habitat destruction, the use of diseases and pesticides, climate change, loss of genetic diversity, and competition from non-native bees.Indeed, the states with the steepest declines in American bumblebee populations are the same ones where pesticide use, including neonicotinoid insecticides and fungicides, has increased the most in quantitative terms.
Research has shown that chemical pesticides such as neonicotinoids, commonly sprayed on agricultural land, disrupt the natural homing system of various bees, make them more susceptible to parasites such as the Varroa mite (Varroa destructor), and impair their «waggle dance» – the waggle dance method of bee communication – can be disrupted. Another study conducted on buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) found that neonicotinoids disrupt the natural sleep patterns of bees, which limits their foraging opportunities during the day and may hinder the growth of a bee colony.
If American bumblebees are placed under ESA protection, contractors and farmers who kill the insects could be held legally liable – including fines of up to $13,000 for each protected animal killed.
«The impacts could really be significant«, Keith Hirokawa, professor of environmental law at Albany Law School, told Bloomberg Law. «A far-reaching solution would be a fundamental change in the way we structure our farms«, to protect bee habitat from further damage.
Should the American bumblebee be added to the list, it would be the third species from the Apidae family on the American mainland to be officially classified as endangered – alongside the rusty patched bumblebee (Bombus affinis) and the presumably extinct Franklin's bumblebee (Bombus franklini), last spotted in Oregon in 2006.
