The rusty patched bumble bee has been proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be declared as an endangered species.
The rusty patched bumble bee is well known as a vital pollinator found in the upper Midwest and Northeaster United States, but their population has plunged since the late 1990s by over 90%. Scientists attribute the decline to such manmade factors as pesticides, climate change, and habitat loss. The rusty patched bumblebee would be the first bee species in the United States to be formally proposed for an official listing as a part of the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Bumble bees pollinate around one third of all U.S. crops, and hold an estimated annual economic value of $3.5 billion. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that over a quarter of the 47 varieties of bumble bees native to the US and Canada will soon face possible extinction. “Endangered Species Act safeguards are now the only way the bumble bee would have a fighting chance for survival,” said Sarina Jepsen of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, which was responsible for initially petitioning the government to protect the pollinators. While the rusty patched bumble bee is the first in the continental US to be proposed for federal protections, seven types of bees native to Hawaii were also proposed last year to be classified as endangered species. |
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January 2017
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