The western bumble bee, Bombus occidentalis, is seen in this undated
U.S. Department of Agriculture photo. REUTERS/Stephen
Ausmus/USDA/Handout via Reuters
More than 700 of the 4,000 native bee species in North
America and Hawaii are believed to be inching toward extinction due
to increased pesticide use leading to habitat loss, a scientific
study showed on Wednesday.
The Center for Biological Diversity’s report concluded
that of the 1,437 native bee species for which there was sufficient
data to evaluate, about 749 of them were declining. Some 347 of the
species, which play a vital role in plant pollination, are imperiled
and at risk of extinction, the study found.
“It’s a quiet but staggering crisis unfolding right
under our noses that illuminates the unacceptably high cost of our
careless addiction to pesticides and monoculture farming,” its
author, Kelsey Kopec, said in a statement.
Habitat loss, along with heavy pesticide use, climate
change and increasing urbanization are the main causes for declining
bee populations, the study found.
Experts from the center reviewed the status of 316 bee
species and then conducted reviews of all available information to
determine the status of a further 1,121 species. The center said the
species which lacked sufficient data were also presumed to be at
risk of extinction.
Among the native species that are severely threatened
are the Gulf Coast solitary bee, the macropis cuckoo bee and the
sunflower leafcutting bee, which is now rarely seen.
Last month, the rusty patched bumble bee was listed by
federal authorities as endangered, becoming the first wild bee in
the continental United States to gain such protection.
Bees provide valuable services: the pollination
furnished by various insects in the United States, mostly by bees,
has been valued at an estimated $3 billion each year.
The center’s Kopec noted that almost 90 percent of wild
plants are dependent on insect pollination.
“If we don’t act to save these remarkable creatures, our
world will be a less colorful and more lonesome place,” she said.
(Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Daniel Wallis
and Andrew Hay)
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/hundreds-of-north-american-bee-species-face-extinction-study/