Rusty-Patched Bumblebees

Environmental News Article 2 According to the article “A Bumblebee Gets New Protection on Obama’s Way Out,” rusty-patched bumblebees, which were once prevalent across the United States, have now been put on the endangered species list (Schlossberg and Schwartz 2017). The population of these rusty-patched bumblebees has declined roughly ninety percent since the 1990s, as a result from pesticide exposure, climate change, disease, and habitat loss. Once common across twenty eight states, the District of Columbia, and two Canadian provinces, it is now found only in small areas of those regions. The role these bumblebees have on us is very fundamental for our environment. Tom Melius, Fish and Wildlife Service’s Midwest regional director, stated “pollinators are small but mighty parts of the natural mechanism that sustains us and our world, without them, our forests, parks,
meadows and shrub lands, and the abundant, vibrant life they support, cannot survive, and our crops require laborious, costly pollination by hand” (Schlossberg and Schwartz 2017). Bumblebees are wonderful pollinators due to the fact that they prefer native flowers and will pollinate almost anything. They also use a technique known as “buzz pollination,” where they grab the pollen-producing part of the flower and then vibrate their wings, which shakes the pollen loose, and has a huge impact on plants (Schlossberg and Schwartz 2017). This article did a great job supporting why this issue has come about and the importance of solving it.
I was quite shocked to hear how much the bumblebee populations have decreased overtime. I was also unaware of how much of an impact these insects have on us, and the importance of protecting them. Bumblebees are absolutely fundamental to our existence, as they are responsible for much of our food supply, because of their ability to pollinate. However, making the public more aware of this issue is essential to helping save these bees. Laws need to be passed soon that bans the use of certain pesticides that are harming these bees. Research should also be conducted to see what diseases may be affecting the bee population and ways to combat this issue. Due to habitat loss being a big factor that is affecting these bees, artificial bee habitats should be created across the country to see if they help to increase the populations. Although this issue will take years to resolve, finding the best methods to helping to increase these bumblebee populations is crucial while we still have
time.