Bumblebees are an important part of Earth’s ecosystem and humanity relies on them more than you are likely to expect. It is estimated that a third of the food you eat relies on pollination from bumblebees, and plants and forests rely on nature’s fertiliser. This is why alarm bells ring in scientists when population numbers of bumblebees plumes – in the US and Europe, bee populations have declined by 30 percent.
And now the American Bumblebee is on the brink of extinction in Canada, which will spell bad news for Earth’s fragile ecosystem.
Professor Laurence Packer from York University, in Toronto, Canada, told CBC Toronto: “We’ve got a situation where the number of species that you can find in an area has decreased.
“These kinds of declines in important pollinators are going to have cascading impacts throughout the entire ecosystem.”
Overall, the population of American Bumblebees fell by a staggering 89 percent from 2007 to 2016 compared to 1907 to 2006.
Assistant professor Sheila Colla, an expert in bees and endangered species in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, said: “This species is at risk of extinction and it’s currently not protected in any way despite the drastic decline.”
Prof Packer reiterated the situation is not just specific to Canada, and the world is facing a major problem.
He added: “We’ve got similar declines in bumblebees on just about every continent.
“In Asia, we know that some bumblebees are declining. And in southern South America, there’s a spectacular huge, bright orange one and the population there has gone through the floor for the last 15-20 years, so it’s not just a local issue here, it’s a problem worldwide.”
Greenpeace Canada’s Shane Moffatt had a stark warning: “Sometimes these things can seem a bit abstract or a bit academic, but this is anything but an abstract issue.
“The fate of these species is connected to all of our fates.”