BUMBLEBEES MISSING IN ACTION:

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BUMBLEBEES MISSING IN ACTION: COULD HAVE BIG EFFECT ON OTHER THINGS

AP - Looking high and low, Robbin Thorp can no longer find a species of
bumblebee that just five years ago was plentiful in northwestern
California and southwestern Oregon. Thorp, an emeritus professor of
entomology from the University of California at Davis, found one
solitary worker last year along a remote mountain trail in the Siskiyou
Mountains, but hasn't been able to locate any this year. He fears that
the species ­ Franklin's bumblebee ­ has gone extinct before anyone
could even propose it for the endangered species list. To make matters
worse, two other bumblebee species ­ one on the East coast, one on the
West ­ have gone from common to rare.

Amid the uproar over global warming and mysterious disappearances of
honeybee colonies, concern over the plight of the lowly bumblebee has
been confined to scientists laboring in obscurity. But if bumblebees
were to disappear, farmers and entomologists warn, the consequences
would be huge, especially coming on top of the problems with honeybees,
which are active at different times and on different crop species.
Bumblebees are responsible for pollinating an estimated 15 percent of
all the crops grown in the U.S., worth $3 billion, particularly those
raised in greenhouses. Those include tomatoes, peppers and strawberries.
Demand is growing as honeybees decline. In the wild, birds and bears
depend on bumblebees for berries and fruits.

p://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071008/ap_on_sc/farm_scene_plight_of_bumblebee
Tuesday , October 09, 2007

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