The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge.
We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is requesting public comment on a draft plan for the recovery of the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee, which was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2017. The draft plan proposes general management actions and criteria that indicate when the species may be considered eligible to be removed from the Federal list of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. In my opinion this plan is long on criteria and short on actual recovery strategies. Public comment will close February 24, 2020. Currently there is only one comment, which will likely be ignored because while it is true, it is a very angry comment. If after reading this, you would like to help, you can do so by providing a well reasoned comment at the request for comment site.
The rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis), is one of the 47 species of bumble bee found in North America. Since the name is so long, I am going to informally abbreviate to RPBB, for purposes of this diary. It once had a historical range from eastern North Dakota to Maine and Quebec, and south to northern Georgia. However, the RPBB has declined by 87 percent in the last 20 years and may now be on the brink of extinction. The species no longer has a continuous range, and is now found in small scattered populations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada.
In the above graphic, if you look carefully, you can see small red dots, and a few blue dots along with the yellow. Red indicates a high potential for the RPBB to be present. Yellow indicates a low potential for the RPBB to be present. Blue is uncertain. In the gray area, the RPBB has not been observed since before the year 2000.
While the causes of the declines of the RPBB are not entirely understood, factors contributing to declines likely include a synergistic combination of habitat loss, pathogens amplified by commercial bumble bees, pesticide use, and climate change.
Intensive use of agricultural lands and the conversion of grasslands to monocultures since the middle of the twentieth century have likely resulted in the destruction of bumble bee nesting and overwintering sites as well as disturbance of foraging grounds. Urban development is also a factor in habitat loss.
A leading hypothesis for the decline of the RPBB is that bumble bees commercially reared for pollination services helped amplify and spread a virulent pathogen, Nosema bombi, throughout North America to which wild bees had little resistance. Sources vary on how the commercial bees became exposed to this pathogen. But they agree that commercial bees can pass the pathogen to wild bees.
Pesticides are used widely on farms and in cities and can have both lethal and sublethal toxic effects. Bumble bees can absorb toxins directly through their exoskeleton and through contaminated nectar and pollen. RPBBs nest in the ground and may be susceptible to pesticides that persist in soils, lawns and turf. Pesticide use has increased since the middle of the twentieth century. Below is a use comparison for only one insecticide, the neonicotinoid imidacloprid.
These are the documents referenced in the imidacloprid caption:
Baker, N.T., and Stone, W.W., 2015, Estimated annual agricultural pesticide use for counties of the conterminous United States, 2008–12: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 907, 9 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ds907
Thelin, G.P., and Stone, W.W., 2013, Estimation of annual agricultural pesticide use for counties of the conterminous United States, 1992–2009: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2013–5009, 54 p., http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5009/
The RPBB is sensitive to temperature and doesn’t like temperatures above 95F. Increased precipitation and flooding can also be a factor, since they are a ground nesting species.
So, how can you help? Here’s a list of plants that are favored by the RPBB. It’s PDF, so click on actual size to get a readable copy. If you live anywhere within the range of the RPBB, plant some of these! Consider letting lawns go back to wild (assuming you don’t have a Board that tells you that you have to mow). Don’t use pesticides. If you have non native plants, consider replacing them with natives. And please go to the US Fish and wildlife comment site and submit your opinions and/or recommendations. (As for me, I’d like them to disallow neonicotinoids completely.)
Thank you for helping if you can!
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What’s up in nature in your area today?
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