Could Climate Change Lead to The Extinction of Bees?
The survival of bees is hanging in the balance. Some species are dying off at a record pace, and toxic agricultural chemicals might be to blame. There seem to be many threats to these winged creatures, but climate change may be the final straw for some bee species. If the Earth continues to warm and bees don’t find a way to adapt, some populations could face extinction, according to new research.
A team of scientists found that 30 to 70 percent of mason bees died when they heated up the bees' environments. This reveals that if temperatures continue to climb, bee populations could begin to die off at faster rates, disrupting ecosystems worldwide, said Paul CaraDonna, an ecologist at Northwestern University.
“It was a pretty sobering result. This is not good news for this bee,” CaraDonna told Newsweek.
Rob Bertholf