Climate Change Could Drive Bees in Warmer Regions to Extinction
Scientists at Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden conducted a two-year study of the blueberry mason bee (Osmia ribifloris) native to the Western U.S. and Northern Mexico. They found that, when a group of bees was exposed to temperatures predicted for Arizona from 2040 to 2099, 35 percent of them died off the first year and 70 percent the year after, a Northwestern University press release reported.
The results have frightening implications for bees in warmer regions.
"Local bee populations could possibly go extinct in the future because of climate change," lead author Paul CaraDonna told Newsweek.
Blueberry mason bees build nests in dead tree stumps. To achieve their results, scientists used paint to create nesting environments in Arizona's Santa Catalina Mountains with three different temperatures. They painted some nests black to simulate warmer temperatures, some nests white to simulate cooler temperatures from the 1950s and some nests with clear paint as a control.
Not only did the bees in the warmer nests die at alarming rates, they were also smaller and emerged from diapause (insect hibernation) in over 50 days instead of just 10 to 15, as is normal.
Rob Bertholf