The plight of the bumblebee has been causing both scientists and farmers business organisation , with humblebee population declining over the past several age . Bumblebees , likeHoney bee , are important pollinators of aboriginal plants and are used to pollinate nursery crops , likepeppersandtomatoes . But colonies ofBombus occidentalis , used for greenhouse pollination , began to stand from disease problem in the late 1990s and company stopped rearing them . population of other bumblebee species are also believe to be in decline .
In addition to seek to learn the cause of bumblebee loss , USDA entomologist James Strange is searching for a species that can serve as the next generation of greenhousepollinators . Strange performs his research through the Agricultural Research Service ’s Pollinating Insects — Biology , Management and Systematics Research Unit in Logan , Utah .
To understand the decline ofB. occidentalis , Strange and his fellow have been tracking its habitat range and population trends . Evidence they ’ve gathered so far shows that the range and universe ofB. occidentalishave declined , that it is not as genetically diverse as it used to be , and that it has higher pathogen preponderance than other bee species with stable populations . The results were published in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
The researcher also have set up a heavy database with information on more than 80,000Bombusspecimens comprise 10 species throughout the body politic , includingB. occidentalis . With Geographic Information System modeling engineering , they were able to construct historic and current orbit maps of several bumblebee mintage .
Onebee speciesStrange has been studying is an orangish - striped generalist bee , Bombus huntii , aboriginal to the western one-half of the res publica , that could be used in greenhouses in the westerly United States . He ’s determining how to good rearB. huntiiin a testing ground setting , a life-sustaining stone’s throw in commercializing it .
Many greenhouse growers now apply commercially producedBombus impatiens , a generalist pollinator native to the Midwest and eastern United States and Canada . But scientist are concerned about using a bee outside its native compass . Some western United States Department of State even restrict the consequence and use of non - native bees . IfB. impatienswere to escape and form tempestuous colonies in the westerly United States , they could compete with native bees for food and resources and display native bumblebees topathogensthey are ineffective to battle .
