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Britain's bumblebees in crisis
17/04/2007 09:50 - (SA)
London - Britain's bumblebee population
is under threat in a crisis that could wipe out entire species
and have a devastating knock-on effect on agriculture,
scientists say.
The furry yellow-and-black creatures, essential for
pollination, are being killed off by pesticides and agricultural
intensification, which have cut back on hedgerows and removed
their source of food.
"There just aren't enough flowers around," Professor Dave
Goulson, the director of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust at the
University of Sterling in Scotland, said on Monday.
"If we knock out an important group like bumblebees, it can
have a huge knock-on impact on other things, such as the
pollination of important crops and flowers."
Britain once had around 25 native species of bumblebee, but
three of those have been wiped out in the past 50 years and 10
more are now "severely threatened", Goulson said.
"There are two that are teetering on the edge of extinction
and could be gone in five to 10 years quite easily," he said.
Knock-on effect
The loss of species could lead to sweeping changes in
Britain's countryside, with many rare plants disappearing and
the production of crops such as raspberries, oil-seed rape,
runner beans and broad beans sharply curtailed.
Some estimates say bees carry out pollination worth around
$400m to Britain's farmers each year.
"If you make one thing rarer - like bumblebees - it feeds
back to other things, which quickly become rarer too," Goulson
said.
The problem is not just in Britain - it has been spotted in
North America and Europe too. That could make it more difficult
to reintroduce any species that goes extinct locally.
Goulson and other scientists want farmers to adopt more
wildlife-friendly farming methods to help sustain the bumblebee
population, and are encouraging people to look after the bees.
"They're a quintessential part of the summer - the buzz of
bumblebees on the flowers in the garden," said Goulson.
"It would be a real shame if we lost it."
- Reuters
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