2 MILLION BLOSSOMS


UNDER SEIGE


BEES


So Few Species Protected Under the Endangered Species Act? by Andy Carstens


W 58


hen an asteroid the size of a small island rammed into our planet 66 million years ago, Earth was forever changed. It triggered a mass extinction best known for


eradicating dinosaurs, which likely also extinguished some bee species. But we are lucky that 20,000 species remain—for now. Human activity, though doled out more slowly than a cataclysmic collision, might be the next asteroid from a bee’s perspective. On February 1, 2021, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the American bumble bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Jesse Tyler, an environmental scientist with the Center for Biological         because “there’s some real problems that are occurring across


Why Are


Above: The American bumble bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) photographed in Glendening Preserve, in Lothian, Maryland. © Judy Gallagher, Wikimedia Commons


the entire country that we really need to address.” According to the petition, habitat loss, climate change,


livestock grazing, pesticide use, and disease spillover from domesticated species have all caused the American bumble bee to experience “serious decline.” Individually or combined, these same factors affect all bees. Yet, out of about 3,600 bee species that persist


north of Mexico, just eight are currently protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Seven are yellow-faced species native to Hawaii and one is the rusty-patched bumble bee with a historic range encompassing the East Coast and Upper Midwest. If native bees are facing so many environmental stressors, why are so few species protected under the federal act? Part of the problem is getting the public amped up to save insects. “They’re not looked at as favorably as other


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108