Bee-rink of extinction
Third of native species could be wiped out
IRISH bumblebee numbers have crashed in recent years raising fears some native species are on the brink of extinction.
Of the 98 Irish wild bee species around one-third are threatened with complete wipe out.
It has emerged populations recorded last year fell to their lowest level since monitoring began – with large declines in native species.
Dr Tomas Murray, a senior ecologist at the All-ireland Bumblebee Monitoring Scheme, said: “For us the leading cause of declines is effectively habitat loss.
“So we’re moving the spaces where these bees normally feed and live.
“So for a really common species that are common and widespread everywhere, we’re losing them in particular areas, literally because there’s no place for them to feed or live. So the absolute number of bees is going down.
“And like that then for those rarer species, those species that may be more sensitive to agriculture insensification or anything like that. They’re largely being shifted to places where agriculture isn’t so intense.”
The 21 critical native species here are very important in terms of pollinating wild flowers and crops and researchers examined eight from 2012 to 2017.
The monitoring took place at more than 100 sites and the findings were revealed yesterday.
A startling one third of the 98 species here are at risk of extinction.
The data also provides a unique insight into how more common bumblebees are doing. It revealed the
large carder bee, which is threatened by extinction across Europe, has seen a 23% fall in population since 2012.
Meanwhile, the great yellow bumblebee and the shrill carder bee, which makes a high pitched buzz, can only be found now in the northwest and the west of Ireland and in small numbers.
There are several reasons for population decline inclusing habitat loss, pesticide poisoning, climate change and hunger due to a fall in wildflowers.
Since 2012 there has been an annual 3.7% decline recorded which has led to a 14.2% fall fall in bumblebee numbers. The research was carried out by 80 citizen scientist volunteers who each walked one or two kilometres on a monthly basis between March and October, counting bumblebees.
The All-ireland Pollinator Plan was set-up in 2015 to counter the falling numbers here and the programme is co-ordinated by the Co Waterford based National Biodiversity Data Centre. Asked about what can be done to reverse the decline, Dr Murray said: “The overarching thing is increasing the area of land where there’s flowers to feed on.”