Pollination crisis looms as climate change forces the flight of the bumblebee, says study

BUMBLEBEES could become extinct within decades because of global warming, a study has found.

Researchers at University College London have said they found rates of decline in some species appear to be “consistent with a mass extinction”.

Their study, published in the journal Science, found the likelihood of a bumblebee population surviving in a given place declined by 30 per cent in the course of a single human generation.

Peter Soroye, a PHD student at the University of Ottawa and the study’s lead author, said: “We found that populations were disappearing in areas where the temperatures were getting hotter. If declines continue at this pace many of these species could vanish forever within a few decades.” The team used data collected over a 115-year period from 66 different bumblebee species across North America and Europe to develop a model simulating “climate chaos” scenarios.

The team compared where the insects were now with where they used to be, to examine how bumblebee populations had changed.

Dr Tim Newbold, of the UCL’S centre for biodiversity and environment research, said bees were also in decline in the UK. “These declines are smaller than in more southerly parts of Europe because more species in southern Europe are being exposed to extremes of temperature beyond what they can handle. We expect with future climate change that northern Europe will start to see faster declines,” he said.

If bumblebee species become extinct, it will adversely affect global food production, as bees are important pollinators of crops.

Matt Shardlow, of the insect charity Buglife, said: “We have had extinctions with species like the short haired bumblebee. The ranges of the bumblebees are not keeping up with climate change.” The charity is trying to create “B-lines” across the UK – corridors of wildflowers so bees can fly north if their usual habitats become too warm.

Prof Jeremy Kerr, of the University of Ottawa and the study’s senior author, said: “This work also holds out hope by implying ways that we might take the sting out of climate change for these and other organisms by maintaining habitats that offer shelter, like trees, shrubs, or slopes, that could let bumblebees get out of the heat.

“But ultimately, we must address climate change itself.”