Bumblebee could be canary in global warming mine
Lewis DiuguidRepeated heavy snowfalls and cold temperatures add fuel to global warming deniers.
Never mind that the temperature of the Earth keeps creeping up, and irrefutable evidence points to humankind’s industrial planet poisoning. What the deniers may not be able to dismiss is the disappearance of species.
Global warming changes the habitat for aquatic creatures and those on land. Some species are large. Others seem insignificantly small — like bumblebees.
But small, disappearing creatures like the bumblebees do massive amounts of work to benefit the planet’s agriculture. Yet, global warming deniers and the rest of us may have no choice but to contend with the extinction of the bumblebee in the Midwest. It would have an immediate effect on our survival.
The Associated Press reports that studies in the journal Science say that wild bees like the American bumblebee are dwindling at an alarming rate possibly from disease or parasites. The bees are vital in pollinating flowers and crops, which people need for food.
A 1890s southern Illinois naturalist, Charles Robertson, collected and categorized insects. Laura Burkle of Montana State University went back to the Midwest location to see what had changed and found only half the wild bees that Robertson found. She found only one yellow-and-black American bumblebee.
Houston, we have a problem.
JR Beillenhouser
3 months, 2 weeks agoC’mon Lewis. You have got to be able to show cause and effect. This topic has been huge in science circles for years but the factor most attributed to the decline in bees is insecticides.
Your logic to get from point a to b has no science to back it up, it is pure speculation; this column is laughable.
Kinda like this monty python scene:
BEDEMIR: Quiet, quiet. Quiet! There are ways of telling whether she is a witch. CROWD: Are there? What are they? BEDEMIR: Tell me, what do you do with witches? VILLAGER #2: Burn! CROWD: Burn, burn them up! BEDEMIR: And what do you burn apart from witches? VILLAGER #1: More witches! VILLAGER #2: Wood! BEDEMIR: So, why do witches burn? [pause] VILLAGER #3: B—… ‘cause they’re made of wood…? BEDEMIR: Good! CROWD: Oh yeah, yeah… BEDEMIR: So, how do we tell whether she is made of wood? VILLAGER #1: Build a bridge out of her. BEDEMIR: Aah, but can you not also build bridges out of stone? VILLAGER #2: Oh, yeah. BEDEMIR: Does wood sink in water? VILLAGER #1: No, no. VILLAGER #2: It floats! It floats! VILLAGER #1: Throw her into the pond! CROWD: The pond! BEDEMIR: What also floats in water? VILLAGER #1: Bread! VILLAGER #2: Apples! VILLAGER #3: Very small rocks! VILLAGER #1: Cider! VILLAGER #2: Great gravy! VILLAGER #1: Cherries! VILLAGER #2: Mud! VILLAGER #3: Churches — churches! VILLAGER #2: Lead — lead! ARTHUR: A duck. CROWD: Oooh. BEDEMIR: Exactly! So, logically…, VILLAGER #1: If… she.. weighs the same as a duck, she’s made of wood. BEDEMIR: And therefore—? VILLAGER #1: A witch! CROWD: A witch!