Peter Soroye: Bumble bee declines and a new method for assessing the risk of local extinction

02/28/20 • 30 min

This week on the podcast I have a conversation with Peter Soroye, a Ph.D. student at the University of Ottawa and the lead author of a recent paper in Science Magazine that provides evidence of rapid and widespread declines in bumble bee populations across North America and Europe. This work received plenty of news coverage, and you may have seen some of the headlines that painted a rather grim picture.
However, the real purpose of this research by Peter, Tim Newbold and Jeremy Kerr, was to test a new method for assessing the risk of local extinction for a species – which, ideally, would lead to the creation of more effective conservation efforts through a better understanding of what animals are at the greatest risk in different locations.
• Climate change contributes to widespread declines among bumble bees across continents (Science) https://bit.ly/3a8PCyq
Peter Soroye:
• Twitter @PeterSoroye
• Instagram @puffypete
• Website www.petersoroye.com
WEEKLY UPDATE
• Why the next threat to bees is organized crime (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2wakZKo
• Minnesota cities could get the power to ban pesticides (The Star Tribune) http://strib.mn/2Vv8P9s
• Maine bill would limit use of neonicotinoids (Maine Public) https://bit.ly/2PyEVNU
• Bumble bees can create mental imagery, a 'building block of consciousness' (ABC) https://ab.co/2T5SRkE
• Honey bees forage less efficiently in high winds (The Guardian) https://bit.ly/2w8qR6O
EXTRA
• Bee Better Certified Production Standards https://bit.ly/397CkC6
Please subscribe to the Bee Report Podcast. Leave a 5-star rating and review. And visit TheBeeReport.com to sign up for the newsletter to stay connected to the world of bees.
Questions or comments about the show? You can get in touch with me at tbr at bymattkelly dot com.

Previous Episode

Sarina Jepsen: Xerces Society seeks to join lawsuit to protect four California bumble bees

THIS WEEK ON THE SHOW
This past June, the California Fish and Game Commission decided to list four bumble bees as candidates for endangered species protection in the state. However, in September a coalition of agricultural interests sued to prevent the listing from going forward, claiming that insects cannot be listed under California’s endangered species act. Now the Xerces Society, Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Food Safety are seeking to intervene in the lawsuit to ensure that the bumble bees receive protection.
This is a really important court case to follow because it focuses on an essential conversation about insect conservation. So here is my conversation with Sarina Jepsen, the Endangered Species Program Director for the Xerces Society, to help us understand what the case is all about. Enjoy.
• Pollinator petitioners ask court for permission to join lawsuit to defend fish and game commission decision to protect four native bee species under the California endangered species act: https://bit.ly/2UO2HZF
• If bumble bees become endangered in California, farmers say it sets a ‘dangerous precedent’: https://bit.ly/2OT39BZ
WEEKLY UPDATE
• California banned chlorpyrifos from your food. Now it won’t be manufactured (Los Angeles Times): https://lat.ms/2OTxOz7
• Häagen-Dazs ice cream now Bee Better Certified (Xerces Society): https://bit.ly/2HkLA9J
• Bumble bee declines indicate mass extinction (The Guardian): https://bit.ly/3bzOFRl
• Bumble bees fly in ‘economy mode’ when carrying heavy loads (University of California, Davis): https://bit.ly/2SoedZT
• Alternative pollinators to help farmers as bee populations suffer in drought and bushfires (ABC): https://ab.co/2OSHeuF
• Oldest evidence of modern bees found in Argentina (National Geographic): https://on.natgeo.com/2UO1mlB
• Fossilized insect from 100 million years ago is oldest record of primitive bee with pollen (Oregon State University): https://bit.ly/3bAaekK

Next Episode

Hollis Woodard: Creating a national native bee monitoring network

This week on the podcast, I talk with Dr. Hollis Woodard, assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of California, Riverside. In January, Hollis announced that she and eleven of her fellow bee experts are going to be creating a native bee monitoring network here in the U.S. So she and I converse about the current plans for getting that network up and running.
We also talk about an issue that everyone who is involved with ecology and conservation should be thinking about: taxonomic bottleneck.
Dr. Hollis Woodard:
• Twitter @bee_witcher
• Website www.woodardlab.com
WEEKLY UPDATE
• Coronavirus stings world's top honey makers with China beekeepers locked down (Reuters) https://reut.rs/2PPHWt0
• Lawsuit attacks Trump administration failure to protect hundreds of species from extinction (Center for Biological Diversity) https://bit.ly/2TuhE21
• A new method for surveying bumble bees alongside Minnesota roadways (Crossroads) https://bit.ly/2wAsI4l
• Alfalfa leafcutting bees like nests that face north (Entomology Today) https://bit.ly/3av1rPz
• Wheen Bee Foundation receives $15,000 grant to protect green carpenter bee (Wheen Bee Foundation) https://bit.ly/2VPQTqq
EXTRA
• Can the green carpenter bee of Australia be saved? (The Bee Report) https://bit.ly/2wvZVOE
Please subscribe to the Bee Report Podcast. Leave a 5-star rating and review. And visit TheBeeReport.com to sign up for the newsletter to stay connected to the world of bees.
Thoughts, questions or comments? Please send them to [email protected].