Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Bumblebees done in by a fungal parasite—maybe

Bumblebees (of the genus Bombus) pollinate both wild plants and agricultural crops like tomatoes and berries; in this capacity, their economic importance is second only to honeybees. Unfortunately, they have been disappearing from North America and Europe and no one knows why.

Researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana and Utah State University have been trying to figure out what's happening to the bees; their work is reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Previous studies have been too limited in geographical scope to identify any patterns that might explain the bees' disappearance. This study started by comparing current and historic bumble bee populations. 

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