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It's likely that bumblebees are equally affected.

saalweachter 9y ago
Well, sort of. Bumblebees are probably as susceptible as honeybees, but native bees will preferentially eat from native plants. If most farmers aren't spraying many native plants, the exposure will be less.
- tmnvix 9y ago
  > ...but native bees will preferentially eat from native plants. Do you have a source for how significant this factor is? I would like to believe it, but it sounds a lot like wishful thinking.
  - saalweachter 9y ago
    Not really; my source is a lecture at a beekeeping meetup (where the lecturers range from top academics to 'a little bit crazy'). I believe the study in question was trying to assess how honeybees, an invasive species, impacted native bee populations; the study found little impact, and attributed it to the preferential feeding. (The replanting of large swaths of America with invasive plant species, such as wheat, presumably does have an impact on native bee populations.) I'd also note that many native bees also have a much shorter lifecycle - they will be active for a very brief time at a very specific time of the year, when their target plants are flowering, and then they lay their eggs, which will remain dormant / develop slowly for nearly the full year, to hatch again at the appropriate time. This means that you can successfully avoid killing them by timing your pesticide application to avoid flowering plants. Honeybees, on the other hand, are active year round (though confined to their hives in the winter). A larger threat mentioned in the talk to native bees was actually global warming. Many native bees operate in narrow bands of latitude, only going so far north and south. With the increases in average temperature, we're seeing the southern border of many native bee species move north ... but for whatever reason, not the northern border. I'm not sure why that would be (maybe there are plant species they depend on which spread too slowly?), but it creates a worrisome picture of their habitat being squeezed out of existence.
- tptacek 9y ago
  Bumblebee colonies are also much smaller than honey bee colonies.
Houshalter 9y ago
A bit but nowhere near as much. Native bees have many advantages. They have vastly more genetic diversity and there are several species. Farmers don't transport them around the country and around the world spreading disease and parasites much faster. And their hives aren't often messed up by humans. And they are better adapted to this environment. Honeybees are suffering from multiple problems including outbreaks of disease and parasites. Even without pesticide they would be doing bad. Anecdotally bumble bees are a very common sight here. And I'm surrounded by fields that are sprayed often.
- lostlogin 9y ago
  Bumble bees don't pollinate some plants as they are too big - their size also makes them better at pollinating other plants.

Well, sort of. Bumblebees are probably as susceptible as honeybees, but native bees will preferentially eat from native plants. If most farmers aren't spraying many native plants, the exposure will be less.

tmnvix 9y ago
> ...but native bees will preferentially eat from native plants. Do you have a source for how significant this factor is? I would like to believe it, but it sounds a lot like wishful thinking.
- saalweachter 9y ago
  Not really; my source is a lecture at a beekeeping meetup (where the lecturers range from top academics to 'a little bit crazy'). I believe the study in question was trying to assess how honeybees, an invasive species, impacted native bee populations; the study found little impact, and attributed it to the preferential feeding. (The replanting of large swaths of America with invasive plant species, such as wheat, presumably does have an impact on native bee populations.) I'd also note that many native bees also have a much shorter lifecycle - they will be active for a very brief time at a very specific time of the year, when their target plants are flowering, and then they lay their eggs, which will remain dormant / develop slowly for nearly the full year, to hatch again at the appropriate time. This means that you can successfully avoid killing them by timing your pesticide application to avoid flowering plants. Honeybees, on the other hand, are active year round (though confined to their hives in the winter). A larger threat mentioned in the talk to native bees was actually global warming. Many native bees operate in narrow bands of latitude, only going so far north and south. With the increases in average temperature, we're seeing the southern border of many native bee species move north ... but for whatever reason, not the northern border. I'm not sure why that would be (maybe there are plant species they depend on which spread too slowly?), but it creates a worrisome picture of their habitat being squeezed out of existence.
tptacek 9y ago
Bumblebee colonies are also much smaller than honey bee colonies.

Houshalter 9y ago

A bit but nowhere near as much. Native bees have many advantages. They have vastly more genetic diversity and there are several species. Farmers don't transport them around the country and around the world spreading disease and parasites much faster. And their hives aren't often messed up by humans. And they are better adapted to this environment. Honeybees are suffering from multiple problems including outbreaks of disease and parasites. Even without pesticide they would be doing bad. Anecdotally bumble bees are a very common sight here. And I'm surrounded by fields that are sprayed often.

lostlogin 9y ago
Bumble bees don't pollinate some plants as they are too big - their size also makes them better at pollinating other plants.