Our Environment: “Bumblebees’ Critical Buzz” by Scott Turner

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Scott Turner, Environmental Columnist

For our body size, we have big brains. But that doesn’t make us smart.

Such was my thought in the garden yesterday, sharing space with a bumblebee. This was my first sighting of the year of one of these plump, fuzzy, buzzy bugs, with their black-on-bright-yellow-band look.

Research publicized last winter found that bumblebees are vanishing due to climate change and loss of habitat.

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By comparing population and climate records, study authors concluded that the odds of seeing a bumblebee had dropped by more than 30% on average since 1901.

Widespread loss of non-human life is a trend. Last summer, for example, researchers announced that in the previous 50 years, North America had lost more than a quarter of its entire bird population, or about 3 billion birds. That’s a lot of canaries to go belly up in the human-transformed landscape we call Earth.

Bumblebees spend much of the growing season with us. They are not only key pollinators in the wild and the garden, but they pollinate food crops such as blueberries, cucumbers and tomatoes. Bumblebees may be big but their buzzy vibrations help shake loose pollen and their fuzzy plump bodies aid in carrying it away. Over the years, I’ve found that I can work in the garden beside one of more bumblebees, which seem oblivious to my presence. I see them as gentle creatures.

As for this first-of-the-year bumblebee, it poked around soil crevices in a raised bed, as I sat beside it. There were plenty of flowers nearby, such as periwinkle and daffodil, but the bee stuck to the fissures and clefts in the soil. It was quiet enough outside for me to hear the buzzing of this little creature.

Alas, bumblebees prefer climates that are cooler and somewhat wetter than the hotter, drier conditions, resulting from climate change. Bumblebees aren’t nimble at colonizing new habitats such as by moving their populations northward. As a result, the insects are vanishing faster than they’re expanding into novel places.

Researchers say that there are several ways we can help bumblebees withstand climate change. One is to plant native flowers, particularly perennials that need the least-possible-care. Since bumblebees are around from April to October, plant a range of flowers, so that something is blooming spring through fall for these nectar-sipping, protein-gathering pollinators. Another thing to do is to avoid spraying pesticides—they kill bees.

Bumblebees also need places to cool off on the hottest days, so consider maintaining spots in your yard that are a little untidy such as leaf litter under backyard trees and shrubs and/or an old pile of firewood. These sites would not only help bees beat the heat but provide sanctuary for salamanders, chipmunks and other wildlife.

I can’t help but think that as we alter the climate and remove fellow-creatures, one of these days we will also eliminate ourselves from the landscape. As I sat with the bumblebee, an ear-splitting mechanical sound caused me to swing around just in time to witness a muffler-lacking, exhaust-belching SUV rumble past. When I turned back to the garden, the bee was gone. I guess that shouldn’t have surprised me.

Scott Turner is a Providence-based writer and communications professional. For more than a decade he wrote for the Providence Journal and we welcome him to GoLocalProv.com.

Credit: Ryan Hodnett/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

 

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