Bumblebees are being adversely affected by climate change and it is harming them and their homes more so than pesticides.
According to BBC News, authors of a study published in the journal Science found that bees are not moving to cooler climates like other insects are. For example, butterflies in environments that have grown too hot were observed migrating to a greater elevation, or farther from the equator.
Bumblebees, on the other hand, are leaving their homes when its too warm outside, yet they appear to be displaced rather relocated.
"Pollinators are vital for food security and our economy, and widespread losses of pollinators due to climate change will diminish both," study lead author Jeremy Kerr, a biologist from the University of Ottawa, said in a press release. "We need to figure out how we can improve the outlook for pollinators at continental scales, but the most important thing we can do is begin to take serious action to reduce the rate of climate change."
The international team of scientists analyzed hundreds of thousands of records covering more than a century and 67 species. To see how climate change has affected their numbers, the researchers compared a period covering 1901 to 1974 to the recent decades.
"The result is widespread, rapid declines of pollinators across continents - effects that are not due to pesticide use or habitat loss," Kerr told BBC News. "It looks like it's just too hot.
"If we are serious about preserving species like bumblebees for the future, it is possible we will need that to intervene in a significant and extensive way to help them adapt."
