A new research study by scientists at the SUNY College at Old Westbury has revealed that global warming has resulted in shrinkage of the long tongues of bumblebee populations living in the Rocky Mountains, Lighthouse News Daily reports.
The scientists have found that the long tongues of the bumblebee populations living in the Rocky Mountains have shrunk by one-third in less than a century.
Bumblebees have disproportionately long tongues as compared to their body size because they feed on flowers with long tubes. So, the long tongues of the bumblebees give them access to the nectar of the long tubed flowers.
Bumblebees are extinct in many parts of the world and are rarely seen in the Rockies.
The research team measured the tongues of two bee species in three locations in Colorado Mountains and compared the measurements with the ones made in the 1970s and the early 1980s. The study revealed that the tongues shrank by 0.6 inch every year. The species have already lost one third of the length of their tongues.
Scientists say that the only reason for the shrinkage was the rising temperatures of the Rocky Mountains. With the climate becoming drier, many wildflowers, including the long tubed species, vanished in the region. So, the bumblebees had to go to other flowers in search of food. With the long tongues no longer required for the shorter tubed flowers, the tongues of the bumblebees shrank over a period of 40 to 50 years.
