The rusty patched bumble bee may be vulnerable to pesticides used across its range.
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Pathogens and parasites may pose a threat to rusty patched bumble bees, although their prevalence and effects in North American bumble bees are not well understood. Increases in farm size and technology advances improved the operating efficiency of farms but have led to practices that harm bumble bees, including increased use of pesticides, loss of crop diversity which results in flowering crops being available for only a short time, loss of hedgerows and the flowers that grew there, and loss of legume pastures. Grasslands that remain tend to be small and isolated. Most of prairies and grasslands of the Upper Midwest and Northeast have been converted to monoculture farms or developed areas, such as cities and roads. Why is the rusty patched bumble bee declining? Habitat loss and degradation: Since 2000, this bumble bee has been reported from only 13 states and 1 Canadian province: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin – and Ontario, Canada. Its range included 28 states, the District of Columbia and 2 provinces in Canada. and southern Quebec and Ontario in Canada, south to the northeast corner of Georgia, reaching west to the eastern edges of North and South Dakota. Historically, the rusty patched bumble bee was broadly distributed across the eastern United States and Upper Midwest, from Maine in the U.S.
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It needs a constant supply and diversity of flowers blooming throughout the colony’s long life, April through September. The rusty patched emerges early in spring and is one of the last species to go into hibernation. Bumble bees are more effective pollinators than honey bees for some crops because of their ability to “buzz pollinate.” The economic value of pollination services provided by native insects (mostly bees) is estimated at $3 billion per year in the United States.īumble bees gather pollen and nectar from a variety of flowering plants. Bumble bees are keystone species in most ecosystems, necessary not only for native wildflower reproduction, but also for creating seeds and fruits that feed wildlife as diverse as songbirds and grizzly bears.īumble bees are among the most important pollinators of crops such as blueberries, cranberries, and clover and almost the only insect pollinators of tomatoes.
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Only new queens go into diapause (a form of hibernation) over winter - and the cycle begins again in spring.Īs pollinators, rusty patched bumble bees contribute to our food security and the healthy functioning of our ecosystems. In fall, founding queens, workers and males die. Males disperse to mate with new queens from other colonies. In late summer, new queens and males also hatch from eggs. Queens remain within the nests and continue laying eggs. Workers hatch from these first eggs and colonies grow as workers collect food, defend the colony, and care for young. In spring, solitary queens emerge and find nest sites, collect nectar and pollen from flowers and begin laying eggs, which are fertilized by sperm stored since mating the previous fall.
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Rusty patched bumble bee colonies have an annual cycle. Bumble bees need areas that provide nectar and pollen from flowers, nesting sites (underground and abandoned rodent cavities or clumps of grasses), and overwintering sites for hibernating queens (undisturbed soil). Rusty patched bumble bees once occupied grasslands and tallgrass prairies of the Upper Midwest and Northeast, but most grasslands and prairies have been lost, degraded, or fragmented by conversion to other uses. Illustrations of a rusty patched bumble bee queen (left), worker (center), and male (right).