Lusha Tronstad, lead invertebrate zoologist with UW's Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, collects western bumblebees in west-central Wyoming's Owl Creek ...
“Considering the more severe, but probably more likely scenarios, western bumblebee populations are expected to decline an additional 51 percent to 97 percent from 2020 levels, depending on the region.” In areas where neonicotinoids were applied, the western bumblebee was less likely to occur and, as the rate of neonicotinoid application increased, the bumblebee’s presence declined further. “There has been an ongoing global decline in pollinators, including in North America,” says Will Janousek, USGS scientist and co-lead author of the study. “Wyoming is predicted to have some of the last remaining suitable habitat for western bumblebees under future climate change scenarios,” says Tronstad, who has published previous research on the topic as a member of the Western Bumble Bee Working Group. The decline in pollinators is a cause for concern because most flowering plants depend on pollinators such as the western bumblebee to promote reproduction. The study was published recently in the journal