If you’ve ever followed a bumblebee in its foraging, you might conclude by its lazy, almost drunken behaviour that it hasn’t a care in the world.
But it should. Bumblebee populations, along with those of many other native pollinators are declining. Across North America and in Europe, these important plant and crop pollinators – bees, wasps, butterflies and moths as well as hummingbirds and bats -- have all been recorded in lower numbers. In Alberta, the overall trend is one of concern. Of the roughly two dozen species of bumblebee in the province, several are in decline. Alberta’s honeybees are not suffering the same extent of loss as their Ontario, US and European cousins, nevertheless, with 2014 winter losses at 18.5%, it is still greater than the 15% accepted maximum. The status of many other pollinators is less certain and the fact that the historic distribution for many species is unknown suggests that declines may have gone entirely unnoticed until very recently.