The Humble Bumble Bee

I am sure that all of us at some point have heard various statements such as, "kill or be killed", "eat or be eaten", and "survival of the fittest". That is the life cycle of the food chain that most of nature lives in where something is always getting eaten by something stronger and in turn that something is always getting eaten by something even stronger. EVERYTHING IS EATING EACH OTHER UP. Everything is always eating everything else, one thing taking another thing's life so it can live, or at least live long enough for it to be eaten by something else. The metaphor here is this: even the strongest die and become fodder for the weakest and lowest on the food chain. This is often referred to as the "Grand Design".

BUT WAIT....

What if I told you that there was a creature out there that went in the complete opposite direction? A creature whose relationship with its world was one of benefit and enhancement? One that went in a direction that was just a little bit different than the others who follow the "eating everything up" "Grand Design"? One that actually does NO HARM? I'm talking about....the bumble bee.

A kid could tell you that bumble bees go from flower to flower drinking nectar, collecting and carrying pollen from each flower in turn but most people in general would probably not be able to tell you anything beyond that. In other terms, everyone knows of bumble bees but not many people know all that much about them. Yes, the  bumble bee flies from flower to flower searching for their food, pollen and nectar. Pollen is like...the gold dust of nature. It is basically the genetic material of the plant and it represents one of the most basic, primal urges in nature: the urge to reproduce and when unleashed and allowed to spread throughout (with help from the bees of course) it allows for the development of many of the things that other life forms also depend on for food (and that includes us humans).

Their pollen is a substance made up of plant material that when a chemical analysis is done on it, it shows a wide variety of things that come from different vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes, and thanks to the complexity of nature, many other things that science is not capable of identifying. This biodiversity is represented by the bumble bees traveling to and from hundreds, maybe even thousands of flowers, all of them different. Everywhere there are flowers you will find bumble bees. From Arizona to Mozambique bumble bees are traveling from flower to flower collecting pollen and nectar.  If plants couldn't pollinate and reproduce there would be nothing growing, and if there was nothing growing, it would be detrimental to life on Earth as we know it.

Small but Significant 

So basically, this one little insect is one of the main reasons, if not THE reason, for the possibility of human development on Earth. The bumble bees' diet is flower based, collecting pollen and nectar from the flowers. Much our diet is also flower based in the fruits, nuts, seeds, and vegetables that we eat that come from the plants that the bumble bees pollinate. What I am trying to say is this: without bumble bees, we probably wouldn't even be here and, unfortunately, if people don't stop and take the time to recognize how significant this is it could be a huge blow to the health of planet.

Why We Should Care

In the late 1990's biologists studying bees noticed that bumble bee populations were actually experiencing startling declines in the abundance and distribution of several species. Five of these species: the rusty patched bumble bee, the western bumble bee, the yellow banded bumble bee, and the American bumble bee were once common in several areas and were important crop pollinators in their respective historical ranges. The Franklin's bumble bee was only found in a small area in southern Oregon and northern California and is, unfortunately, now believed to be extinct.


1.) The Franklin's Bumblebee:

2.) The Yellow-banded Bumblebee: 

3.) The Rusty-patched Bumblebee:

4.) The Western Bumblebee:

5.) The American Bumblebee: 

The threats that wild populations face are many, including but not limited to: pesticide usage, loss of habitat, introduction of non-native species, the spread of diseases and pests through commercial bumble bee rearing, low genetic diversity, and everyone's favorite: climate change. See, the thing is that although bees may not depend on one flower in particular, there are several species of flower that depend on the bees to achieve pollination. Case in point: in Britain and the Netherlands where they have seen the extinction of multiple populations there has been a decline in the abundance of insect-pollinated plants. Imagine what would happen if ALL of the bees suddenly disappeared? Doesn't sound too good now does it?

How We Can Help

-Participate in Bumble Bee Watch! Bumble Bee Watch is a collaborate effort to track and help conserve North America's bumble bees, allowing people to:

• Upload photos of bumble bees in order to start a virtual bumble bee collection.
• Identify the bees in your photos and have them validated by experts.
• Help researchers determine the status and conservation needs of bumble bees.
• Help locate rare or endangered populations of bumble bees.
• Learn more about bumble bees, their ecology, and connect with other citizen scientists.

-Create habitat! The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Protection has created a partnership with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to create a list of plants that help attract bumble bees

For information on what you can do to help bumble bees please feel free to visit the How Can I help? section of this blog.