Researchers in Argentina have found that since the 1990s, up to 25% of reported bee species no longer appear in world records, despite a large increase in databases.
Although this does not mean that all these species are extinct, it could indicate that these species have become so rare that no one notices them in the wild, as published in the magazine “One Earth”.
“Given the science of citizens and the ability to share data, records are growing exponentially, but the number of species reported in these records is declining,” said lead author Eduardo Zattara, a biologist at the Pollination Ecology Group at the Research Institute. biodiversity and the environment. Environment (CONICET-National University of Comahue) -. It is not yet a cataclysm of bees, but what we can say is that wild bees are not really thriving. “
While there are many studies on declining bee populations, they generally focus on a specific area or type of bee. These researchers were interested in identifying more general global trends in bee diversity.
“Finding the species that live, where and how each population handles using complex sets of aggregated data can be very difficult,” says Zattara. We wanted to ask a simpler question: what species have been recorded, anywhere in the world, in a given period? “
To find the answer, they dived into the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), an international database network that contains over three centuries of records from museums, universities and private citizens, representing over 20,000 known species. of bees around the world. worldwide.
In addition to finding that a quarter of all bee species are no longer recorded, the researchers noted that this decline is not evenly distributed among bee families. Records of alicid bees, the second most common family, have fallen by 17% since the 1990s. Those of Melittidae, a much rarer family, have been reduced by up to 41%.
“It’s important to remember that ‘bee’ is not just bees, despite the fact that bees are the most cultivated species,” Zattara said. The footprint of our society also affects wild bees, which provide ecosystem services on which we depend. . “
While this study provides a close look at the global state of bee diversity, it is too general an analysis to make certain statements about the current state of individual species.
“It’s not about the certainty of the numbers here. It’s more about the trend,” Zattara said. From the fact that a much greater certainty will be obtained as more data are shared with public databases. “
However, researchers warn that this type of certainty may not arrive until it is too late to reverse the decline. “Something is happening to bees and something needs to be done. We cannot wait for absolute certainty, because we rarely get there in the natural sciences,” warns Zattara. “The next step is to push lawmakers to act while we still have time because the bees can’t wait.”