Impacts of Climate Change upon Bees

Climate change is the root cause of many environmental issues. For example, the Gourd Bee has a decline in numbers in recent years. The gourd bee lives upon vegetables such as squash or pumpkins. However, climate change has reduced the production of these vegetables, which has an impact on the growth of gourd bees. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have stated that climate change can affect Rusty Patched Bumble Bee in several different ways, including, “increased temperature and precipitation extremes, increased drought, early snow-melt, and late frost events.”

Climate change affects bees both directly and indirectly, scientists have alarmed that earlier winter thaws, the earlier snow and frost thaws, and the earlier flowers blooming if bees will be able to keep up with these changing environments. Bees in Australia are dying at much alarming rates, high-density populations and flowerless small gardens are also the bee affecting factors in Australia.
According to Time Magazine 
“For the study, researchers looked at 110 years of data on 67 bumblebee species to track their movements over time. Activity between 1901 and 1974 was compared to movement in recent decades when climate change accelerated. In the northern end of their range, bees have failed to migrate closer to the North Pole. In the southern end, many populations have died. Altogether, bees have lost a range of up to nearly 200 miles in both North America and Europe. The study, which evaluated land-use changes and pesticide application in addition to weather conditions, attributed the drop to climate change.”
At the moment, a lot of factors including climate change are creating danger for bee species, and scientists are under pressure to find out ways to mitigate these deleterious effects on bee populations. If emergency steps are not taken now, then additional species of bees may be on the endangered list.