Bumble Bee Species Become Candidates for State Legal Protection for the First Time ...Middle East

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KEYT) – Four species of bumble bees are the first insects to become eligible for protections under the California Endangered Species Act.

The candidates listed in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's document released earlier this month are the Crotch's bumble bee (Bombus crotchii), the western bumble bee (Bombas occidentalis), the Franklin's bumble bee (Bombas franklini), and the Suckley's cuckoo bumble bee (Bombus suckleyi).

The announcement is the early stages of officially adding legal protections to the insects and this month's announcement is largely a consolidation of ecological information that can help the public find ways to protect theses species.

"This document is non-regulatory and includes considerations for avoiding or minimizing impacts to the species, habitat management strategies, and conservation strategies to help inform projects that may interact with these species," the California Department of Fish and Wildlife explained in the document. "Project proponents should reach out to the appropriate CDFW regional office to discuss any project related questions or concerns.

All four species are already listed on the state's Terrestrial and Vernal Pool Invertebrates of Conservation Priority List, the California Natural Diversity Database's Special Animal's List and are considered a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the California State Wildlife Action Plan.

Those protective actions come as bee populations around the world have seen sustained reductions.

According to the Paleontological Research Institute, beekeepers across the United States began reporting in 2007 inexplicable bee behavior that was eventually identified as Colony Collapse Disorder and declines in bee species were noted around the world.

At least 45 percent of Europe's bumblebees are in population decline and recent evidence suggests that 49 eastern United States bee species are in decline shared the Paleontological Research Institute.

"Understanding the ecology of these species is critical to implementing a project that minimizes impacts to the species, while achieving the desired outcome of the project in an efficient and cost-effective manner," the California Department of Fish and Wildlife noted.

California alone has around 25 species of bumble bees and there are more than 260 species in the Bombas genus globally noted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The flying insects are sturdier than other bee species, are covered in dense, aposematic coloring of contrasting yellow, black or reddish bands, and live in regimented colonies with a reproductive caste and a worker caste shared the state wildlife agency.

In October of 2018, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the Center for Food Safety, and Defenders of Wildlife submitted a joint petition to the California Fish and Game Commission to list all four of the species of bees listed above as endangered under state law and entitled to legal protection.

The Commission agreed and the four species became candidates for listing, but the designation of insects was challenged in court and a stay on the listing process was issued during the court proceedings.

After the California Supreme Court declined to hear the case, an appellate court's unanimous decision upholding the state agency's inclusion resulted in all four species being reinstated in September of 2022.

As a candidate, the species do receive some legal protection from killing, capturing, or hunting by humans shared the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Bumble bees have an annual life cycle that has notably defined activities during different seasons and an effective response to their preservation requires an understanding of what they are up to and when.

In early spring, queens emerge to forage and to locate a suitable nest during what is called the Queen Flight Season.

Queen bees don't denigrate themselves by digging their own nests. Instead, they fly low to the ground investigating cavities in a variety of potential places and materials, including thatched grasses, brush and rock piles, fallen logs, and even abandoned bird and rodent burrows.

According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, queen bees usually spend two to three weeks searching for a suitable nest site to meet the blooming period of plants they need for food.

During the search, the queen is the only reproductive member of the colony, making them particularly vulnerable noted the state wildlife agency.

Once a queen establishes a colony and begins to lay already-fertilized eggs, the colony grows during the spring and summer as worker bees forage from blooming plants during whats known as the Colony Active Period.

Larvae hatch from their eggs within about four days and feed for around four weeks before entering silk cocoons to pupate for an additional two weeks shared the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Out of the pupas emerge adult, non-reproductive female workers who takeover food collection and larvae care from the busy queen, noted the state wildlife agency in its report, before moving on to more intricate responsibilities as the colony grows including nest construction, regulating nest temperatures, and colony defense.

The founding queen then moves into continuously laying eggs all summer as worker bees only live about one to two months.

Some colonies can contain between 50 to over 500 workers all produced by a single queen.

The next life cycle step for colonies involves other youngsters laid by the same colony-founding queen, fertile future queen bumble bees.

By the fall, young, fertile female bumblebees emerge and mate during whats known as the Gyne Flight Season and the hopeful queens-to-be then search for a place to spend the winter during the Overwintering Period before emerging in the early spring and restarting the entire process.

The reference document published this month doesn't just give fascinating insight into the lives of each of the candidate species, it also explains how human-based ecological protection might work going forward.

"A seasonal work restriction limits work during a portion of the year when the candidate speciesmay be present in a project footprint," the report explained. "The implementation of seasonal restrictions to minimize or avoid take is determined on a project-by-project basis. Since it may be likely that many project sites within the species' ranges will contain multiple habitat types (e.g., nesting and overwintering), it may not always be possible to use seasonal work restrictions to completely avoid impacts to the candidate bumble bee species."

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife also identified habitat management, pesticide use, grazing activities, prescribed or planned burns, and even directly managing bee colonies as other tactics available for those trying to protect the pollinators.

All of those tactics rely on voluntary reporting and expert field surveys noted the report, but are steps that are now consolidated in this month's report for those interested in preserving these fascinating insects into the future.

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