bumble bee species in North America and Europe decreased unable to adapt to climate change, indicating that some animals will not be able to change their habitat to survive, according to a study published in the journal Science ‘.
These insects are not migrating their habitats north to avoid the rising temperatures and more southerly populations suffer losses of up to 300 kilometers in both North America and Europe.
“This study is important because it reinforces the idea that some species will not be able to change their habitats to adapt to climate change,” said Sacha Vigneri, associate journal Science editor.
One of the effects of climate change that has been observed in many animal species is the tendency to change their geographical habitats towards the polar region or higher elevations in response to temperature rise .
“But for species that evolved in cold conditions, such as bumblebees, climate change may be the kind of threat that really do disappear,” warned Jeremy Kerr, lead author the study and professor of biology at the University of Ottawa (Canada).
To develop this research, Kerr and his team generated a database of geographical observations of 67 species bumblebees in Europe and North America between 1901 and 2010.
With that information, compared changes of habitats of species of bees to northern latitudes in the last three decades with the between 1901 and 1974 period, when the climate was cooler.
What they discovered, to his surprise, it is that in the hottest recent decades bumblebees and have not changed their habitats north to survive. At the same time, they found that within these habitats, established populations further south moved to the highest and coldest parts.
“We may have to help these species to establish new colonies in North and continental scales, “the researcher said Kerr.
Scientists also studied whether some of the factors behind climate change, such as land use or pesticides, influence habitat loss of bees in North America and Europe.
Their conclusion is that the decline of these species is just as likely, pesticides are applied or not applied, and regardless of the intensity of farming. The determining factor for the decrease in the populations of bumblebees are frequent and marked changes in climate such as heat waves.
“These phenomena can strike hard at these species, and this is a threat that is already having consequences, “Kerr said. “Climate change has trapped bumblebee species, the result is serious loss of species in the hottest areas in the two continents,” added the researcher.
This team of scientists his article called ‘Science’ to continue investigating how climate change affects species of bumblebees. At the same time, it underlines the importance of conserving these species of animals around the world and prevent them from extinction in the future.
EFE
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