uOttawa Biology study finds climate change is waking bumblebees earlier from winter hibernation, putting the species at risk with impact on human agricultural crops.
uOttawa Biology study finds climate change is waking bumblebees earlier from winter hibernation, putting the species at risk with impact on human agricultural crops.
New research from the University of Ottawa has found the earlier arrival of spring in parts of North America negatively impacts bumblebee survival, which could potentially threaten bee-pollinated agricultural crops and other plant sources.
Published in Biological Conservation, this paper is among the first to study climate change’s influence on seasonal weather changes in relation to bumblebees. Researchers from the Faculty of Science found the bees are not correspondingly shifting their activity timing earlier in the year, threatening their ability to find food sources or causing bees to miss out on them altogether.
“This study represents crucial groundwork for understanding that climate can impact the seasonal timing of biological events,” says lead author Olga Koppel, a PhD student in the Faculty of Science’s Department of Biology.
Read more at University of Ottawa
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