Bees are now included in the list of endangered species in the United States. The federal list of the US Fish and Wildlife Service released on Friday stated that the yellow-faced bee species are now on the list of highly protected animals.
The seven yellow-faced bees from the Hylaeus species, which finds Hawaii as their most conducive habitation, used to have the highest population of bees in the US in the 1900s. However, a recent research revealed that the population of the said species dramatically dropped in years. The most recent result revealed that the yellow bee population has now fallen into an alarmingly low count.
Researchers are looking at various factors contributing to the yellow bees nearing extinction. Some of them are genetic diversity, habitat loss, the use of pesticides and wildfires; some of which beyond human control, CNN reported.
Yellow-faced bees are also endangered due to the increase in the competition they need to go through in order to survive. The presence of an invasive kind of bee originating from India is one of their strongest competitors when it comes to habitation. They tend to fight over the same nests, same plants, and even the same flowers.
Alien ants are also a threat to the yellow-faced bees' habitation. Larvae from their nest become a lovable food for these alien ants to eat.
Bees play a big role in the country's native pollination. According to Eric Lee-Mäder, pollinator program co-director at the Xerces Society an association calling out for the protection of bees, US earns up to $9 billion annually through agriculture which highly benefits from essential pollination services.
As of the moment University of Hawaii lead by Jason Graham, an entomologist from the said university is devising an artificial way of providing artificial habitation for the yellow-faced bee to preserve the remaining lives. While he sees that this step is not enough, he believes that putting them under endangered species may help in protecting them, Gizmodo reported.
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