An issue has recently been observed
in which the ranges of bumblebee habitats in Europe and North America have been
shrinking. This is supposedly due to
climate change with temperatures rising at lower latitudes. Although bumblebees cannot thrive in hot
regions, environmentalists have observed that the creatures are not moving to
higher latitudes in search of more temperate habitats.
Some environmentalists claim that
bumblebee colonies must be very large in order to migrate to different regions
while others believe that a viable solution to attract bumblebees northward
(out of their shrinking habitats) is for humans to plant bumblebee-friendly
plants to support a movement of the bees toward more temperate homes. People are also encouraged to go to bumblebeewatch.org
to report bumblebee sightings in North America.
While these solutions to the
diminishing habitats seem easy, a major barrier would be participation. Many people would not know to plant
bumblebee-friendly flora and track bees on the interactive website and others
may not care to do so. In my opinion,
this is a clear problem that should be fixed, but I feel that the solutions
presented are simply implausible due to such limited awareness and
participation.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/bumblebees-are-being-bumped-climate-change-scientists-say-n389041
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/bumblebees-are-being-bumped-climate-change-scientists-say-n389041
Barrier to Similar Solutions
ReplyDeleteI was drawn to your article due to the fact that our topics are very similar, in the aspect of declining populations. Although your problem may not be caused by greenhouse gases, it appears that the center to both of our problems is due to temperature rises. I agree that both of these problems are much understood and that they should be dealt with swiftly. However, as already stated, our solutions are confronted by participation by others, whether it be on a local scale or an international scale.
Possible Causes of Declining Population
DeleteThrough further examination of the diminishing bumblebee population, I have found that environmentalists studying this phenomenon have proposed two possible variables contributing to the decline: rising temperature due to greenhouse gas emissions and unseasonably warm temperatures. I have, therefore, concluded that like the declining polar bear population in your article, the declining bumblebee population is somewhat fueled by mankind's enormous emission of greenhouse gases.