The flight of the bumble bee: why are they dissapearing?

Reference:

                        http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/08/11/the_flight_of_the_bumble_bee_why_are_they_disappearing_.html

Summary:

            The A.U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) is trying to figure out what is causing the decrease in bumble bee populations. Bumble bees, like honey bees, are special pollinators of native plants and are used to pollinate green house crops like peppers and tomatoes.

            In the late 1990s greenhouse pollination began to suffer from disease problems and companies stopped rearing them. Bumble bee species of other populations are decreasing as well. Many greenhouse growers use commercially produced Bombus impatiens a generalist pollinator native to the Midwest. Impatiens escaped though and formed wild colonies in the Western United States. They have not figured out why they are decreasing yet but are still researching.

           

Critique:

            I feel the researchers should ask the greenhouse owners how they think the bumble bees got out or why they went and created their own wild colony. The researchers should find more ways to detect the patterns of the bumble bees and where they traveled and why they think they did.

Impact:

             Loosing bumble bees that pollinate the greenhouses could be a big loss to us. These bumble bees that pollinate our greenhouses are a very important part of how the plants grow. We could see a decrease in peppers and tomatoes if the population of bumble keeps decreasing.