Patagonia may lose its only native bumblebee
species due to invasions by alien bee species sanctioned by government policy.
In a paper published today in Journal of
Applied Ecology, Marcelo Aizen from the Universidad Nacional del Comahue,
Argentina, and colleagues from four countries draw attention to the severe
conservation, economic and political consequences of intentional species
introductions supported by government policies.
They illustrate these consequences based on
the recent spread of invasive European bumblebees, especially the
buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) from Chile to
southern Argentina.
Chile formally allows continuous importation
of alien bumblebees to pollinate agricultural crops. Since 1997, this policy has authorized importation of more than a million bumblebee
colonies. During 2015 alone, more than 200,000 colonies and queens were
imported.
Unfortunately, bumblebees are mobile and do
not respect international boundaries, even those established along major
geographic barriers. As a consequence, the alien species have spread widely in
Chile and Argentina, and one species is on the verge of entering Bolivia and
Perú. The invasion of Argentina across the Andes and its unintended
consequences have occurred despite Argentina having banned importation of
non-native bumblebees.
The most serious biological impact of this
invasion is the decline of the Patagonian giant bumblebee (Bombus dahlbomii), the only native bumble bee in southern South
America and one of the world's largest bumblebees.
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