Now that we know how it feels being isolated at one place. Can we help some endangered species to be free from years of isolation?

Volunteers were examining a pale grey-yellow coloured bee with a reddish-orange tail in a habitat of Thames Estuary. Once widespread in the UK and now very rare to spot Shrill carder bee is having a risk of extinction. 

Shrill carder bee used to be present in around England and Wales now exists only at five isolated areas as the sixth remote location is also thought to have been lost in the last decade. The species is showing a further decline as fragmented habitats are forcing them to interbreed. 

Buglife, Communication director, Paul Hetherington said, “The Shrill carder bee is a very good all-round pollinator, so its rapid decline is emblematic of the situation faced by all our pollinators.” It is necessary to act if we want to protect other bees as well.

The primary reason behind the decline of Shrill Carder bee is a fragmentation of the habitat. Fragmentation means a meadow is not well connected to another meadow which also known as isolated habitat. Such fragmented habitat leads to isolation of the wildlife depending on them.

According to the leading national expert in bumblebee and pollinator ecology, prof Dave Goulson, fragmentation of habitats forces the insects to breed among themselves, which leads to the further isolation of particular species. 

According to the bumblebee conservation trust, most of the rare bumblebee species cannot forage more than 1km from their nest and require nectar for the energy. They need an abundance of diverse wildflowers. Therefore, it is important to create flower-rich habitats that are well connected. 

Because of changed agricultural practices and development in an urban area, habitat fragmentation took place. Fragmentation results in a further decline of the bees’ population as they lose genetic diversity over the period. After a few generations, every individual in that habitat is related to each other, having the same genes affects their fitness which led to a further decline of the pollinators, Dave said in a report.

To stop the decline of shrill carder bee, Bumblebee conservation has launched a ten-year conservation plan with Buglife and few other organisations during lockdown. In this plan, the trust is going to work with garden owners to create a network of flower-rich landscapes. They are also spreading awareness about the importance of the bee to educate citizens.

Along with garden owners, they are pinning their hopes on officials as well. The plan is being shared with relevant officials and politicians including ministers and, those who represent areas where the bee can be found. Including politicians and officials is crucial as policy development and implementation is in their hand, he added.

According to Bumblebee conservation trust, shrill carder bee has declined in the population and is isolated but is not the only bee which is facing a high risk of extinction. At present, there are 25 species of bumblebee in the UK, and among them, Cullum’s bumblebee and the Apple bumblebee are already extinct. Seven out of remaining species are declining because of a loss of wildflower habitats and habitat isolation.

Pollinators are crucial for crop production. The communication director of Buglife Paul Hetherington said that it is estimated, pollinators are worth over 0.6 billion pounds per annum for the UK’s farming economy alone and they are doing a free service to us. Paul said, “We will have to keep pouring chemicals, fertilizers and hand pollination into those areas or importing beehives like America; these things will happen if we don’t look after our pollinators.”

According to Dave Goulson, if we want to stop the further extinction, we need a habitat network, and it includes gardens, verges, council-owned spaces and farmland to create a network throughout the country that will support the invertebrates.