{"id":223938,"date":"2025-10-20T10:13:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T20:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=223938"},"modified":"2025-10-20T10:13:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T20:13:49","slug":"franklin-bumble-bee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/20\/franklin-bumble-bee\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare bumble bee\u2019s downfall began long before humans"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"bumble
A rare image of a live Franklin bumble bee on lupine at Mount Ashland, Oregon, captured in 1998 by the late Robbin W. Thorp. The photo was recently provided by Lynn Kimsey of UC<\/abbr> Davis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A rare North American bumble bee may have been on a path toward extinction long before modern human impacts, suggesting that its long-term genetic vulnerability made it especially fragile and less able to cope with both past and current environmental stresses. The findings of the new study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em><\/a> on October 20, and co-authored by a University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa researcher.<\/p>\n

\"specimen
One of the few remaining Franklin bumble bee specimens in existence, housed at the USDA<\/abbr> Agricultural Research Service\u2019s National Pollinating Insect Collection in Logan, Utah. (Photo credit: Michael Branstetter\/USDA<\/abbr>–ARS<\/abbr>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The study focused on the Franklin bumble bee, once found only in parts of Oregon and California and last seen alive in 2006. Using DNA<\/abbr> extracted from museum specimens collected over the past 40 years, scientists reconstructed the species\u2019 genetic history to understand why it disappeared.<\/p>\n

They found that the bees had very low genetic diversity and signs of inbreeding that dated back thousands of years. Population declines began during a glacial period and worsened in recent centuries, and may have been influenced by natural stressors such as drought and wildfire. Contrary to earlier hypotheses, researchers found little genetic evidence linking disease or pesticide exposure to the bee\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n

The Franklin bumble bee\u2019s small population size and limited genetic diversity left it vulnerable long before modern human impacts, making it less able to cope with environmental stresses such as drought, fire or other natural challenges.<\/p>\n

“Bumble bees are essential for pollinators of wild flowers and food crops important to human nutrition across the planet,” said study co-author Jonathan Berenguer Uhuad Koch, an associate professor and co-principal investigator in UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit<\/a> (PCSU<\/abbr>). “In Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, where native pollinators are also under pressure from habitat loss, invasive species and climate change, the study offers broader lessons on how genetic factors can shape species\u2019 resilience and extinction risk.”<\/p>\n

\"two
Jonathan Berenguer Uhuad Koch with his mentor, the late Robbin W. Thorp, during a 2012 field visit to Mount Ashland, Oregon, in search of the Franklin bumble bee. (Photo courtesy: Jonathan Berenguer Uhuad Koch)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The research also highlights the value of museum collections as a tool for modern conservation. By sequencing DNA<\/abbr> from the tissues of preserved specimens, scientists can uncover how population sizes change over time and identify which species may be most at risk in the future. The study was led by a team of researchers from multiple U.S. institutions, including UH<\/abbr> Mānoa, and underscores the importance of identifying the long-term biological and environmental factors that shape pollinator declines.<\/p>\n

Koch credited the late Robbin W. Thorp as a key mentor who inspired his career in pollinator conservation. Koch met Thorp while in graduate school and joined him in the field searching for the Franklin bumble bee, an experience that shaped his lifelong commitment to understanding and protecting endangered bee species.<\/p>\n

PCSU<\/abbr> is housed in UH<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s College of Natural Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The study focused on the Franklin bumble bee, once found only in parts of Oregon and California and last seen alive in 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":223940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[308,1467,1363,568,367,158,9],"class_list":["post-223938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-natural-sciences","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-natural-science","tag-pacific-cooperative-studies-unit","tag-publication","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/manoa-pcsu-franklin-bumble-bee.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223938"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223947,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223938\/revisions\/223947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}