Climate 'vice' constricts bumblebees' natural ranges - researchers

Climate change is threatening the survival of bumblebees, significantly reducing the habitats in which they can survive, researchers say. They say the natural ranges of these key pollinators are being compressed in both Europe and North America. The analysis indicates that warming is having a greater impact than pesticides or land use change. To ensure bees survive, humans may have to help move them to cooler areas, the European and American researchers add. Century of data Many creatures, including butterflies, have responded to a warming climate by moving towards the poles or towards higher ground. Bumblebees have dealt with the increasing heat by disappearing in large numbers from portions of their southern ranges, but the insects seem to have baulked at moving north.READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33442006