Wilson wrote:
Gunner posted this:

Since you both expressed a concern on this subject,..

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUST...3?pageNumber=1

Researchers find "alarming" decline in bumblebees
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 3, 2011 3:36pm
EST

Genetic tests show that the four affected bumblebee species are inbred
and other tests implicate a parasite called Nosema bombi, Cameron*
said...

They documented a 96 percent decline in the numbers of the four
species, and said their range had shrunk by as much as 87 percent. As
with honeybees, a pathogen is partly involved, but the researchers
also found evidence of inbreeding caused by habitat loss....

*Dr Cameron: http://www.life.illinois.edu/entomol...y/cameron.html

Thanks Gunner. The idea of a bumblebee being inbred sounds like a result of
population decline as opposed to being the source of the decline. All
creatures would inbreed if their numbers declined too much as a mechanism of
survival.

Let's see if I have the likely chain of events right. Bumble bees are a
wild pollinator. Honey bees are a domesticated pollinator. Because
honey bees are domesticated they are widly used. Because honey bees
are widely used a lot of them have gone ferral. Ferral honey bee
colonies compete with bumble bees. That competition has reduced their
population. No wonder I know of folks who will destroy any ferral honey
bee nest they find yet I also know of bee keepers who will gather any
ferral nest and use it to reduce inbreeding in their commercial bee
stocks.