Hidden canopy bee in Fiji lost 99% of its population
Edwards TA, Esquerré D, Johnston NP, Galvin S, Maxwell NL
Pollinators
The tiny pollinators working the treetops you never look up at are vanishing just as fast as the showy ones you do notice, and this bee's collapse is a warning sign for canopy pollinators everywhere, including the ones quietly visiting flowers above your own backyard.
Scientists studied a small, rarely seen bee that lives in the forest canopy of Fiji and found something alarming hidden in its genes: the population has shrunk by roughly 99% since Europeans arrived on the islands. The bee is now squeezed into a tiny sliver of high-elevation forest, likely pushed out of lowland areas by habitat loss, an invasive tree, cyclones, and competition from other pollinators. The researchers say this kind of decline in hard-to-study canopy bees might be happening worldwide, we just haven't been looking.
Key Findings
Genomic demographic reconstruction revealed an estimated 81.6%-99.9% decline in effective population size of Hylaeus navai since European colonization, with a best estimate near 99%
Population size dropped by 61%, 76%, and 82% across three separate 10-year periods, alongside low heterozygosity and elevated inbreeding indicating a genetic bottleneck
Species distribution modeling shows suitable habitat covers only 1.4%-2.4% of Fiji's land area, with the bee now largely restricted to high-elevation forest and displaced from historic lowland sites
chevron_right Technical Summary
Genetic analysis of a rare Fijian bee shows its population has crashed by about 99% since European colonization, pushing it into high-elevation forest refuges and making a strong case for listing it as Critically Endangered.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Genomics Reveal Population Crash and Range Contraction in Elusive Fijian Hylaeus Bees.
The conservation of pollinators is of particular interest due to their keystone role in ecosystem function, but is hindered by systematic geographic and methodological biases such that baseline dat...
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