In the spring, the work of the bumblebees begins, one of the most important insects in existence. Without them, many plants would not be able to reproduce. But every July many of the bumblebees turn up dead on the ground. – It has long been a mystery, says Lars Ove Hansen. He is a conservator at the Museum of Natural History (UiO) and researches insects. – Very often they lie under park linden, and people have long wondered if there was toxic pollen there. Undramatic death The explanation is probably simpler than that, says Hansen. In spring, when the apple, plum and willow trees bloom, the bumblebees are newly hatched and ready to gather pollen. The bumblebees have a critical job in the summer. Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB – But when you come out in the summer, they start to get tired. And one of the trees that blooms in summer is the linden tree. Parklind is now in full bloom, and at times it is boiling with bumblebees, says the entomologist. So when they collect pollen from the linden tree, it may simply be the last thing they do. A bumblebee can live up to six weeks, so if they hatch at the beginning of June, a natural death awaits at the end of July. Lars Ove Hansen is a former leader of the Norwegian Entomological Association. Here he is on an insect hunt in Tbilisi, Georgia. Photo: Øistein Berg In an NTNU master’s thesis from 2019, 500 dead bumblebees were collected from parkland. It also did not support the theory that something poisonous explained the death. Going against the popular sugar trick In recent years there has been an abundance of tips on what you can do to increase the hop population. The wild Norwegian wildflowers are becoming rarer, among other things, due to the way flower-rich areas are being built down. This means that the bumblebees have a far smaller food dish than before. Wild wildflowers are the best thing bumblebees know, but they also like typical garden flowers. Photo: Marit Kolberg / news One of the tips for what ordinary morticians can do is to mix sugar and water and give it to bumblebees and bees that are struggling to get back on their wings. – I have very little faith in that, then. From time to time it can be too strong for them too, and if they don’t get the machinery going again, they actually become candied inside, says entomologist Hansen. – There are perhaps a few cases where it has gone well, but I don’t think that is the way to go. If they are bad, they are probably on the last verse anyway. – Might as well pave the garden, Hansen recommends those with a garden to set up a hop box. It’s like a bird box, only it’s on the ground. – I would rather recommend it than save a poor worker, that is. They are replaced all the time. The robotic lawnmower is no friend of the bumblebees. Photo: Silje-Lisette Tennøy / news He also goes hard against those who constantly cut the grass short and have robotic lawnmowers. – Then you might as well pave the entire garden. Flowers in the garden, especially wild flowers, are very good for our bumblebees. And otherwise it will be a bit too demanding to try to save each and every bumblebee, says Hansen. – Try a hop box, flowers and a varied garden.
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– Was a mystery for a long time – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
