Translating research into action; bumblebee conservation as a case study

First paragraph: Bumblebees belong to the genus Bombus, which comprises about250 species, largely confined to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. They arewholly dependent on flowers for their energetic and developmental requirements.Most are social species, with nest sizes varying from 50 to 400 workers. Assuch, they have attracted considerable attention regarding their role aspollinators. There is a growing body of evidence that bumblebees have declinedin Europe, North America and Asia in recent decades because of multiple causesprobably including habitat loss, impacts of pesticides, competition from non-native species and the introduction of non-native diseases (Goulson, Lye &Darvill 2008a; Williams & Osborne 2009). Recent health problems affectinghoneybees and a perception that other pollinators may be declining has led toserious concern that we might be facing a global ‘pollination crisis' affectingpollination of crops and wildflowers (e.g. Aizen & Harder 200