Franklin&#039;s bumble bee Content / Franklin&#039;s bumble bee Content for ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù en Population Decline of Franklin’s Bumble Bee Wasn’t Due to Pathogens, Museum Genomic Research Shows /blog/population-decline-franklins-bumble-bee-wasnt-due-pathogens-museum-genomic-research-shows <p><span>Franklin’s bumble bee (Bombus franklini) once inhabited a remote area spanning northern California and southern Oregon. But the bee’s numbers declined sharply after 1998 and it hasn’t been seen at all since 2006. A new study of the DNA of museum specimens, published this week in </span><a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2509749122"><span>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</span></a><span>, suggests this decline was most likely due to population bottlenecks and environmental issues such as fire and drought rather than infectious diseases.&nbsp;</span></p> October 20, 2025 - 3:38pm Andy Fell /blog/population-decline-franklins-bumble-bee-wasnt-due-pathogens-museum-genomic-research-shows