Excerpts from new article

> Since there are no global long- term datasets of bee diversity, we analyzed historical occurrence data from collections and observations gathered by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility [GBIF] and found that the number of bee species worldwide has been steadily decreasing since the 1990s as a result of either concerted changes in data- gathering strategies or, most likely, an actual global decline in bee diversity. ...  GBIF is certainly not a source of systematically collected data, and this should be borne in mind when interpreting the results of our analyses.

> While the inherent heterogeneity and biases of aggregated datasets such as those offered by GBIF may make them unreliable as a direct (i.e., unfiltered or uncorrected) data source of predictive models, they can still be used within a hypothesis-driven framework to test whether bees (or any other taxon) as a group are declining worldwide. ...  Our analysis supports the hypothesis that we are undergoing a global decline in bee diversity that needs the immediate attention of governments and international institutions. ... Slowing down and even reversing habitat destruction and land conversion to intensive uses, implementing environmentally friendly schemes in agricultural and urban settings, and creating programs to re-flower our world are urgently required.

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It is interesting that they state that this database cannot be used as is, and must be interpreted, they leave themselves wide open to the suggestion that they have introduced biases of their own, to support their own conclusions.

PLB

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