While I am all for the protection of native bumble bees, I would be alert to the fact that this issue may turn into a face off between beekeepers and preservationists. 

! Here they try to make a case that honey bees could negatively impact native bees by bringing in hive beetles:

 
SEE: Thomson, D. 2004. Competitive interactions between the invasive European honey bee and native bumble bees.

> Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are not native to North America. The European honey bee was introduced to eastern North America in the early 1620’s and into California in the early 1850’s. It has long been assumed, but difficult to demonstrate, that honey bees have a negative impact on native bees through competition for floral resources. 

> Recently, Thomson (2004, 2006) conducted competition experiments on Bombus occidentalis colonies placed at three distances from introduced honey bee hives. Thomson found decreased foraging activity, especially for pollen, and lowered reproductive success in Bombus colonies nearest the Apis hives. Evans (2001) found the same results in a similar study with B. impatiens colonies in Minnesota. However, honey bees have been in eastern North America for over 350 years and in the west for more than 150 years without noticeable declines in bumble bee populations over large portions of their ranges. It is likely that the effects noted by Thomson (2004, 2006) and Evans (2001) are local in space and time and are most pronounced where floral resources are limited and large numbers of commercial honey bee colonies are introduced. Due consideration should be given to when, where, and how many honey bee colonies are moved into areas with sensitive bumble bee populations.

> Although honey bees may not pose a significant threat to bumble bee populations through competition for floral resources in most cases, honey bees may threaten bumble bee populations through carrying and spreading pests and diseases to which bumble bees are susceptible. The invasive pest, the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) was introduced to the United States in the late 1990’s (Elzen et al. 1999). While honey bees are the small hive beetle’s primary host, the beetle has been shown to also infest and cause damage in bumble bee colonies (Ambrose et al. 2000; Spiewok and Neumann 2006). The infestation rate of small hive beetles in bumble bee colonies is not currently known. Small hive beetles use commercial honey bee colonies as hosts, and continue to spread throughout North America as commercial honey bees are transported for crop pollination. Small hive beetles have a great destructive capability and could cause great harm to native bumble bee populations.

Excerpted from:  Status Review of Three Formerly Common Species of Bumble Bee in the Subgenus Bombus
Prepared by: Elaine Evans (The Xerces Society), Dr. Robbin Thorp (U.C. Davis), Sarina Jepsen (The Xerces Society), and Scott Hoffman Black (The Xerces Society)

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