American bumblebee disappearing in Midwest

WASHINGTON -- The American bumblebee seems to be missing in the Midwest.

Two studies in Thursday's journal Science conclude that wild bees, such as the American bumblebee, are increasingly important in pollinating our plants. In the Midwest, it seems to be dwindling in an alarming manner.

A naturalist in the 1890s meticulously collected and categorized insects in Carlinville in Southern Illinois. More than a century later, Laura Burkle of Montana State University went back to see what changed. She could find only half the number of species that had been there. She found only one American bumblebee.

Scientists suspect a combination of disease and parasites for the dwindling of wild and domesticated bees.