The number of wild bee types in Europe facing dying out has over doubled in the last ten years, while the count of at-risk butterfly has nearly doubled.
This critical situation for vital pollinating insects was disclosed by scientific assessments for the IUCN red list, which determined that at least 172 bee species out of 1,928 were facing extinction in European nations.
The count of butterfly types threatened with extinction in Europe has increased from thirty-seven to sixty-five since the earlier research, performed 14 years ago. One species, the Madeiran large white (Pieris wollastoni) has now been confirmed extinct.
Apart from their aesthetic appeal and cultural value, pollinating insects like bees and butterfly species are lifelines for our health, our food supplies and our economies – sustaining the fruits, veggies and seeds that sustain us,” commented the IUCN’s director general. “The newest assessments of the European red list reveal significant difficulties, with dangers mounting for butterfly types and vital non-managed bee types.”
The reasons of the rapid recent declines are the continuing destruction or damage of living environments caused by intensive agriculture and deserted farmland, draining wetlands, excessive grazing by animals, and the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides including neonicotinoids. The breaking up of habitat friendly to pollinators greatly increases the threat of disappearances in specific areas.
Global heating is also shown to be a major threat: Fifty-two percent of all at-risk butterfly types in the European continent are imperilled by the climate crisis – roughly twice as many as a previous decade.
Nearly ninety percent of flowering plants in European nations require animal pollination, as per the wild bee assessment’s lead coordinator. “Unfortunately, non-managed bee populations are in sharp decrease and are not easily replaceable by domesticated hives,” he said. “If non-managed bees vanish, many native plants might be threatened too – of which meadows rich in flowers and attractive orchid varieties are just a couple of instances.”
Fifteen species of bumblebees, which have an essential part in fertilizing peas, beans, peanuts and clover, and fourteen varieties of cellophane bee types, recognized for aiding tree pollination such as willow trees and red maples, are now categorized as at-risk. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee exclusive to the European continent and the single type of this genus in Europe, is now classified as critically at risk – the research category closest to dying out in natural habitats.
Butterflies that are exclusively located on high-altitude areas are especially at risk to climate change as they have to climb upward as their habitats become warmer but eventually exhaust available space. In southern Spain, the grayling of Nevada and the Andalusian anomalous blue are among more than 40% of types unique to Europe (solely present in Europe) facing extinction.
In the Mediterranean, types such as the severely threatened grayling of Karpathos are threatened by intense drought and wildfires.
In the meantime, in the Arctic Circle, climate change is resulting in the forest boundary to move north by tens of metres each year, with scrub taking over marsh and tundra. Warmer conditions also mean Arctic deer can not anymore cross the ice sheets to browse Arctic meadows and prevent them from overgrowing. Eight types of butterflies are facing extinction in this zone, including Freyja’s fritillary butterfly and the ringlet of the Arctic.
“The greatest living space for all these pollinating insects is flower-rich grassland and that is disappearing very fast throughout European nations because of all these factors,” said Martin Warren. “The positive thing is that so many individuals are concerned now and there’s a lot more consciousness. Under the EU nature restoration legislation, all participating nations have to reverse the decrease in pollinating species by twenty-thirty, and they are going to have to begin taking action. There are landowners who are interested. We hope they can obtain the incentives that will help them on their way.”
As per Warren, there is “easy opportunities” in terms of action for pollinating species which won’t reduce food production – and might boost it – such as growers developing flower-rich margins around their cultivated areas.
EU commissioner for environment, characterized the conservation status of wild bees, butterflies and other pollinators as “severe”.
“Immediate and joint measures is required to address this danger. Together with member states, the EU Commission has implemented an EU-wide tracking system for pollinating species based on the EU nature restoration law, which will assist in monitoring our advancement. Now, we need to prioritize execution and partnership with participating nations to protect our pollinating species,” she said.
The publication of the bee and butterfly assessments follows the initial European-wide study on hoverflies, a further essential pollinator group. Released in 2022, it showed that 37% of all hoverfly types in Europe were threatened with extinction.
