The number of wild bee species in Europe experiencing dying out has increased twofold over the past decade, while the total of endangered butterfly species has nearly doubled.
This dire scenario for crucial pollinators was disclosed by research studies for the IUCN red list, which established that at least 172 bee types out of 1,928 were facing extinction in Europe.
The count of butterflies facing extinction in the European continent has grown from over thirty-five to over sixty since the last study, carried out a decade and a half ago. One type, the large white of Madeira (Pieris wollastoni) has now been classified as extinct.
Apart from their aesthetic appeal and cultural value, pollinating insects like bees along with butterflies are lifelines for our well-being, our food chains and our economic systems – sustaining the fruits, vegetables and seeds that feed us,” stated the IUCN’s director general. “The newest European red list evaluations reveal major obstacles, with risks increasing for butterfly types and essential non-managed bee varieties.”
The factors of the rapid recent declines are the ongoing harm or degradation of natural habitats caused by intensive agriculture and land abandonment, wetland drainage, overgrazing by livestock, and the use of pesticides and fertilisers including neonicotinoids. The fragmentation of habitat friendly to pollinators significantly raises the threat of extinctions at local level.
Global heating is also revealed to be a significant danger: Over half of all endangered butterfly types in the European continent are imperilled by the climate emergency – roughly double the number as a ten years ago.
Nearly ninety percent of plants that flower in European nations rely on animal pollination, according to the wild bee assessment’s lead coordinator. “Sadly, wild bee colonies are in drastic decline and are not easily replaceable by domesticated hives,” he said. “If native bees vanish, many wild plants might be threatened too – of which bloom-filled grasslands and attractive orchid varieties are just a couple of instances.”
Fifteen types of bumblebee types, which play a crucial role in fertilizing legumes like peas, beans, peanuts and clover, and 14 types of cellophane bee species, famous for pollinating trees such as willows and red maples, are now categorized as at-risk. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee species found only in the continent and the sole species of this genus in European nations, is now classified as critically at risk – the scientific classification closest to extinction in the wild.
Butterfly types that are only found on high-altitude areas are particularly vulnerable to global warming as they need to move uphill as their habitats become hotter but in the end run out of space. In Spain’s southern region, the grayling of Nevada and the Andalusian anomalous blue butterfly are among above 40 percent of types unique to Europe (solely present in Europe) facing extinction.
In the Mediterranean area, varieties such as the highly at-risk grayling of Karpathos are endangered by intense drought and wildfires.
At the same time, in the Arctic region, global heating is causing the timberline to shift northward by tens of metres each year, with scrub invading wetlands and tundra. Higher temperatures also mean caribou can no longer cross the ice to feed on Arctic meadows and maintain them clear. Eight types of butterflies are threatened with extinction in this area, including the fritillary of Freyja and the Arctic ringlet butterfly.
“The biggest living space for all these pollinating species is bloom-filled grassy areas and that is declining quickly in the European continent because of all these factors,” stated one of the lead coordinators of the butterflies assessment. “The encouraging aspect is that so many people are concerned now and there’s a lot more consciousness. Under the European Union nature restoration law, all member countries have to turn around the decrease in pollinators by 2030, and they are going to have to start doing something. There are landowners who are interested. Let’s hope they can get the encouragements that will support them on their way.”
According to Martin Warren, there is “readily achievable actions” in terms of steps for pollinating insects which will not lower food production – and may enhance it – such as growers establishing bloom-filled edges around their fields.
Jessika Roswall, described the preservation condition of native bees, butterflies and additional pollinators as “dire”.
“Urgent and collective action is required to address this danger. In collaboration with member countries, the EU Commission has implemented an European Union-wide tracking system for pollinators based on the EU nature restoration law, which will aid in following our development. Now, we need to concentrate on implementation and cooperation with participating nations to preserve our pollinators,” she said.
The publication of the bee and butterfly assessments follows the pioneering Europe-wide study on hoverflies, a further crucial group of pollinators. Published in twenty-twenty-two, it revealed that thirty-seven percent of all hoverfly varieties in the European continent were threatened with extinction.
