The total of native bee species in Europe experiencing extinction has increased twofold during the previous ten-year period, while the number of endangered butterfly types has nearly doubled.
This pressing issue for vital pollinating insects was unveiled by scientific assessments for the IUCN red list, which established that at least over 170 bee types out of over 1900 were at risk of extinction in European nations.
The number of butterfly species at risk of extinction in the European continent has grown from 37 to over sixty since the last study, conducted over a decade past. One species, the Madeiran large white butterfly (Pieris wollastoni) has now been declared extinct.
In addition to their aesthetic appeal and cultural value, pollinating species like bees and butterfly species are crucial elements for our well-being, our food systems and our economic systems – maintaining the produce, vegetables and seeds that sustain us,” said the IUCN director general. “The most recent European red list assessments reveal major obstacles, with dangers growing for butterfly species and vital native bee types.”
The reasons of the quick recent decreases are the ongoing harm or degradation of living environments caused by intensive agriculture and land abandonment, wetland drainage, overgrazing by livestock, and the use of fertilisers and pesticides including neonicotinoids. The fragmentation of environments suitable for pollinators significantly raises the threat of extinctions at local level.
Global warming is also demonstrated to be a primary risk: 52% of all endangered butterfly types in European nations are endangered by the climate change crisis – about twice as many as a ten years ago.
Up to 90% of flowering plants in European nations depend on insect pollination, according to the lead coordinator of the wild bee assessment. “Unfortunately, non-managed bee groups are in severe drop and are not easily replaceable by managed colonies,” he said. “If non-managed bees vanish, many native plants might be threatened too – of which flower-rich meadows and lovely orchid types are just a handful of illustrations.”
15 varieties of bumblebee types, which perform a vital function in aiding the pollination of crops such as peas, beans, peanuts and clover, and 14 types of cellophane bee types, famous for fertilizing trees such as willow trees and red maples, are now classified as threatened. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee type exclusive to the continent and the single type of this genus group in European nations, is now evaluated as severely threatened – the research category nearest to disappearance in the wild.
Butterfly species that are exclusively located on mountain peaks are particularly vulnerable to global heating as they must ascend higher as their habitats become hotter but ultimately have no room left. In southern Spain, the grayling of Nevada and the Andalusian anomalous blue are among above 40 percent of species endemic to Europe (solely present in Europe) threatened with extinction.
In the Mediterranean region, varieties such as the highly at-risk grayling of Karpathos are threatened by severe dry conditions and fires.
Meanwhile, in the Arctic Circle, global warming is leading to the forest boundary to move north by dozens of meters each year, with scrub encroaching on wetlands and tundra. Warmer conditions also mean caribou can not anymore cross the ice sheets to graze northern grasslands and keep them open. 8 butterfly varieties are facing extinction in this area, including Freyja’s fritillary butterfly and the Arctic ringlet butterfly.
“The greatest environment for all these pollinating species is flower-rich grassland and that is declining quickly in Europe because of all these factors,” said one of the lead coordinators of the butterflies assessment. “The encouraging aspect is that so many citizens are concerned now and there’s a lot more understanding. Under the EU’s nature restoration regulation, all member states have to halt the decline in pollinators by twenty-thirty, and they are going to have to start doing something. There are land holders who are engaged. We hope they can receive the motivations that will help them on their way.”
According to the coordinator, there is “low-hanging fruit” in terms of steps for pollinating species which will not decrease food production – and may enhance it – such as agricultural producers establishing flower-rich margins around their farmland.
EU commissioner for environment, portrayed the preservation condition of wild bees, butterflies and other pollinators as “critical”.
“Urgent and collective action is necessary to confront this risk. Together with participating nations, the EU Commission has implemented an European Union-wide observation system for pollinating species based on the European Union nature restoration legislation, which will assist in monitoring our advancement. Now, we need to focus on execution and cooperation with participating nations to safeguard our pollinating species,” she said.
The publication of the evaluations of bees along with butterflies comes after the pioneering EU-wide study on hoverflies, another crucial group of pollinators. Issued in 2022, it disclosed that thirty-seven percent of all hoverfly species in Europe were at risk of extinction.
