The total of wild bee types in Europe facing dying out has more than doubled in the last ten years, while the total of at-risk butterfly has nearly doubled.
This dire scenario for crucial pollinators was unveiled by research studies for the red list of threatened species, which determined that at least one hundred seventy-two bee varieties out of over 1900 were threatened with extinction in European nations.
The number of butterfly species threatened with extinction in the European continent has grown from thirty-seven to sixty-five since the last study, carried out 14 years ago. One type, the large white of Madeira (Pieris wollastoni) has now been declared extinct.
“Beyond their visual charm and cultural significance, pollinators like bees and butterfly species are crucial elements for our health, our food supplies and our economic systems – sustaining the fruits, vegetables and seeds that sustain us,” commented the IUCN’s director general. “The most recent European red list evaluations reveal serious challenges, with risks mounting for butterflies and crucial non-managed bee species.”
The reasons of the swift recent drops are the persistent destruction or damage of habitats caused by farming intensification and deserted farmland, wetland drainage, livestock overgrazing, and the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides including neonicotinoid chemicals. The breaking up of pollinator-friendly habitat significantly raises the danger of extinctions at local level.
Climate change is also shown to be a major threat: 52% of all threatened butterfly species in European nations are imperilled by the climate change crisis – approximately double the number as a ten years ago.
Up to nine out of ten of flowering plants in European nations rely on insect pollination, as stated by the lead coordinator of the wild bee assessment. “Sadly, wild bee colonies are in drastic decline and cannot readily be substituted by managed colonies,” he said. “If non-managed bees disappear, many non-cultivated plants might be in danger as well – of which flower-rich meadows and lovely orchid types are just a few examples.”
Fifteen species of bumblebee species, which play a crucial role in fertilizing peas, beans, peanuts and clover, and 14 types of cellophane bees, known for pollinating trees such as willows along with red maples, are now listed as threatened. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee exclusive to the European continent and the single type of this genus group in Europe, is now classified as critically at risk – the scientific classification nearest to disappearance in the wild.
Butterfly species that are exclusively located on mountain tops are especially at risk to climate change as they need to move uphill as their environments become more heated but in the end have no room left. In Spain’s southern region, the grayling of Nevada and the Andalusian anomalous blue butterfly are among over forty percent of types unique to Europe (solely present in Europe) threatened with extinction.
In the Mediterranean, species such as the highly at-risk Karpathos grayling butterfly are threatened by severe drought and wildfires.
At the same time, in the Far North, global warming is leading to the forest boundary to shift northward by many meters each year, with scrub encroaching on bog and tundra. Warmer conditions also mean Arctic deer can not anymore cross the frozen water to graze Arctic grasslands and keep them open. 8 butterfly varieties are at risk of extinction in this region, including the fritillary of Freyja and the Arctic ringlet butterfly.
“The greatest environment for all these pollinating species is flower-rich grassland and that is vanishing rapidly throughout the European continent because of all these reasons,” stated one of the lead coordinators of the butterflies assessment. “The good news 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 decline in pollinating species by twenty-thirty, and they are going to have to begin taking action. There are property owners who are engaged. It is hoped they can obtain the encouragements that will support them on their way.”
According to the coordinator, there is “easy opportunities” in terms of measures for pollinators which will not decrease crop yields – and might boost it – such as growers establishing bloom-filled edges around their farmland.
the EU’s environment commissioner, described the conservation status of native bees, butterflies and additional pollinators as “severe”.
“Urgent and collective action is required to tackle this risk. Along with member countries, the Commission of the European Union has implemented an Europe-wide observation system for pollinators based on the European Union nature restoration legislation, which will help to track our development. Now, we need to prioritize implementation and cooperation with member countries to safeguard our pollinating insects,” she said.
The publication of the bee and butterfly assessments is subsequent to the initial Europe-wide assessment of hoverflies, another vital pollinating insect category. Published in twenty-twenty-two, it revealed that over one-third of all hoverfly varieties in European nations were facing extinction.
