The count of non-managed bee types in Europe experiencing disappearance has more than doubled over the past decade, whereas the count of endangered butterfly types has close to doubled.
This critical situation for crucial pollinators was revealed by scientific assessments for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list, which found that at least over 170 bee types out of nearly two thousand were facing extinction in Europe.
The number of butterfly types threatened with extinction in Europe has grown from over thirty-five to 65 since the previous assessment, carried out 14 years ago. One species, the large white of Madeira (Pieris wollastoni) has now been classified as extinct.
Apart from their visual charm and cultural value, pollinating species like bees along with butterflies are lifelines for our physical condition, our food supplies and our economies – maintaining the fruits, veggies and seeds that feed us,” stated the IUCN’s director general. “The latest assessments of the European red list reveal major obstacles, with risks growing for butterfly species and essential native bee species.”
The causes of the quick recent decreases are the continuing damage or destruction of natural habitats caused by intensive agriculture and abandoned land, wetland drainage, livestock overgrazing, and the utilization of pesticides and fertilisers including neonicotinoid chemicals. The fragmentation of pollinator-friendly habitat substantially boosts the threat of extinctions at local level.
Global warming is also revealed to be a primary risk: 52% of all at-risk butterflies in European nations are imperilled by the climate crisis – about double the number as a ten years ago.
Up to ninety percent of blooming plants in European nations depend on insect pollination, as per the wild bee assessment’s lead coordinator. “Unfortunately, native bee groups are in drastic decline and cannot readily be substituted by managed bee colonies,” he said. “If native bees die out, many native plants might be threatened too – of which bloom-filled grasslands and beautiful orchid species are just a couple of instances.”
Fifteen species of bumblebees, which perform a vital function in pollinating legumes like peas, beans, peanuts and clover, and fourteen varieties of cellophane bee types, famous for fertilizing trees such as willows along with red maples, are now listed as threatened. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee exclusive to the continent and the single type of this genus in the European continent, is now assessed as critically endangered – the scientific category closest to disappearance in the wild.
Butterfly types that are solely present on mountain tops are highly susceptible to global heating as they need to move uphill as their environments become hotter but in the end have no room left. In the southern part of Spain, the grayling of Nevada and the Andalusian anomalous blue are among above 40 percent of European endemics (solely present in Europe) facing extinction.
In the Mediterranean area, types such as the highly at-risk grayling of Karpathos are imperilled by extreme drought and wildfires.
At the same time, in the Arctic region, global heating is leading to the tree line to advance northwards by dozens of meters each year, with scrub taking over marsh and tundra. Warmer conditions also mean caribou can no more cross the ice sheets to graze northern grasslands and maintain them clear. Eight butterfly species are at risk of extinction in this area, including Freyja’s fritillary butterfly and the ringlet of the Arctic.
“The greatest environment for all these pollinating insects is flower-rich grassland and that is vanishing rapidly across the European continent because of all these reasons,” said a lead coordinator for the butterfly assessment. “The encouraging aspect is that so many citizens are aware now and there’s a lot more consciousness. Under the EU’s nature restoration regulation, all member states have to turn around the decrease in pollinators by twenty-thirty, and they are going to have to start doing something. There are landowners who are involved. Let’s hope they can receive the encouragements that will support them on their way.”
According to the coordinator, there is “easy opportunities” in terms of steps for pollinating species which won’t reduce food production – and may enhance it – such as agricultural producers developing bloom-filled edges around their fields.
the EU’s environment commissioner, described the protection status of wild bees, butterflies and other pollinators as “critical”.
“Immediate and joint measures is necessary to confront this threat. In collaboration with member states, the EU Commission has put in place an EU-wide observation system for pollinators based on the EU nature restoration regulation, which will help to track our advancement. Now, we need to concentrate on execution and cooperation with member states to protect our pollinators,” she said.
The publication of the bee and butterfly assessments comes after the first European-wide evaluation of hoverflies, another essential pollinating insect category. Released in 2022, it disclosed that over one-third of all hoverfly types in the European continent were threatened with extinction.
