The total of wild bee species in the European continent confronting disappearance has more than doubled in the last ten years, and the count of threatened butterfly has close to doubled.
This pressing issue for vital pollinators was disclosed by scientific studies for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list, which established that at least over 170 bee species out of over 1900 were facing extinction in the European continent.
The total of butterfly types threatened with extinction in Europe has grown from 37 to 65 since the previous assessment, carried out a decade and a half ago. A single species, the Madeiran large white butterfly (Pieris wollastoni) has now been declared extinct.
Apart from their aesthetic appeal and cultural importance, pollinating species like bees and butterflies are crucial elements for our health, our food systems and our economies – sustaining the fruits, vegetables and seeds that sustain us,” said the IUCN’s director general. “The newest European red list evaluations reveal significant difficulties, with dangers mounting for butterfly species and essential native bee varieties.”
The reasons of the rapid recent declines are the persistent damage or destruction of natural habitats caused by farming intensification and land abandonment, draining of wetlands, livestock overgrazing, and the utilization of pesticides and fertilisers including neonicotinoid chemicals. The breaking up of habitat friendly to pollinators significantly raises the threat of disappearances in specific areas.
Climate change is also shown to be a primary risk: Fifty-two percent of all threatened butterflies in European nations are endangered by the climate emergency – approximately double the number as a decade ago.
Up to nine out of ten of blooming plants in European nations depend on insect pollination, according to the wild bee assessment’s lead coordinator. “Sadly, native bee groups are in severe drop and are not easily replaceable by managed colonies,” he said. “If non-managed bees vanish, many wild plants might be threatened too – of which bloom-filled grasslands and beautiful orchid species are just a couple of instances.”
Fifteen types of bumblebee species, which play a crucial role in fertilizing crops such as 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 categorized as at-risk. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee type found only in the continent and the only species of this genus group in European nations, is now assessed as critically at risk – the scientific classification most akin to disappearance in the wild.
Butterfly species that are solely present on high-altitude areas are highly susceptible to global warming as they have to climb upward as their environments become more heated but in the end exhaust available space. In the southern part of Spain, the Nevada grayling and the Andalusian anomalous blue butterfly are among over forty percent of types unique to Europe (exclusive to Europe) facing extinction.
In the Mediterranean, species such as the highly at-risk Karpathos grayling butterfly are threatened by severe dry conditions and fires.
At the same time, in the Far North, global warming is resulting in the forest boundary to advance northwards by dozens of meters each year, with underbrush invading bog and tundra. Higher temperatures also mean caribou can not anymore cross the ice to browse Arctic meadows and prevent them from overgrowing. Eight butterfly species are facing extinction in this region, including Freyja’s fritillary and the ringlet of the Arctic.
“The biggest living space for all these pollinators is flower-rich grassland and that is vanishing rapidly across the European continent because of all these elements,” remarked one of the lead coordinators of the butterflies assessment. “The good news is that so many people care now and there’s a lot more awareness. Under the European Union nature restoration law, all participating nations have to reverse the decrease in pollinating species by the year 2030, and they are going to have to initiate measures. There are land holders who are interested. We hope they can obtain the motivations that will support them on their way.”
According to Martin Warren, there is “easy opportunities” in terms of action for pollinators which won’t reduce food production – and may enhance it – such as farmers establishing flower-rich margins around their fields.
Jessika Roswall, characterized the preservation condition of wild bees, butterflies and other pollinators as “dire”.
“Immediate and joint measures is required to address this danger. In collaboration with member states, the Commission of the European Union has put in place an European Union-wide monitoring system for pollinating species based on the EU nature restoration regulation, which will aid in following our progress. Now, we need to focus on implementation and collaboration with member countries to preserve our pollinating insects,” she said.
The publication of the evaluations of bees along with butterflies is subsequent to the initial Europe-wide evaluation of hoverflies, another essential group of pollinators. Published in 2022, it revealed that thirty-seven percent of all hoverfly types in European nations were threatened with extinction.
