The total of wild bee types in the European continent experiencing disappearance has over doubled over the past decade, while the total of endangered butterfly has almost doubled.
This critical situation for crucial pollinators was revealed by scientific studies for the IUCN red list, which found that at least over 170 bee varieties out of 1,928 were facing extinction in Europe.
The total of butterfly species at risk of extinction in the European continent has grown from over thirty-five to sixty-five since the earlier research, performed over a decade past. One type, the Madeiran large white butterfly (Pieris wollastoni) has now been confirmed extinct.
“Beyond their beauty and cultural value, pollinating species like bees and butterfly species are lifelines for our health, our food chains and our economic systems – sustaining the produce, vegetables and seeds that feed us,” said Grethel Aguilar. “The most recent European red list assessments reveal major obstacles, with dangers growing for butterfly species and crucial wild bee species.”
The causes of the quick recent decreases are the ongoing damage or destruction of natural habitats caused by intensive agriculture and land abandonment, wetland drainage, livestock overgrazing, and the application of chemical fertilisers and pesticides including neonicotinoid pesticides. The fragmentation of environments suitable for pollinators substantially boosts the danger of extinctions at local level.
Global heating is also revealed to be a major threat: Fifty-two percent of all threatened butterfly types in Europe are endangered by the climate crisis – roughly twice as many as a ten years ago.
Nearly ninety percent of flowering plants in Europe depend on pollination by animals, as per the lead coordinator of the wild bee assessment. “Unfortunately, wild bee populations are in severe drop and are not easily replaceable by managed bee colonies,” he said. “If wild bees die out, many wild plants might be at risk too – of which meadows rich in flowers and lovely orchid types are just a few examples.”
Fifteen species of bumblebee types, which play a crucial role in aiding the pollination of legumes like peas, beans, peanuts and clover, and fourteen varieties of cellophane bees, recognized for aiding tree pollination such as willows along with red maples, are now classified as threatened. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee exclusive to the mainland and the only species of this genus group in the European continent, is now evaluated as critically endangered – the scientific category nearest to dying out in natural habitats.
Butterfly types that are exclusively located on high-altitude areas are highly susceptible to global heating as they need to move uphill as their environments become more heated but eventually exhaust available space. In Spain’s southern region, the Nevada grayling butterfly and the anomalous blue of Andalusia are among over forty percent of European endemics (exclusive to Europe) at risk of extinction.
In the Mediterranean area, species such as the highly at-risk Karpathos grayling butterfly are threatened by extreme drought and wildfires.
In the meantime, in the Arctic Circle, global heating is causing the forest boundary to advance northwards by dozens of meters each year, with bushes encroaching on wetlands and tundra. Warmer conditions also mean reindeer can no longer cross the frozen water to feed on Arctic grasslands and keep them open. Eight types of butterflies are facing extinction in this region, including the fritillary of Freyja and the Arctic ringlet.
“The greatest environment for all these pollinating species is flower-rich grassland and that is vanishing rapidly across the European continent because of all these factors,” stated Martin Warren. “The good news is that so many people are concerned now and there’s a lot more consciousness. Under the European Union nature restoration law, all participating nations have to turn around the decrease in pollinating species by the year 2030, and they are going to have to start doing something. There are property owners who are engaged. It is hoped they can obtain the encouragements that will help them on their way.”
As per Martin Warren, there is “low-hanging fruit” in terms of steps for pollinating species which won’t reduce agricultural output – and could improve it – such as agricultural producers developing flower-rich margins around their farmland.
the EU’s environment commissioner, portrayed the protection status of native bees, butterflies and additional pollinators as “dire”.
“Urgent and collective action is needed to address this danger. In collaboration with member countries, the Commission of the European Union has implemented an European Union-wide monitoring system for pollinators based on the EU nature restoration regulation, which will help to track our development. Now, we need to focus on implementation and partnership with member countries to protect our pollinating species,” she said.
The release of the evaluations of bees along with butterflies is subsequent to the first Europe-wide evaluation of hoverflies, an additional vital pollinating insect category. Released in twenty-twenty-two, it showed that thirty-seven percent of all hoverfly varieties in Europe were facing extinction.
