The total of wild bee varieties in European nations facing extinction has increased twofold in the last ten years, whereas the count of at-risk butterfly types has nearly doubled.
This dire scenario for vital pollinators was disclosed by scientific studies for the red list of threatened species, which found that at least over 170 bee types out of over 1900 were threatened with extinction in the European continent.
The count of butterfly types facing extinction in European nations has increased from 37 to over sixty since the previous assessment, carried out a decade and a half ago. A single species, the Madeiran large white (Pieris wollastoni) has now been confirmed extinct.
Apart from their aesthetic appeal and cultural importance, pollinators like bees and butterflies are essential supports for our health, our food supplies and our financial structures – supporting the fruits, vegetables and seeds that sustain us,” said the IUCN’s director general. “The most recent assessments of the European red list reveal major obstacles, with dangers increasing for butterfly types and essential non-managed bee species.”
The reasons of the swift recent drops are the continuing harm or degradation of habitats caused by farming intensification and abandoned land, wetland drainage, overgrazing by livestock, and the application of chemical fertilisers and pesticides including neonicotinoid pesticides. The breaking up of environments suitable for pollinators substantially boosts the threat of disappearances in specific areas.
Global warming is also demonstrated to be a major threat: Fifty-two percent of all threatened butterflies in European nations are threatened by the climate emergency – approximately double the number as a ten years ago.
Up to 90% of blooming plants in European nations depend on insect pollination, as stated by the lead coordinator of the wild bee assessment. “Unfortunately, non-managed bee groups are in sharp decrease and are not easily replaceable by managed colonies,” he said. “If wild bees disappear, many native plants might be threatened too – of which flower-rich meadows and lovely orchid types are just a couple of instances.”
Fifteen species of bumblebee types, which perform a vital function in pollinating legumes like peas, beans, peanuts and clover, and 14 species of cellophane bees, recognized for pollinating trees such as willows along with red maples, are now classified as threatened. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee type unique to the European continent and the sole species of this biological genus in European nations, is now classified as critically endangered – the scientific category most akin to disappearance in the wild.
Butterfly species that are solely present on high-altitude areas are highly susceptible to global heating as they need to move uphill as their environments become warmer but eventually have no room left. In the southern part of Spain, the Nevada grayling and the Andalusian anomalous blue are among over forty percent of types unique to Europe (exclusive to Europe) threatened with extinction.
In the Mediterranean region, varieties such as the severely threatened grayling of Karpathos are threatened by intense wildfires and drought.
At the same time, in the Arctic Circle, global warming is causing the tree line to move north by tens of metres each year, with bushes invading wetlands and tundra. Higher temperatures also mean reindeer can no longer cross the frozen water to graze northern grasslands and prevent them from overgrowing. Eight types of butterflies are at risk of extinction in this area, including the fritillary of Freyja and the ringlet of the Arctic.
“The biggest living space for all these pollinating insects is flower-rich grassland and that is vanishing rapidly throughout European nations because of all these factors,” remarked one of the lead coordinators of the butterflies assessment. “The positive thing is that so many people are concerned now and there’s a lot more awareness. Under the European Union nature restoration law, all member countries have to halt the decrease in pollinating insects by 2030, and they are going to have to start doing something. There are land holders who are involved. Let’s hope they can receive the incentives that will support them on their way.”
As per the coordinator, there is “easy opportunities” in terms of measures for pollinators which will not lower crop yields – and may enhance it – such as agricultural producers developing bloom-filled edges around their farmland.
Jessika Roswall, characterized the preservation condition of native bees, butterflies and additional pollinators as “severe”.
“Immediate and joint measures is necessary to confront this risk. Along with member countries, the European Commission has established an EU-wide tracking system for pollinators based on the EU nature restoration regulation, which will assist in monitoring our development. Now, we need to concentrate on application and cooperation with member countries to protect our pollinating insects,” she said.
The issuance of the assessments on bees and butterflies is subsequent to the pioneering EU-wide evaluation of hoverflies, another vital pollinating insect category. Issued in 2022, it revealed that thirty-seven percent of all hoverfly species in Europe were threatened with extinction.
