Concerning Rise in Endangered Non-Managed Bee Types In the European Continent

The count of non-managed bee types in the European continent confronting disappearance has increased twofold during the previous ten-year period, and the total of endangered butterfly types has nearly doubled.

This critical situation for essential pollinating insects was revealed by research studies for the red list of threatened species, which found that at least over 170 bee types out of nearly two thousand were threatened with extinction in the European continent.

The total of butterfly species at risk of extinction in Europe has grown from 37 to 65 since the last study, carried out over a decade past. One type, the Madeiran large white butterfly (Pieris wollastoni) has now been declared extinct.

“Beyond their beauty and cultural value, pollinating insects like bees and butterfly species are lifelines for our health, our food systems and our economic systems – sustaining the produce, vegetables and seeds that feed us,” commented the IUCN director general. “The latest European red list assessments reveal serious challenges, with threats growing for butterfly species and essential native bee varieties.”

The factors of the quick recent decreases are the persistent damage or destruction of habitats caused by intensive agriculture and land abandonment, draining wetlands, excessive grazing by animals, and the application of fertilisers and pesticides including neonicotinoid chemicals. The division of environments suitable for pollinators substantially boosts the threat of extinctions at local level.

Climate change is also revealed to be a primary risk: 52% of all at-risk butterfly types in Europe are endangered by the climate change crisis – approximately twice as many as a ten years ago.

As many as ninety percent of plants that flower in the European continent require pollination by animals, as per the lead coordinator of the wild bee assessment. “Sadly, wild bee populations are in severe drop and are not easily replaceable by managed colonies,” he said. “If native bees disappear, many non-cultivated plants might be threatened too – of which meadows rich in flowers and attractive orchid varieties are just a couple of instances.”

Fifteen types of bumblebee types, which have an essential part in fertilizing crops such as peas, beans, peanuts and clover, and 14 species of cellophane bee species, recognized for pollinating trees such as willows and red maples, are now classified as threatened. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee species exclusive to the mainland and the only species of this genus in Europe, is now evaluated as critically endangered – the research category most akin to extinction in the wild.

Butterflies that are solely present on mountain tops are highly susceptible to global heating as they need to move uphill as their environments become more heated but in the end exhaust available space. In the southern part of Spain, the grayling of Nevada and the Andalusian anomalous blue butterfly are among over forty percent of European endemics (exclusive to Europe) at risk of extinction.

In the Mediterranean, varieties such as the critically endangered grayling of Karpathos are endangered by extreme wildfires and drought.

Meanwhile, in the Far North, global heating is causing the timberline to shift northward by many meters each year, with scrub invading wetlands and tundra. Warmer conditions also mean Arctic deer can no more cross the frozen water to browse Arctic meadows and keep them open. 8 butterfly varieties are at risk of extinction in this area, including Freyja’s fritillary butterfly and the Arctic ringlet.

“The largest environment for all these pollinating species is flower-rich grassland and that is vanishing rapidly across the European continent because of all these elements,” said one of the lead coordinators of the butterflies assessment. “The positive thing is that so many citizens are aware now and there’s a lot more understanding. Under the European Union nature restoration law, all participating nations have to reverse the decrease in pollinators by 2030, and they are going to have to start doing something. There are landowners who are interested. Let’s hope they can obtain the encouragements that will help them on their way.”

As per Warren, there is “easy opportunities” in terms of action for pollinating species which will not decrease food production – and might boost it – such as farmers developing margins rich in flowers around their cultivated areas.

the EU’s environment commissioner, described the protection status of native bees, butterflies and additional pollinators as “dire”.

“Prompt and unified steps is needed to address this danger. In collaboration with member countries, the Commission of the European Union has implemented an European Union-wide observation system for pollinating insects based on the European Union nature restoration legislation, which will assist in monitoring our progress. Now, we need to prioritize execution and cooperation with member countries to protect our pollinating insects,” she said.

The issuance of the bee and butterfly assessments follows the pioneering Europe-wide study on hoverflies, a further crucial group of pollinators. Issued in 2022, it showed that 37% of all hoverfly varieties in European nations were threatened with extinction.