Worrying Increase in Endangered Non-Managed Bee Species Throughout Europe
The number of non-managed bee varieties in Europe experiencing dying out has increased twofold in the last ten years, and the number of at-risk butterfly has almost doubled.
This pressing issue for essential pollinating species was unveiled by research studies for the IUCN red list, which determined that at least over 170 bee varieties out of nearly two thousand were at risk of extinction in the European continent.
The total of butterfly species at risk of extinction in Europe has grown from over thirty-five to sixty-five since the previous assessment, conducted over a decade past. One species, the large white of Madeira (Pieris wollastoni) has now been classified as extinct.
“Beyond their aesthetic appeal and cultural significance, pollinating insects like bees and butterflies are crucial elements for our well-being, our food chains and our financial structures – sustaining the produce, vegetables and seeds that sustain us,” stated the IUCN’s director general. “The latest assessments of the European red list reveal serious challenges, with dangers mounting for butterfly types and crucial non-managed bee species.”
The causes of the quick recent decreases are the persistent damage or destruction of natural habitats caused by intensive agriculture and abandoned land, draining wetlands, overgrazing by livestock, and the use of pesticides and fertilisers including neonicotinoid chemicals. The fragmentation of environments suitable for pollinators substantially boosts the risk of disappearances in specific areas.
Global warming is also revealed to be a major threat: Fifty-two percent of all threatened butterflies in the European continent are endangered by the climate emergency – approximately twofold the amount as a previous decade.
As many as nine out of ten of plants that flower in European nations require animal pollination, as per Dr Denis Michez. “Unfortunately, native bee populations are in severe drop and cannot readily be substituted by domesticated hives,” he said. “If wild bees disappear, many wild plants might be at risk too – of which bloom-filled grasslands and attractive orchid varieties are just a few examples.”
Fifteen species of bumblebee species, which have an essential part in pollinating crops such as peas, beans, peanuts and clover, and 14 species of cellophane bee species, known for pollinating trees such as willows and red maples, are now classified as threatened. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee species exclusive to the continent and the sole species of this genus group in European nations, is now assessed as severely threatened – the research category most akin to disappearance in the wild.
Butterfly species that are exclusively located on mountain tops are particularly vulnerable to climate change as they need to move uphill as their living spaces become more heated but eventually exhaust available space. In the southern part of Spain, the Nevada grayling and the Andalusian anomalous blue are among over forty percent of European endemics (exclusive to Europe) threatened with extinction.
In the Mediterranean, species such as the highly at-risk Karpathos grayling butterfly are imperilled by extreme dry conditions and fires.
In the meantime, in the Far North, global warming is leading to the tree line to shift northward by dozens of meters each year, with underbrush taking over bog and tundra. Hotter climates also mean reindeer can not anymore cross the ice sheets to feed on northern grasslands and prevent them from overgrowing. Eight butterfly species are facing extinction in this region, including the fritillary of Freyja and the Arctic ringlet.
“The largest habitat for all these pollinating species is flower-rich grassland and that is declining quickly across European nations because of all these reasons,” remarked Martin Warren. “The encouraging aspect is that so many people are concerned now and there’s a lot more consciousness. Under the EU nature restoration legislation, all member states have to halt the decrease in pollinators by the year 2030, and they are going to have to start doing something. There are land holders who are interested. We hope they can obtain the encouragements that will help them on their way.”
As per Warren, there is “low-hanging fruit” in terms of measures for pollinators which won’t reduce agricultural output – and could improve it – such as farmers establishing flower-rich margins around their cultivated areas.
EU commissioner for environment, portrayed the protection status of non-managed bees, butterfly species and other pollinating insects as “critical”.
“Immediate and joint measures is necessary to address this danger. In collaboration with member countries, the EU Commission has implemented an European Union-wide monitoring system for pollinating insects based on the EU nature restoration law, which will assist in monitoring our progress. Now, we need to concentrate on execution and collaboration with member states to safeguard our pollinators,” she said.
The issuance of the evaluations of bees along with butterflies is subsequent to the initial EU-wide evaluation of hoverflies, an additional essential pollinator group. Issued in 2022, it showed that over one-third of all hoverfly varieties in the European continent were facing extinction.
