Worrying Rise in Endangered Wild Bee Varieties Across Europe

The total of native bee species in Europe facing disappearance has increased twofold over the past decade, while the count of endangered butterfly has close to doubled.

This critical situation for crucial pollinators was unveiled by scientific studies for the IUCN red list, which determined that at least over 170 bee varieties out of over 1900 were at risk of extinction in European nations.

The total of butterflies facing extinction in Europe has increased from over thirty-five to over sixty since the earlier research, performed over a decade past. A single species, the Madeiran large white (Pieris wollastoni) has now been declared extinct.

“Beyond their beauty and cultural importance, pollinators like bees and butterflies are lifelines for our physical condition, our food chains and our economies – sustaining the produce, vegetables and seeds that nourish us,” said Grethel Aguilar. “The newest European red list evaluations reveal major obstacles, with risks growing for butterfly types and essential non-managed bee species.”

The factors of the swift recent drops are the continuing harm or degradation of natural habitats caused by agricultural intensification and abandoned land, draining wetlands, livestock overgrazing, and the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides including neonicotinoid pesticides. The division of environments suitable for pollinators significantly raises the threat of local extinctions.

Global heating is also revealed to be a significant danger: 52% of all threatened butterflies in Europe are imperilled by the climate emergency – roughly twice as many as a ten years ago.

As many as nine out of ten of flowering plants in European nations require animal pollination, as stated by Dr Denis Michez. “Regrettably, non-managed bee colonies are in severe drop and cannot be easily replaced by domesticated hives,” he said. “If non-managed bees disappear, many native plants might be at risk too – of which meadows rich in flowers and lovely orchid types are just a handful of illustrations.”

15 varieties of bumblebee types, which play a crucial role in pollinating crops such as peas, beans, peanuts and clover, and 14 types of cellophane bees, famous for pollinating trees such as willow trees and red maples, are now listed as threatened. Simpanurgus phyllopodus, a mining bee species unique to the European continent and the sole species of this genus in European nations, is now assessed as critically endangered – the research category closest to dying out in natural habitats.

Butterfly species that are exclusively located on high-altitude areas are particularly vulnerable to global heating as they need to move uphill as their environments become more heated but ultimately have no room left. In Spain’s southern region, the Nevada grayling butterfly and the Andalusian anomalous blue butterfly are among above 40 percent of European endemics (only found in Europe) facing extinction.

In the Mediterranean area, species such as the critically endangered Karpathos grayling are imperilled by intense drought and wildfires.

At the same time, in the Far North, global heating is resulting in the timberline to shift northward by many meters each year, with underbrush invading wetlands and tundra. Warmer conditions also mean caribou can not anymore cross the frozen water to feed on Arctic grasslands and maintain them clear. 8 butterfly varieties are at risk of extinction in this zone, including the fritillary of Freyja and the ringlet of the Arctic.

“The biggest living space for all these pollinators is bloom-filled grassy areas and that is declining quickly in European nations because of all these factors,” said one of the lead coordinators of the butterflies assessment. “The positive thing is that so many individuals care 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 pollinators by the year 2030, and they are going to have to begin taking action. There are landowners who are interested. We hope they can get the encouragements that will support them on their way.”

As stated by Martin Warren, there is “easy opportunities” in terms of measures for pollinating insects which won’t reduce food production – and could improve it – such as agricultural producers developing margins rich in flowers around their cultivated areas.

the EU’s environment commissioner, described the preservation condition of non-managed bees, butterfly species and other pollinating insects as “dire”.

“Immediate and joint measures is necessary to tackle this danger. Together with participating nations, the EU Commission has put in place an EU-wide observation system for pollinators based on the EU nature restoration regulation, which will help to track our development. Now, we need to focus on application and partnership with member states to protect our pollinating insects,” she said.

The release of the assessments on bees and butterflies is subsequent to the initial Europe-wide study on hoverflies, a further essential pollinating insect category. Released in 2022, it revealed that 37% of all hoverfly varieties in European nations were at risk of extinction.