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One fifth of all species in Europe threatened with extinction
The latest Red List of threatened species has found that 19% of European species are threatened with extinction.
The dramatic decline in biodiversity is the result of agricultural change, pollution and habitat loss. But what is also clear is that there are huge gaps in our knowledge about the natural world, even in relatively well-studied regions such as Europe.
The latest assessment of plants and animals living in Europe has found that 19% of all species are at risk of extinction.
The work, carried out by a diverse group of scientists for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), looked at a range of species that live on the continent, including mammals, reptiles, butterflies, snails, trees and ferns. From this, they were able to determine the conservation status of over 14,000 species.
This research revealed that far more species in Europe were threatened with extinction than the most recent global assessment would have suggested. This dramatic decline in biodiversity is thought to be driven by factors including changes in agricultural practices, associated habitat loss, over-harvesting and pollution.
Dr Dmitry Telnov is a Curator of beetles at the Natural History Museum, and worked on the extinction risk for what are known as saproxylic beetles. These insects are dependent on dead and decaying wood for their life cycle, meaning that they require very specific environments to thrive, many of which have been lost over the last century.
‘It appears many saproxylic beetles prefer old hollow trees which are growing in open or semi-open conditions,’ explains Dmitry. ‘They prefer trees in more sunny open environments, which is a rare habitat nowadays. But it was far more common 100 years ago when grazing by cattle was more abundant across Europe.’
‘There are now ongoing projects to remove the shrubs and young trees from among the bigger ones to recreate these conditions and make the trees suitable again for the beetles.’
It is hoped that these relatively simple changes to forest management could help boost the number of rare beetle species. But for other European invertebrates the difficulties lie in the fact that scientists simply do not know enough about them to make other specific recommendations.
Saproxylic beetles, such as this weevil, are dependent on dead and decaying wood being left in the environment ©Henrik Larsson/Shutterstock
Red List of threatened species
In order to better understand the threats facing the planet’s biodiversity, the IUCN produces what is called the Red List. This classifies different species according to how threatened they are with extinction, ranging from Least Concern to Extinct.
The latest Red List focuses specifically on Europe, looking at the wider groups of animals and plants that live on the continent. As Europe is, relatively speaking, an incredibly well-studied region, it means that scientists can get a much better picture of the state of the continent’s biodiversity.
But while this means that the analysis was able to include all species of vertebrates, things are trickier for other groups such as invertebrates and plants. This means that the Red List has to focus on individual groups that are thought to either be rare or have more important ecological roles, such as bees, butterflies, crickets, molluscs and saproxylic beetles.
The results have a found that while 18% of all vertebrates are threatened with extinction, this rises to 24% of invertebrates and 27% of all plants. This pattern is of note as despite being the least threatened group overall, vertebrates typically receive the most amount of conservation attention and funding.
Also of concern is that scientists quite simply don’t know that much about the vast majority of invertebrates and plants. For example, the researchers were unable to assess the conservation status for a quarter of all invertebrates as there simply was not enough data to be able to make any conclusions. Even for a relatively well-studied group of insects such as European bees, an astonishing 57% were assessed as ‘Data Deficient’.
Yet despite these huge gaps in knowledge, the pattern is still clear. Invertebrates are declining right across Europe, with some common threats impacting many of them.
‘The threats for freshwater invertebrates will be similar for most of them, such as water pollution and eutrophication,’ says Dmitry. ‘For terrestrial invertebrates, it is very likely that one of the common threats will be the use of chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides.’
‘It is obvious that insecticides will kill most of the insects, but it is perhaps less obvious that it will also be affecting soil fauna like snails and earthworms. But we have very little information about that.’
It seems likely that the chemicals that are often targeted at individual or groups of species are having wider impacts on ecosystems, but the underlying issue is that we simply don’t know enough.
The European eel is considered Critically Endangered as it is over-exploited and migration routes blocked ©Martin Prochazkacz/Shutterstock
Two million species threatened with extinction?
The results from this latest analysis of European species could have a knock-on effect on a global scale.
In 2019 an Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessment revealed that approximately one million species of plants and animals around the planet were threatened with extinction. But precisely because it is exceedingly difficult to get accurate data on the majority of animal and plant groups that exist, some of this was based on generalisations and estimates.
When it came to the planet’s invertebrates, the study used a conservative ‘tentative estimate’ that around 10% of all insects were threatened with extinction. But if this latest look at European species is anything to go by, this could be an underestimate.
If the data from this updated European Red List holds true on a global scale, then it could mean that up to 24% of all invertebrates are at risk. Extrapolating that to the known number of invertebrate species, and the paper suggests that it would potentially double the estimated number of plants and animals thought to be at risk of extinction from one million to 1.97 million.
Dmitry is a little more cautious about this interpretation.
‘We have limited information about the invertebrates in Europe, but we have almost no information about the species in the tropical rainforests,’ explains Dmitry. ‘So this extrapolation will be too rough.’
‘For temperate regions I think that it would work, but unfortunately it is impossible at this point to provide general conclusions. Some factors in Europe will be different to those in the tropics, such as how global warming affects species.’
While these figures might be concerning to many, there are glimmers of hope. For example, while the saproxylic beetles have been hit hard over the past century by changing agricultural practices, scientists are now more aware of what they need to thrive and have been putting in place management strategies to boost their numbers.
‘We have some good examples, such as in Sweden,’ says Dmitry. ‘For more than 25 years local colleagues have been very active in managing habitats and you can really see the difference.’
‘The trees are becoming stronger and bigger, and there are now hollows developing which are key to maintaining the diversity of saproxylic beetles. The rest of Europe now needs to invest in these practices, as if this is replicated there are good possibilities that several threatened beetle species would improve in the next few decades.’
