National records of 3000 European bee and hoverfly species: A contribution to pollinator conservation
National records of 3000 European bee and hoverfly species: A contribution to pollinator conservation
In times of disturbing global changes affecting pollinators worldwide, more knowledge of species distribution at the national and continental levels is needed to implement effective conservation actions. However, this knowledge, especially concerning European bee and hoverfly species, is limited and difficult to access. To address this need, we incorporated published and unpublished data, and knowledge from a large set of taxonomists and ecologists in both groups. We updated the list of European bee and hoverfly species (around 3000), and centralised the current state of the knowledge of pollinator distributions at the European, country and sub-national levels for both bees and hoverflies. The list reflects the species’ current distributional status in the form of present, absent, regionally extinct, possibly extinct or non-native. With 2138 bee species and 913 hoverfly species in total being recorded, results show that the European country with the highest number of recorded bee species was Greece (1187 species), followed by Spain (1171 species) and Italy (1050 species). Regarding hoverflies, France was the most species-rich (566 species), followed by Italy (513 species), Switzerland (492 species) and Germany (467 species). For bees, the most species-rich countries were present in the Mediterranean basin, while for hoverflies, countries with Alpine habitats hosted the highest number of species. In total, 807 species of bees and 199 species of hoverflies were recorded in only one or two countries, mostly the countries richest in species. This result is important for assigning conservation priorities across Europe.
Link to the study: https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12680
In times of disturbing global changes affecting pollinators worldwide, more knowledge of species distribution at the national and continental levels is needed to implement effective conservation actions. However, this knowledge, especially concerning European bee and hoverfly species, is limited and difficult to access. To address this need, we incorporated published and unpublished data, and knowledge from a large set of taxonomists and ecologists in both groups. We updated the list of European bee and hoverfly species (around 3000), and centralised the current state of the knowledge of pollinator distributions at the European, country and sub-national levels for both bees and hoverflies. The list reflects the species’ current distributional status in the form of present, absent, regionally extinct, possibly extinct or non-native. With 2138 bee species and 913 hoverfly species in total being recorded, results show that the European country with the highest number of recorded bee species was Greece (1187 species), followed by Spain (1171 species) and Italy (1050 species). Regarding hoverflies, France was the most species-rich (566 species), followed by Italy (513 species), Switzerland (492 species) and Germany (467 species). For bees, the most species-rich countries were present in the Mediterranean basin, while for hoverflies, countries with Alpine habitats hosted the highest number of species. In total, 807 species of bees and 199 species of hoverflies were recorded in only one or two countries, mostly the countries richest in species. This result is important for assigning conservation priorities across Europe.
Link to the study: https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12680
Safeguard - Safeguarding European wild pollinators
Ongoing | 2021-2026
- Main funding source
- Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- Germany