Didn't Einstein say that if the bees were to die out, as a consequence, man would only have a few years left to live? Is this valid for beetles, dragonflies and animals that pollinate flowers?
Accustomed as we are to seeing butterflies, beetles and dragonflies frolic, we are hardly aware of the threats hanging over them. Based on the same criteria as those used for the IUCN global red list of threatened species (1), and produced at the request of the European Commission, the latest European red list draws up a less than rosy assessment of the state of conservation of these three species, often neglected because they are considered ordinary. Yet these new findings reveal that 9% of butterflies, 11% of saproxylic beetles and 14% of dragonflies are threatened with extinction in Europe.
In concrete terms, the populations of almost a third (31%) of the 435 species of butterflies recorded in Europe are declining. More alarmingly, 9% could disappear permanently. Classified as critically endangered, the cabbage butterfly (Pieris wollastoni) could already be extinct, having not been seen on the island that gave it its name in the space of 20 years. .
Having become objects of study by the IUCN for the first time, the assessment of the situation of saproxylic beetles, which feed on decaying wood, is not much better. Indeed, nearly 11% of the 431 species studied are at risk of disappearing from the European region. A figure that is alarming to say the least since a third of these species are unique to Europe. The main cause of this scarcity is the disappearance of their habitats, due to logging and the decrease in the number of adult trees. Traditionally living in large tree cavities containing wood mold, the purple wireworm (Limoniscus violaceous) is considered endangered, threatened by new forest management practices.
Although present throughout Europe, dragonfly populations are concentrated, for their part, in the South of France, at the foot of the Alps, as well as in certain parts of the Balkan peninsula. Of the 130 species studied, 14% are considered "endangered", five of them presenting a critical danger. Three of the most endangered dragonfly species in Europe are endemic to streams and small rivers in Greece and neighboring countries, including Albania, Bulgaria and Turkey. Without action, species such as the water nymph could go extinct in the first half of this century.
The disappearance of these species is explained by hot and dry summers which, combined with the intensification of the extraction of water for consumption and irrigation purposes, lead to the drying up of the wetlands in which the dragonflies live. .
If some would be tempted to claim that the disappearance of these little winged and crawling companions is not a vital problem, it is because they are unaware of the fundamental role that they play within ecosystems whose we ourselves depend. Thus, the butterfly is a key player in the pollination process. The same goes for saproxylic beetles, which are essential for the recycling of nutrients in the forest environment in particular. Also, if this new balance sheet demonstrates one thing, it is that we only become aware of the value of wealth wrongly considered as ordinary and acquired when we are about to lose it.
1- The International Union for the Conservation of Nature is today considered the oldest and largest global environmental protection network
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