Less and less buzzing in Flemish nature reserves
It is now well known that insects have been struggling in recent decades. This is certainly true in Flanders for pollinators such as butterflies, moths and hoverflies.
The first Red List of wild bees in Flanders was recently published. This established the Red List status of the last important pollinator group. This Red List was compiled in collaboration with Aculea (the bee and wasp working group of Natuurpunt), Natuurpunt Studie, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the University of Mons.
Of the 340 species of wild bees in Flanders, 35 were found to be regionally extinct, 14 critically endangered, 37 endangered, 50 vulnerable, 40 near threatened and 148 least concern. For 16 species, there was insufficient information available to determine a Red List category.
An additional analysis showed that bumblebees, mining bees and sweet bees in particular have declined sharply, while masked bees have made significant gains. When we look at the trends per habitat preference, it appears that bees that thrive in urban environments are doing better. Bees from natural habitats such as heathland, forests, dunes and grasslands, on the other hand, have declined sharply. Above-ground nesting species generally increased. Underground nesting species, on the other hand, are not doing so well. Finally, it also appeared that species with a northern and continental distribution declined much more sharply than species with a more southern distribution. This has everything to do with climate change.
Image above: Andrena agilissima, an endangered wild bee species in Flanders (Photo: Kurt Geeraerts).