Authors
Carlos Martínez-Núñez, François Duchenne, Natasha de Manincor, Guillaume Ghisbain, Ante Vujic, Ahlam Sentil, Marija Miličić, Denis Michez, Ignasi Bartomeus
Published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Volume 123. Issue 44. Pages e2600774123. Nov 03, 2026. Epub Oct 19, 2026.
Abstract
Anthropogenic global change presents a growing threat to insect pollinators. Yet, long-term, continental-scale assessments of their population trends remain limited. Here, we leveraged a curated database of over four million occurrence records, covering 88% of extant bee and hoverfly species in Europe, to assess persistence, richness, and occupancy trends over the past century. Species persistence at the European level was relatively high, with modern records available for 87% of bee and 89% of hoverfly species. Regional richness changes were modest, with declines in the Atlantic and Continental regions for both pollinator groups. Recent increases were observed in the Alpine region for bees, but species richness remained largely stable elsewhere. At the species level, however, a more concerning picture emerged: Most bee species and about half of hoverfly species declined in occupancy. Species traits explained little variation in these trends, although there was a weak tendency for cold-adapted bees to show steeper declines than warm-adapted ones. Genera showing some of the steepest declines include parasitic or dietary specialists, though neither of these traits significantly predicted occupancy trends. Overall, we highlight clear warning signs of species population declines, but with potential recovery opportunities if we take urgent actions to reverse those trends.
PMID:
42896076
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 20 Oct 2026.
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