Pollinators on the edge: our European hoverfliesThe European Red List of Hoverflies

Laburpena

Aim This European Red List provides a summary of the conservation status of the European species of hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae), evaluated according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (2012a) and IUCN’s global (IUCN Standards and Petitions Committee, 2022) and regional (IUCN, 2012b) guidelines. It provides the first comprehensive, region-wide assessment of hoverflies, and identifies species threatened with extinction at the European and EU27 Member State levels so that appropriate policy measures and conservation actions can be taken to improve their status, based on the best available evidence. Scope The geographical scope of the assessment is continent-wide, extending from Iceland and the European Macaronesian Islands in the west to the Urals in the east, and from Franz Josef Land in the north to the Canary Islands in the south. The Caucasus region, including the Russian Northern Caucasus, is not included. Red List assessments were made at two regional levels: for geographical Europe and for the 27 Member States of the European Union (hereafter, EU27). Because the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union occurred during this project, the EU27 level assessments do not consider the United Kingdom. However, the United Kingdom is included at the geographical Europe level. All hoverfly species native to or naturalised in Europe (a total of 892 species) were considered for this European Red List. In Europe, 890 species were assessed, with two species considered Not Applicable (NA) for being recent introductions to the European region; these were also considered NA in the EU27 region. For the EU27, 859 species were assessed, with 29 species found in pan-European countries not currently reported from the EU27 Member States. Results Overall, 37.2% (314 species) of the European hoverfly species assessed in this study were considered threatened (assessed as CR, EN or VU) in Europe, with one species (Helophilus bottnicus), a Holarctic species that previously occurred in Sweden, Finland and possibly Poland, classified as Regionally Extinct (RE). A further 6.9% (61 species) are considered Near Threatened and 52.7% (469 species) are assessed as Least Concern. For 5.1% (45 species) there was insufficient information available to be able to evaluate their risk of extinction, and thus they were classified as Data Deficient (DD). The main threats to European hoverflies were found to be the impacts of intensive agriculture (including extensive livestock farming and ranching), commercial/productive forestry, residential and commercial development (tourism development and housing development), natural system modifications (such as fires, exacerbated by climate change, and the exploitation of water sources for dams or use in agriculture) and changes to the way habitats are managed (becoming more mechanical and on a larger scale).