Butterflies, beetles, and dragonflies declining in Europe

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Dmitrii Musolin, 17.03.2010 10:41

Butterflies, beetles, and dragonflies declining in Europe

Posted on March 16, 2010

Habitat loss is having a serious impact on Europe's butterflies, beetles and dragonflies, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said today.

Nine percent of butterflies, 11 percent of saproxylic beetles (beetles that depend on decaying wood) and 14 percent of dragonflies are threatened with extinction within Europe, the Switzerland-based conservation organization said in a news release.

According to the new studies commissioned by the European Commission and carried out by IUCN, Butterfly Conservation Europe and the European Invertebrates Survey, nearly a third (31 percent) of Europe's 435 butterfly species have declining populations and nine percent are already threatened with extinction.

For the first time, saproxylic beetles have been assessed for the IUCN Red List.

"A third of the 431 species assessed are unique to Europe. Almost 11 percent (46 species) are at risk of being lost from the region, and seven percent (29 species) are threatened with extinction at the global level. A further 13 percent (56 species) are listed as Near Threatened within Europe."

full: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/...ies-europe.html

or: http://bit.ly/99YkA0