pollinators

Migratory monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) are now considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The species will now be listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species after habitat loss and climate change decimated the population.

In New South Wales, Australia, an outbreak of varroa mite parasites, also called varroa destructors which are deadly to honey bees, has led to the culling of over 15 million bees since the parasite was first detected on June 22. New South Wales’ Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders said that bees in 1,533 hives have been […]

Despite recent news that overwintering monarch butterfly populations have increased 35% in the past year, these graceful creatures are still facing an unsteady future after years of ongoing decline. Monarch butterflies are a migratory species. Eastern monarch butterflies, which make up the vast majority of monarch butterflies in North America, travel from southern Canada and […]

The number of UK butterflies threatened by extinction has risen by more than a quarter. The charity Butterfly Conservation announced its new Red List of UK butterfly species Wednesday, and found that 41 species were now threatened and nine percent were Near Threatened.  “Shockingly, half of Britain’s remaining butterfly species are listed as threatened or […]

After many years of plummeting populations of migrating monarch butterflies, a WWF-Mexico survey brings good news: during the 2021-2022 overwintering period, the monarch butterfly presence observed in the forests of Mexico was 35% higher than the previous year. While the butterflies are still vulnerable and require more conservation efforts, the survey gives some hope for […]

The importance of bees as pollinators of the world’s food crops is well-known, but wasps, flies, beetles and other insects are also vital pollen conveyors. Pollination by insects is necessary for the growth of about 75 percent of the world’s food and more than 80 percent of wild plants. Crop pollination across the globe is […]

Have you observed that the number of insects landing on your car windscreen has decreased over the past decades?  If so, you aren’t alone. Two conservation groups in the UK set out to test the oft-observed “windscreen phenomenon,” and the result was shocking: The number of flying insects landing on British cars fell by almost […]

This is the first week in May, when many bees in the U.S. wake up from their winter hibernation and smell the flowers.  Now, you can support these essential pollinators in their search for nectar by participating in No Mow May and letting wildflowers grow on your lawn.  “[W]hen we leave our weeds, or things […]