Abstract
AbstractBiodiversity is declining, with direct and indirect effects on ecosystem functions and services that are poorly quantified. Here, we develop the first global assessment of trends in pollinators, focusing on pollinating birds and mammals. A Red List Index for these species shows that, overall, pollinating bird and mammal species are deteriorating in status, with more species moving toward extinction than away from it. On average, 2.5 species per year have moved one Red List category toward extinction in recent decades, representing a substantial increase in the extinction risk across this set of species. This may be impacting the delivery of benefits that these species provide to people. We recommend that the index be expanded to include taxonomic groups that contribute more significantly to pollination, such as bees, wasps, and butterflies, thereby giving a more complete picture of the state of pollinating species worldwide.
Highlights
Biodiversity, a crucial part of the Earth’s life support systems, is declining (Tittensor et al 2014) with extinction rates several hundred times higher than the background rate (Barnosky et al 2011)
We focus on two taxonomic groups, mammals and birds, as other pollinator groups have not yet been comprehensively assessed for the IUCN Red List
The number of species in each category for years prior to the most recent assessment were calculated based on the number of species that qualified for genuine IUCN Red List category changes in each time period between assessments, updated from those given in Hoffmann et al (2010)
Summary
Biodiversity, a crucial part of the Earth’s life support systems, is declining (Tittensor et al 2014) with extinction rates several hundred times higher than the background rate (Barnosky et al 2011). This has direct and indirect effects on human well-being, as nature provides numerous benefits—ecosystem services—to people (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). We know worryingly little about the features of the ecosystems that we are losing, how fast they are declining, how this impacts ecosystem functions, and the impact on ecosystem services. The total economic value of wild and managed pollination services worldwide was estimated at US $215 billion in 2005 (Gallai et al 2009)
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