A comprehensive 2025 assessment of nearly 1,600 native North American pollinators found that over one in five species face elevated extinction risk. Commercial beekeepers reported unprecedented 60-70% colony losses between June 2024 and March 2025, the worst since 2006. These declines underscore interconnected threats like pesticides, habitat loss, and climate change.
Pollinators are essential to global food production, with more than a third relying on animals such as birds, bees, butterflies, beetles, bats, and small mammals. Honeybees alone pollinate 90 species of commercially grown food crops, while tens of thousands of other bee species support wild plants.
The 2025 assessment revealed stark figures: 22.6% of the evaluated pollinators are at elevated extinction risk. Bees are the most threatened, with about 35% of assessed species at risk. All three North American pollinating bat species are endangered, alongside 19.5% of butterflies and 16.1% of moths. Earlier research showed a 76% reduction in flying insect biomass over 27 years in German protected areas, signaling a broader crisis.
The 2025 colony losses, primarily from Varroa destructor mites resistant to the pesticide amitraz, mark an escalation. These mites weaken bees by feeding on their organs and spreading viruses. Traditional colony collapse disorder has waned, but new threats compound the issue.
Interconnected factors drive the declines: pesticides, habitat loss, invasive species, diseases, parasites, and climate change. Neonicotinoid pesticides, even at field-realistic doses, impair bee foraging, learning, memory, immune responses, and energy metabolism. A 2023 study across 2.8 million square kilometers identified neonicotinoids, especially nitroguanidine compounds, as having the greatest negative impact on western bumble bee populations. Habitat scarcity is acute; it takes an acre of flowers to feed one bee colony, yet urban and agricultural areas often lack sufficient forage, exacerbated by pesticide residues and climate-disrupted bloom times.
To counter this, experts recommend avoiding pesticides, especially neonicotinoids, and planting diverse native species for year-round forage. Providing bee houses, bare ground patches, and leaf cover supports native pollinators, which compete with introduced honeybees. Broader actions include advocating for EPA regulations on harmful pesticides and reducing personal carbon footprints to mitigate climate impacts.