We review changes in the status of butterflies in Europe, focusing on long-running population data available for the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Belgium, based on standardized monitoring transects. In the United Kingdom, 8% of resident species have become extinct, and since 1976 overall numbers declined by around 50%. In the Netherlands, 20% of species have become extinct, and since 1990 overall numbers in the country declined by 50%. Distribution trends showed that butterfly distributions began decreasing long ago, and between 1890 and 1940, distributions declined by 80%. In Flanders (Belgium), 20 butterflies have become extinct (29%), and between 1992 and 2007 overall numbers declined by around 30%. A European Grassland Butterfly Indicator from 16 European countries shows there has been a 39% decline of grassland butterflies since 1990. The 2010 Red List of European butterflies listed 38 of the 482 European species (8%) as threatened and 44 species (10%) as near threatened (note that 47 species were not assessed). A country level analysis indicates that the average Red List rating is highest in central and mid-Western Europe and lowest in the far north of Europe and around the Mediterranean. The causes of the decline of butterflies are thought to be similar in most countries, mainly habitat loss and degradation and chemical pollution. Climate change is allowing many species to spread northward while bringing new threats to susceptible species. We describe examples of possible conservation solutions and a summary of policy changes needed to conserve butterflies and other insects.

我们回顾了欧洲蝴蝶状况的变化，重点是基于标准化监测断面的英国，荷兰和比利时的长期人口数据。在英国，有8％的常住物种灭绝，并且自1976年以来，总数减少了约50％。在荷兰，已经有20％的物种灭绝，自1990年以来，该国的物种总数下降了50％。分布趋势表明，蝴蝶的分布很早就开始减少，在1890年至1940年之间，分布下降了80％。在比利时的法兰德斯（Flanders），已有20只蝴蝶灭绝（29％），在1992年至2007年之间，蝴蝶总数减少了30％。来自16个欧洲国家的欧洲草原蝴蝶指标显示，自1990年以来，草原蝴蝶的数量下降了39％。2010年《欧洲蝴蝶红色名录》列出了482种欧洲受威胁物种中的38种（占8％），近等受威胁的物种有44种（占10％）（请注意，未评估47种）。国家层面的分析表明，红色名单的平均评分在中欧和西欧中部最高，在欧洲最北端和地中海附近最低。在大多数国家，蝴蝶数量下降的原因被认为是相似的，主要是栖息地的丧失和退化以及化学污染。气候变化使许多物种向北扩散，同时给易感物种带来新的威胁。我们描述了可能采取的保护措施的示例，以及保护蝴蝶和其他昆虫所需的政策变更摘要。