Many butterflies, bees and moths are fluttering into oblivion. A new report co-authored by a Canadian researcher warns that more than one-fifth of pollinator species it studied in North America are at risk of extinction.

Out of 759 pollinators — animals critical for food production and healthy ecosystems — studied in Canada, more than 10 per cent were at some level of risk of extinction, says the study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS. And of 1,579 pollinators assessed in the United States, 22.5 per cent were found to be at some level of risk.