Our Research

Our Research
We combine urban ecology research and Citizen Science to collaboratively create evidence-based knowledge for urban conservation.

The goal of our research is to develop knowledge-based interventions to promote plant and pollinator diversity in urban community gardens, implement them in practice, and test their impact.

We work with 30 community gardens in Berlin and Munich, Germany that differ in urban context and garden management. Our aim is to investigate whether and how garden context, features and gardening practices can promote pollinator diversity, with a special focus on wild bee diversity, and support pollination efficiency. Our research is divided into three different areas:

1
Citizen Science

Gardeners document the development of their plants and fruits on selected vegetable plants in their own beds over an entire gardening season.

2
Ecological research

Scientists observe wild pollinators and record plant diversity, garden features and climate in the gardens.

3
Supporting research

Scientists investigate the social-ecological aspects of the project, such as the relationship between emotions and pollinator-friendly behavior.

Citizen Science

Together with gardeners, we first examined the phenology and harvest successes of selected common garden crop plants. In the second step of the citizen science project, we will discuss the results of the research and possible measures for pollinator promotion and adapt them to practice.

More on citizen science
© Pablo Castagnola

Ecological research

Once a month, we visit each garden with our field team and use a variety of methods to document the plants and pollinators, as well as garden features in the community gardens.

More on our ecological research
© Julia Schmack

Supporting research

Motivation and interest in pollinator conservation are important factors that are crucial for the dissemination and implementation of pollinator conservation measures. Therefore, we simultaneously investigate which factors, such as perceptions of or emotions towards pollinators, motivate gardeners.

More on our supporting research
© Pablo Castagnola

Project publications

We publish the results of the project in scientific journals. This ensures that the results are reviewed by at least two independent scientists.

Felderhoff, J., Gathof, A. K., Buchholz, S., Egerer, M. (2022) Vegetation complexity and nesting resource availability predict bee diversity and functional traits in community gardens. Ecological Applications, 33 (2).

in Englisch

Seitz B, Buchholz S, Kowarik I, Herrmann J, Neuerburg L., Wendler J, Winker L, Egerer M. (2022) Land sharing between cultivated and wild plants: urban gardens as hotspots for plant diversity in cities. Urban Ecosystems, 1–13.

In Englisch

Castillo Nolte, A., Buchholz, S., Pernat, N., Egerer, M. (2022) Temporal Temperature Variation in Urban Gardens Is Mediated by Local and Landscape Land Cover and Is Linked to Environmental Justice. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6.

in Englisch

Egerer, M. (2022) Bee discovery suggests the importance of urban gardens in a changing world. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 37(5).

in Englisch

Sturm, U., Straka, T.M., Moormann, A., Egerer, M. (2021) Fascination and Joy: Emotions Predict Urban Gardeners’ Pro-Pollinator Behaviour. Insects, 12(9).

in Englisch

Frequently asked questions

We are currently evaluating all the data we have collected in the gardens. All the insects we have collected now have to be identified. This is relatively time-consuming and requires special expertise. We are also preparing the next step of citizen science. In workshops we want to discuss the results and practical implementation of measures with the gardeners.

We are now evaluating all the results and will publish them scientifically. This is important because with the scientific publication our results will be examined by other scientists. We also want to discuss these results with gardeners and get their perspective on possible measures.

In the project, we want to develop measures to protect and promote biodiversity in the garden. These measures can of course be adapted and implemented for any garden or even for the balcony. Unfortunately, only gardeners from the participating community gardens can participate in the citizen research.