Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
136 results(2 / 6)
Spatiotemporal variability and functional redundancy obscure effects of urbanization on strawberry pollinators
2025Kyla D. Schulte, Caleb J. Wilson, Anna Tawril, Mary A. Jamieson · Ecosphere · United States (Michigan)
A three-year study across 10 strawberry farms along a rural-urban gradient in Michigan, USA, characterized bee abundance, diversity, and community composition. The study found that urbanization, measured as impervious surface cover, had no consistent effect on overall bee abundance and diversity. While urbanization differentially influenced specific taxa (Halictini positively in year one, Ceratinini negatively in year three), the overall impact was limited, with wild bees, especially native species, being important pollinators in urban agriculture.
Limited or null effectPollinatorsBiodiversityUrban–rural linkagePotential of Rooftop and Vertical Gardens in Promoting Urban Plant Diversity and Ecosystem Services
2025Drakhshanda Saeed, Areena Sohail, Mahnoor Munir, Khush Bakht · Physical Education Health and Social Sciences · Global
This study qualitatively reviewed 15 peer-reviewed studies published from 2015 to 2025 to evaluate the potential of rooftop and vertical gardens in providing ecosystem services and promoting urban plant diversity. Rooftop gardens primarily support pollinators, stormwater retention, thermal regulation, and spontaneous colonizers, fostering horizontal habitat connectivity. Vertical gardens, despite fewer species, provide essential vertical stratification, shade micro-niches, and air filtration, enhancing multi-dimensional habitat diversity. Design and management factors were found to strongly influence ecological outcomes.
BiodiversityPollinatorsClimate changeOrganic cycleUrban wild bee well‐being revealed by gut metagenome data: A mason bee model
2025Yiran Li, Chengweiran Liu, Yiran Wang, Muhan Li, Shasha Zou, Xiaona Hu, Zhiwei Chen, Mingrui Li, Changsheng Ma, C. Jennifer, Xin Zhou, Yi Zou, Min Tang · Insect Science · China (Suzhou)
This study investigated the survival status of mason bees (Osmia excavata) across 10 urban agricultural sites in Suzhou, China, using shotgun gut metagenome sequencing. It found that ingested pollen primarily came from Brassica crops and Plantanus, indicating limited plant diversity. The gut bacterial community was stable across 8 sites but perturbed at 2, and antibiotic resistance gene profiles varied widely. Virome analysis identified honeybee pathogens and unknown bacteriophages.
PollinatorsBiodiversityUrban–rural linkageEnhancing Public Health and SDG 3 Through Sustainable Agriculture and Tourism
2025Elena Petelos, Danai Antonaki, Erasmia Angelaki, Christos Lemonakis, Alexandros Garefalakis · Sustainability · Global
This study explored how private sector initiatives in tourism can contribute to public health and SDG 3 through sustainable agricultural practices. Using a mixed-methods approach combining a systematic literature review and a case study, it examined how integrated strategies like pesticide-free farming reduce environmental health risks and improve nutritional quality. Findings indicate that business-led sustainability models can support systemic change when based on clear metrics and cross-sector collaboration. However, the absence of pre-2019 baseline data and direct health outcome measurements limits causal inference.
HealthBiodiversityPollinatorsCommunityPolicyA global evaluation of urban agriculture potential for pollinator-dependent crops in major cities
2024Rahimi E., Jung C. · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems · Global (major cities)
Global assessment of urban agriculture's potential to support pollinator-dependent crops in major cities, analyzing contributions to biodiversity and food security.
PollinatorsBiodiversityIn defence of urban community gardens
2024Anja Egerer · People and Nature · Global
Research defending the value of urban community gardens, examining citizen participation in biodiversity conservation and the role of gardeners as central actors in nature conservation projects.
CommunityBiodiversityPollinatorsCommunity Gardens as Places for Ecological Caring in Action
2024Amal Ibourk, Lauren Wagner, Deb Morrison, Syrena Young, Justin Milledge · Science and Children · Global
This article describes a fifth-grade climate change action project involving building a community garden, aligned with science standards. Students learned about monarch butterfly migration, life cycles, and greenhouse gases by planting milkweed. The article offers educators ideas and suggestions for implementing such a project within a school community.
CommunityFood educationBiodiversityPollinatorsClimate changeGrowing gardens into neighborhoods through transdisciplinary research
2024Monika Egerer, Susan Karlebowski, David Schoo, Ulrike Sturm · Urban forestry & urban greening · Germany
This communication article presents a transdisciplinary research concept focused on developing, implementing, and testing biodiversity conservation interventions in urban community gardens in Berlin and Munich, Germany. The research aims to promote insect diversity with gardeners and neighborhood residents, engaging civil society and city actors to support biodiversity-based urban greening. It outlines participatory methods and experiences in translating research into practice, highlighting the role of city residents in implementing biodiversity interventions.
CommunityBiodiversityPollinatorsFood educationRénover Cleveland : démolition, racisme et agriculture urbaine dans l’Amérique abandonnée
2024Pierric Calenge, Maie Gérardot · Métropolitiques · United States (Cleveland)
The work by Max Rousseau and Vincent Béal illuminates the ambiguities of a policy that organizes urban decline and racial segregation in Cleveland. This policy promotes urban degrowth and racial segregation, balancing algorithmic management and urban greening. The study focuses on the Rust Belt region, which experiences de-urbanization marked by the subprime crisis, racism, and segregation.
Equity & displacementCommunityPolicyEconomicsUrban–rural linkageFood sovereignty & justiceHealthWelfareClimate changeBiodiversityFood educationElderlyFood lossOrganic cyclePollinatorsHeirloom & landraceFood miles & supply chainCSA & TeikeiPeri-urban agricultureDigital agricultureDIYCompostFood educationWelfareElderlyFood lossOrganic cycleCommunityBiodiversityPollinatorsPolicyHealthEconomicsHeirloom & landraceUrban–rural linkageFood miles & supply chainCSA & TeikeiPeri-urban agricultureClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceDigital agricultureAdaptacija postojećih ravnih krovova solitera u zelene krovove na području Općine Kakanj u cilju osnaživanja i promovisanja koncepta urbane poljoprivrede
2024Nedžada Zahirović, Sabina Trakić, Pavle Krstić, Lejla Biber · Radovi Šumarskog fakulteta Univerziteta u Sarajevu · Bosnia and Herzegovina (Kakanj)
This project aims to develop a conceptual plan for adapting the existing flat roofs of three towers (S-1, S-2, S-3) built in the 1980s in the Municipality of Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, into green roofs. This plan seeks to strengthen and expand urban agriculture, bringing ecological, social, and economic benefits, and promoting a healthier lifestyle through daily contact with greenery.
BiodiversityPollinatorsCommunityHealthSustainable nature‐based solutions require establishment and maintenance of keystone plant‐pollinator interactions
2024Nicole E. Rafferty, Christopher T. Cosma · Journal of Ecology · Global
A literature search on nature-based solutions (NBS), including urban greenspaces and agriculture, found that 0%–3% of papers considered pollinators or pollination, with 12.5% in agricultural NBS papers. The study emphasizes that NBS success depends on resilient pollinator communities and calls for identifying keystone plants and pollinators to promote NBS functioning under future climatic conditions. It advocates for phylogenetic trait-based analyses to understand keystoneness.
BiodiversityPollinatorsOrganic cycleFlower richness is key to pollinator abundance: The role of garden features in cities
2024Astrid E. Neumann, Felix Conitz, Susan Karlebowski, Ulrike Sturm, Julia M. Schmack, Monika Egerer · Basic and Applied Ecology · Germany (Munich)
This study recorded garden features and pollinators in 33 urban community gardens in Munich and Berlin, Germany, over two summer seasons to understand their impact on pollinator abundance. Findings showed that in more urbanized gardens, flower richness and bare substrate were less prevalent. Flower richness positively correlated with overall pollinator abundance, richness, and diversity, while landscape imperviousness negatively correlated with hoverfly and beetle abundances.
CommunityBiodiversityPollinatorsFrom School Gardens to Community Oases: Fostering Environmental and Social Resilience in Urban Spaces
2024Ioanneta Dimouli, Dimitra Koumparou, Spyros K. Golfínopoulos · Geographies · Greece (Acharnes)
This case study in Acharnes, Greece, examined a local initiative that transforms schoolyards into community gardens, involving teachers, pupils, parents, grandparents, and neighbors. The research collected data from 85 participants, including parents, guardians, and school staff, using a questionnaire to explore their perceptions, with a focus on interactions with non-human beings like pollinators. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics and Kendall’s tau correlation, and the survey results revealed that these new urban green areas were "embraced" by both the school and the local community.
CommunityFood educationBiodiversityPollinatorsIdentifying pollinator‐friendly sites within urban green spaces for sustainable urban agriculture
2024Ehsan Rahimi, Chuleui Jung · Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment · South Korea
This study developed a methodology to identify optimal urban locations for pollinator-dependent crops in South Korea. Researchers generated habitat suitability maps for 243 pollinating insects across 10 major cities using species distribution models and Graphab 2.8 software. The analysis found a strong positive correlation between green space cluster modularity and pollinator distribution, indicating that areas with higher modularity have richer pollinator populations and are suitable for urban agriculture.
BiodiversityPollinatorsUrban–rural linkageClimate changeOverlooked and misunderstood: how urban community gardeners perceive social wasps and their ecosystem functions
2024Julia M. Schmack, Monika Egerer, Susan Karlebowski, Astrid E. Neumann, Ulrike Sturm · Journal of Insect Conservation · Germany
A survey was conducted in urban community gardens in Berlin and Munich, Germany, to assess perceptions of social wasps and their ecosystem functions. Gardeners rated wasps as the least beneficial insect for urban gardens among other insect taxa, and predation was perceived as a negative function in insects and spiders. Knowledge of wasp ecology was positively associated with respondents' willingness to share gardens with wasps, suggesting negative perceptions are likely driven by a lack of knowledge and negative emotions.
CommunityBiodiversityPollinatorsFood as a public service for people and pollinators: evidence-based insights from regenerative placemaking in New Zealand—the Waharoa living lab
2024Bárbara Ribeiro, David E. Pattemore, A. B. Morris, Leo Baldwin-Ramult, Daniel Exeter · Journal of Urbanism International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability · New Zealand
An action research project in Waharoa, New Zealand, transformed a former bowling green into a public, edible landscape. This 400 m2 Living Lab (LL) involved multi-stakeholder cooperation (government, community, and academia), and participants perceived benefits as transition pathways to more nutritious dietary choices, health education, and reduced criminality in a socially deprived region. Analyses of interviews, observations, and pollinator surveys conducted at the LL confirmed that 14 visiting species were drawn to the site, leading to an approach to regenerative placemaking that combines human health and biodiversity benefits.
CommunityHealthBiodiversityPollinatorsAgricultura Urbana e Periurbana na zona oeste do Rio de Janeiro: seu papel na conservação da comunidade de abelhas nativas.
2024L. Garcia Ferreira, M. E. F. CORREIA, M. C. UZEDA · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) · Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
This study evaluated the role of agroecological urban and peri-urban agriculture in preserving native bee communities in the western region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ten different bee species, nesting in soil and cavities, were identified. Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) indicated that the percentage of agricultural, natural, and built-up land cover was insufficient to explain the species composition regarding their nesting habits. The findings suggest the importance of assessing the quality of agricultural environments, as their association with urban landscapes could support a greater richness of species with diverse nesting habits.
BiodiversityPollinatorsPeri-urban agricultureOrganic compost belowground and floral diversity aboveground interactively shape beneficial insects in urban gardens
2024Carmen K. Blubaugh, R. Chesnut, Katherine Hagan · Journal of Applied Ecology · Global
This study investigated how organic composts mediate the effects of plant diversity across trophic levels over two field seasons, conducting 18 experiments in school gardens. Vermicompost strengthened a positive relationship between flower richness and foliar-feeding omnivores, but predators increased with flower richness and were not affected by vermicompost. The net outcomes of vermicompost and plant diversity were neutral for herbivores.
CompostBiodiversityPollinatorsOrganic cycleFood educationHolobiont Urbanism: sampling urban beehives reveals cities' metagenomes
2023Hénaff E., Najjar D., Perez M., Mason C., McMeekin P. · Environmental Microbiome, 18:23 · United States (Brooklyn) / Australia / Italy / Japan
A pilot using three rooftop beehives in Brooklyn, NY, comparing hive substrates (honey, debris, swabs, bee bodies) to map surrounding urban metagenomes, then extending to hive debris from Sydney, Melbourne, Venice and Tokyo. Each city shows a distinct metagenomic profile, positioning rooftop beekeeping as a tool for reading the urban environment.
PollinatorsBiodiversityCommunityMonitoring System Enhancing the Potential of Urban Beekeeping
2023Szczurek A., Maciejewska M., Batog P. · Applied Sciences, 13(1):597 · Poland (Wrocław)
Develops and evaluates an automated monitoring system for urban beekeeping's educational, greening and awareness benefits. Sensors, cameras and scales were deployed on hives on the roof of a four-storey university building in Wrocław; three months of operation confirmed the system works and that rooftop placement is a viable urban apiary model.
PollinatorsCommunityFood educationBee diversity on urban rooftop food gardens
2023Riehn J.K., Fogel N.S., Hathaway J.N., Camilo G.R. · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 5:1100470 · United States (St. Louis, MO)
Surveyed bees on three urban rooftop food farms and two nearby ground-level community gardens in St. Louis during 2017–2018. Rooftops hosted 38 species—a nested subset of ground-level communities, with fewer bumblebees and more non-native Megachile—with implications for pollination services on rooftop food production.
PollinatorsBiodiversityCommunityMultiple ecosystem service synergies and landscape mediation of biodiversity within urban agroecosystems
2023Jha S., Egerer M., Bichier P., Cohen H., Liere H., Lin B., Lucatero A., Philpott S.M. · Ecology Letters, 26(3):369-383 · United States (California)
Using >5,000 observations over five years across a network of urban community gardens in California, this study quantifies trade-offs and synergies between biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services (e.g., pest control and pollination) in urban agroecosystems. Contrary to assumptions that food production conflicts with biodiversity, it finds many synergies and few trade-offs, and shows that surrounding natural landscape cover interacts with local management to mediate services from mobile animals — underscoring the role of garden management and urban planning in optimizing biodiversity and human benefit.
BiodiversityPollinatorsCommunityCrop–pollinator interactions in urban and peri-urban farms in the United Kingdom
2023Nicholls E., Griffiths-Lee J., Basu P., Chatterjee S., Goulson D. · Plants, People, Planet · United Kingdom
Study of crop-pollinator interactions in UK urban and peri-urban farms, quantifying ecosystem services provided by pollinators in city farming systems.
PollinatorsBiodiversityCommunityHolistic wild bee management in urban spaces
2023· Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · Germany (Freising)
Developed a holistic assessment of bee and flowering-plant diversity in the medium-sized city of Freising using citizen science, identifying 22 bee-diversity hotspots and evaluating planted flower patches as stepping stones for oligolectic bees.
PollinatorsBiodiversityPolicyVegetation complexity and nesting resource availability predict bee diversity and functional traits in community gardens
2023Felderhoff J. · Ecological Applications · Germany (Berlin)
Documented 26 genera and 102 bee species across 18 Berlin community gardens, finding that higher plant species richness and greater deadwood amounts increased wild bee species number and functional diversity.
PollinatorsBiodiversity