Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
27 results(1 / 2)
Citizen science provides insights on pollination services in urban community gardens
2026· BMC Ecology and Evolution · Germany (Berlin, Munich)
In collaboration with 73 gardeners across 22 gardens in Berlin and Munich, measured fruit set of 150 crops to examine how bee diversity and urbanization affect pollination services, using a citizen science approach.
PollinatorsCommunityWings over the city: avian and butterfly diversity across a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance
2026Della Rocca Francesca, Musiani Marco, Taioli Domitilla, Nardelli Edoardo, Milanesi Pietro · Biodiversity and Conservation · Italy (Bologna)
In Bologna, Italy, data on bird and butterfly communities were analyzed across an anthropogenic disturbance gradient encompassing urban, agricultural, and semi-natural contexts. The study found the highest species richness and diversity in peri-urban areas with natural and semi-natural habitats, while dense built-up areas supported fewer, mostly generalist species. Agricultural areas favored birds but not butterflies, and continuous urban cover, discontinuous high-density urban areas, distance to streets, and wood coverage were identified as main drivers of diversity.
BiodiversityPollinatorsInsect Biodiversity: Drawing with Children as Approach to the World of Garden Insects
2026Marcia Eugenio-Gozalbo, Inés Ortega-Cubero, Rafael Suárez-López · International explorations in outdoor and environmental education · Spain (Soria)
This chapter describes an educational project conducted with 8-year-old children in the Organic Learning Garden of the Faculty of Education of Soria, University of Valladolid, Spain. The project aimed to promote detailed observation and learning about insect morphology and diversity through scientific drawing. The use of school gardens is proposed to foster children's knowledge and appreciation of insect biodiversity.
Food educationBiodiversityPollinatorsUrban pollinator communities are structured by local-scale garden features, not landscape context
2025· Landscape Ecology · Germany (Berlin, Munich)
Recorded pollinators and garden features across 33 community gardens in Berlin and Munich over two summers, finding local-scale garden features—rather than landscape context—predominantly structured urban pollinator communities.
PollinatorsBiodiversityTurin Living Lab
2025Silvia Barbero, Federica Larcher · · Italy (Turin)
This chapter explores the role of the Turin Living Lab in testing nature-based solutions (NBS) in the Mirafiori Sud district of Italy. Local schools play a significant role in testing these solutions. Seven NBS types have been implemented, including new soil, urban horticulture, aquaponics, green roofs and walls, and green corridors.
CommunityBiodiversityPollinatorsPolicyFood educationSmall but connected: assessing the contribution of civic-led hedgerow planting on landscape connectivity in periurban Paris
2025Hugo Rochard, Céline Clauzel, Nathalie Blanc · Urban Ecosystems · France (Paris)
The impact of civic-led hedgerow planting on landscape connectivity was assessed in the southern Paris periurban context. A graph modeling methodology was applied to 94 hedgerow sites, revealing that these sites strengthen landscape connectivity. This quantitative assessment was coupled with qualitative data collected from local civic leaders regarding their perception of social-ecological functions associated with hedgerow planting.
BiodiversityPollinatorsCommunityPeri-urban agricultureGrowing 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 educationFlower 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.
CommunityBiodiversityPollinatorsOverlooked 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.
CommunityBiodiversityPollinatorsMonitoring 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 educationCrop–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.
PollinatorsBiodiversityThe degree of urbanisation reduces wild bee and butterfly diversity and alters the patterns of flower-visitation in urban dry grasslands
2023Herrmann J., Buchholz S., Theodorou P. · Scientific Reports · Germany
In German urban dry grasslands, examined effects of local habitat quality, urbanisation (impervious surfaces), and 3D connectivity on flower visitors; bee and butterfly species richness declined with increasing impervious surface.
PollinatorsBiodiversityDrivers of cultivated and wild plant pollination in urban agroecosystems
2023Nguyen H., Schmack J., Egerer M. · Basic and Applied Ecology · Germany (Munich)
Conducted a pollination-exclusion experiment with two cultivated and two wild plant species across 13 Munich community gardens, finding cultivated-plant fruit and seed mass positively correlated with temperature and pollinator diversity.
PollinatorsBiodiversityNo statistical evidence that honey bees competitively reduced wild bee abundance in the Munich Botanic Garden—a comment on Renner et al. (2021)
2022Lawrence D. Harder, Ronald M. Miksha · Oecologia · Germany (Munich)
A re-analysis of the observations behind Renner et al. (2021), which had concluded that an increase in managed honey bee hives between 2019 and 2020 intensified competition with non-Apis bees in the Munich Botanic Garden, Germany. The comment shows that the change in hive numbers did not statistically alter honey bee visitation to 29 plant species either within or between years, so the shift in the proportion of non-Apis bees among visitors is better explained as a response to reduced overall floral resource availability in 2020. The claim that urban beekeeping suppresses native pollinators is therefore supported by some observational studies and contested by re-analyses that find the statistical basis insufficient.
PollinatorsBiodiversityEL ESPÍRITU DEL ZUMBIDO: ENTREVISTA CON ERIKA MAYR
2022Jorge Godoy Román · Materia Arquitectura · Germany (Berlin)
This interview with Erika Mayr, an entomologist, horticulturist, ecologist, beekeeper, gardener, writer, and caretaker, explores her over 25-year dedication to understanding the importance of bees for other species. It highlights her personal relationship with bees, particularly in Berlin's urban environment, which involved various urban spaces and communities. Now based in Rome, Mayr shares her experiences and current projects in the city.
BiodiversityPollinatorsCommunityContributions of Green Infrastructure-Oriented Planning and Designing in Residential Gardens to the City’s Ecosystem: Case of Trabzon City, Turkey
2022Demet Ülkü Gülpınar Sekban, Duygu Akyol · Journal of Urban Planning and Development · Turkey (Trabzon)
This study examined the contribution of residential gardens to ecosystem services in Trabzon City, Turkey. It was determined that both spatial needs and ecosystem benefits can be met with the same Green Infrastructure (GI) elements, and landscape value is supported by GI elements such as edible gardens, pollinator gardens, rain gardens, biological ponds, and green roofs. GI elements combining vegetation and water landscape elements have a higher potential for ecosystem services. The study concluded that green areas of residential gardens should be planned and designed through a holistic GI-oriented approach based on the total building parcel.
BiodiversityPollinatorsDIYClimate changeHigh honeybee abundances reduce wild bee abundances on flowers in the city of Munich
2021Renner S., Graf M., Hentschel Z., Krause H., Fleischmann A. · Oecologia · Germany (Munich)
Observed flower visitation on 29 plant species in a large Munich urban garden, finding that higher honeybee densities correlated with a significant shift from wild-bee to honeybee visits.
PollinatorsBiodiversityFascination and Joy: Emotions Predict Urban Gardeners’ Pro-Pollinator Behaviour
2021Ulrike Sturm, Tanja M. Straka, Alexandra Moormann, Monika Egerer · Insects · Germany (Berlin)
This study surveyed 111 community gardeners in Berlin and Munich, Germany, to understand the socio-psychological factors predicting pro-pollinator behavior. Using generalized linear models, the analysis revealed that gardeners who were fascinated by pollinators, held positive attitudes, and felt joy about seeing them reported intentions to protect or support pollinators. This suggests that fascination and joy can be harnessed for pollinator research and conservation efforts.
CommunityPollinatorsBiodiversityUrban areas as hotspots for bees and pollination but not a panacea for all insects
2020Theodorou P., Radzevičiūtė R., Lentendu G., Kahnt B., Husemann M., Bleidorn C., Settele J., Schweiger O., Grosse I., Wubet T., Murray T.E., Paxton R.J. · Nature Communications, 11:576 · Germany
A replicated experiment contrasting Central European cities with neighbouring rural sites, finding cities have lower overall insect richness (e.g. flies, butterflies) but higher bee species richness, flower-visitation rates and pollination than the countryside. It shows urban floral resources support bees while cautioning that not all insects benefit, informing the design of pollinator conservation in urban green spaces and gardens.
PollinatorsBiodiversityPolicyThe contribution of small-scale food production in urban areas to the sustainable development goals: a review and case study
2020Elizabeth Nicholls, Adrian Ely, Linda Birkin, Parthiba Basu, Dave Goulson · Sustainability Science · United Kingdom (Brighton and Hove)
A review and case study in Brighton and Hove, UK, examined the contribution of small-scale urban and peri-urban agriculture to sustainable food production. Findings showed these small, labor-intensive systems with high crop diversity can be highly productive, offering environmental and social advantages over industrial agriculture through minimal synthetic inputs and local consumption. However, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding productivity, economic impacts, pesticide use, and biodiversity implications.
BiodiversityPollinatorsClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceA systems approach reveals urban pollinator hotspots and conservation opportunities
2019Baldock K.C.R., Goddard M.A., Hicks D.M., Kunin W.E., Mitschunas N., Morse H., Osgathorpe L.M., Potts S.G., Robertson K.M., Scott A.V., Staniczenko P.P.A., Stone G.N., Vaughan I.P., Memmott J. · Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(3):363-373 · United Kingdom
A large, well-replicated study of floral resources and pollinators across 360 sites in four British cities, comparing pollinator abundance among urban land uses. It shows that residential gardens, allotments and community gardens are urban pollinator hotspots, demonstrating that citizen-tended plots are central to urban biodiversity conservation, and models the benefit of interventions such as adding flowerbeds.
PollinatorsBiodiversityCommunityPolicyWild pollinator activity negatively related to honey bee colony densities in urban context
2019Ropars L., Dajoz I., Fontaine C., Muratet A., Geslin B. · PLOS ONE · Paris, France
In Paris, wild pollinator visitation rates were negatively correlated with honey bee colony densities, suggesting high-density urban beekeeping may compete with wild pollinators for floral resources.
PollinatorsBiodiversitySOS Polinizadores: un proyecto educativo sobre insectos polinizadores
2018Cindy Melissa Torres Peña · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Spain
"SOS Polinizadores" is an educational project aimed at fostering knowledge and study of pollinating insects in ecosystems among students, teachers, and the broader educational community, including their impact on our lives and current threats. It also seeks to raise awareness about environmental problems and the sustainability of nearby ecosystems like parks, gardens, and urban and peri-urban vegetable gardens. The project was carried out in eight educational centers in Madrid in Spring 2017, with a guide provided for future implementation in other centers.
Food educationBiodiversityPollinatorsCommunity