'Forschen für Wildbienen'
In urban gardens, gardeners act as important actors in urban nature conservation with their gardening practice. However, to support gardeners in evidence-based urban nature conservation, there is a lack of research that takes into account the role of gardeners in relation to their gardening practice, their interest and their motivation. The aim of the project is to develop evidence-based, practice-oriented recommendations for nature conservation, e.g. wild bee conservation in urban community gardens, using an interdisciplinary approach. Here we investigate whether and how garden features and horticultural practices can promote wild bee diversity and support their pollination. By combining urban ecology research and citizen science, measures for gardening practice in Berlin and Munich are to be developed. The results will be published and disseminated as target-group-specific recommendations for gardeners, politicians, urban planners and nature conservationists.
In addition to joint scientific research, the collaboration between scientists and gardeners is intended to promote the interest and motivation of city dwellers for nature conservation and to promote the ecology of gardens for science. Therefore, different methods of citizen science and their influence on evidence-based urban nature conservation are also investigated.
During the season, gardeners observe pollination on selected tomato, pumpkin, bell pepper and/or strawberry plants in their community gardens. They document when their plant 1) flowers, 2) is pollinated and 3) bears fruit. At harvest, they measured the size of the fruit.
Scientists from the Technical University of Munich observed wild pollinators in these gardens and documented the nature of the various gardens. Here, garden characteristics such as plant (incl. shrubs and trees), soil and climate characteristics are systematically documented on a monthly basis.
Scientists from the Museum für Naturkunde will investigate the social aspects of the project for the participants and will lead a photo project to accompany the growth of the plants.
Our pilot project in Berlin was continued and extended to Munich in 2021. The ecological research takes place in around 15 community gardens in Berlin and around 15 community gardens in Munich.
Do you have any questions about the project? Interested in participating or already registered? Please send an e-mail to: garten(at)tum.de
Here are some short videos where you can find out more about our research!
Who we are: https://youtu.be/Q1vk5w6xH78
What you get from us: https://youtu.be/2ZYEYjc_irU
How it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGI4DtwBeQY
Partners
- Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Funding
Das Projekt ist durch die Deutsche Postcode Lotterie gefördert
Duration
01.2022 until 09.2024
Team and contact
Astrid Neumann (PhD, TUM-UPE): astrid.neumann(at)tum.de
Monika Egerer (PI, TUM-UPE): monika.egerer(at)tum.de