The “GardenCoLab” research initiative has been running since 2020 and collaborates with around 30 community gardens in Berlin and Munich. It is being developed and implemented in partnership with Lab Productive Urban Ecosystems at the Technical University of Munich.
We follow a transdisciplinary and participatory research approach: ecological research is combined with citizen science to study pollinator diversity in community gardens. Results are discussed with the gardeners, and evidence-based, practical measures to promote pollinators are developed and implemented jointly.
Every spring/summer, monthly fieldwork is carried out in the gardens to map vegetation, measure environmental variables and record wild bees. Surveys are also conducted.
Key findings:
- continuous monitoring of wild bees and other pollinator groups, as well as garden characteristics such as vegetation, nesting structures and climatic conditions in the participating community gardens
- Joint research (citizen science) with gardeners on pollination performance in relation to wild bee diversity and urbanisation
- Measures developed through co-creation: catalogue of measures (in German language)
Current projects:
- Biodiversity in the Neighbourhood – Gardeners and residents working together with civil society organisations, academia and other urban stakeholders to increase biodiversity in urban nature, funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation’s (BfN) Federal Biodiversity Programme
- Berlin community gardens develop pollinator protection, funded by the SenMVKU
Partners
- Prof. Dr Monika Egerer (PI)
Publikationen (Auswahl)
Karlebowski, S., Egerer, M., Neumann, A.E., Schmack, J.M., Sturm, U. (2024). Co-creation for change: engaging urban community gardeners in the development of insect conservation interventions. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/ap.e126596
Bucher, K., Egerer, M., Engl, M., Haug, M., Karlebowski, S., Kronester, S., Schoo, D., Sturm, U. (2025). Gärtnern für mehr Biodiversität in der Stadt: Ein Katalog mit Anleitungen für biodiversitätsfördernde Maßnahmen. München: TUM.University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14459/2025md1781539
Egerer, M., Karlebowski, S., Conitz, F., Neumann, A.E., Schmack, J.M., Sturm, U. (2024). In defence of urban community gardens. People and Nature, 6(2), 367-376. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10612
Egerer, M., Karlebowski, S., Schoo, D., Sturm, U. (2024). Growing gardens into neighborhoods through transdisciplinary research. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 100, 128481. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2024.128481
Karlebowski, S., Egerer, M., Neumann, A.E., Schmack, J.M., Sturm, U. (2023). Citizen Science and Pollination Research: Lessons Learned from a Research Collaboration in Community Gardens in Berlin and Munich. Proceedings of Austrian Citizen Science Conference 2023 — PoS(ACSC2023), 442. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/1.442.0009
Neumann, A.E., Conitz, F., Karlebowski, S., Sturm, U., Schmack, J.M., Egerer, M. (2024). Flower richness is key to pollinator abundance: The role of garden features in cities. Basic and Applied Ecology, 79, 102-113. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2024.06.004
Schmack, J.M., Egerer, M., Karlebowski, S., Neumann, A.E., Sturm, U. (2024). Overlooked and misunderstood: how urban community gardeners perceive social wasps and their ecosystem functions. Journal of Insect Conservation, 28(2), 283-289. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-024-00548-5
Sexton, A.N., Conitz, F., Karlebowski, S., Neumann, A.E., Schmack, J.M., Sturm, U., Egerer, M. (2025). Urban pollinator communities are structured by local-scale garden features, not landscape context. Landscape Ecology, 40(3), 1-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-025-02062-8
Egerer, M., Sturm, U. (2024). Gemeinschaftsgärten als Orte der Biodiversität in der Stadt. In Baier, A., Müller, C., Werner, K. (Hrsg.), Unterwegs in die Stadt der Zukunft (267-276). transcript Verlag. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839471630-016
Karlebowski, S., Sturm, U., Egerer, M. (2023). Forschen für Wildbienen – Gemeinschaftsgärten gemeinsam gestalten. In Treffpunkt Biologische Vielfalt XXI: interdisziplinärer Forschungsaustausch im Rahmen des Übereinkommens über die biologische Vielfalt (62-68). Bonn: Deutschland / Bundesamt für Naturschutz. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19217/SKR661
Sexton, A., Conitz, F., Sturm, U., Egerer, M. (2025). Wild Plants Drive Biotic Differentiation Across Urban Gardens. Ecology and Evolution, 15(6). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71527