Jozi Bee Hotel Project

We are so excited to be collaborating with Wits University on this exciting #citizenscience project to assess the differences in biodiversity and ecosystem services across the rapidly developing City of Johannesburg. 

In order for this project to be a success WE NEED YOUR HELP. We are looking for Jozi residents to participate - this entails hanging a free solitary bee hotel in your garden, and sharing a weekly photograph. No need to have any formal qualifications, we will provide all information and training needed, we just need interested and enthusiastic citizens.

Project dates: 1 September 2021 - 31 December 2021

If you are curious or keen to BEE INVOLVED:

  1. Read details of the project at www.jozibeehotelproject.com

  2. Check out the interactive maps and see if you are in an area that has been selected as a sample area (50 wards)

  3. Register your interest by emailing jozibeehotelproject@gmail.com

 

Project Overview

Goal 11 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals sets the global challenge of inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities. Central to achieving this goal is ensuring that all city inhabitants have access to urban biodiversity and reap the benefits of the many ecosystem services that it provides. Our project aims to test whether this is indeed the case for the rapidly urbanising City of Johannesburg, and we need your help to do this! By testing how biodiversity changes across the diverse landscapes of Jozi, we can start to understand what drives these differences and ultimately develop effective solutions to ensure equitable access to biodiversity for all city residents.

Solitary bees are a wonderful way to measure changes in biodiversity and ultimately ecosystem services. In addition to being conveniently housed in a bee hotel, these diverse, harmless bees are essential pollinators. Pollination is an essential ecosystem service and is classified as both a regulating and cultural service. Urban trees, residential gardens, parks and city agriculture all require wild pollinators in order to thrive. These pollination services are critical in supporting the wide diversity of urban vegetation, which further provides habitat for animal and bird diversity. It also maintains the lush urban green spaces we see around us by increasing ecosystem functioning and productivity. Consequently, by measuring how solitary bee diversity and abundance change across the city we can establish which areas are most in need of interventions to secure biodiversity and ecosystem services for all city inhabitants.

We look foward to working with you!

Dr Chevonne Reynolds

School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences

University of the Witwatersrand