Miss Ibukunoluwa Balogun1, Prof James Pryke1, Prof Michael Samways1

1Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Biography:

Ibukunoluwa Balogun, BSc (OAU), MSc (OAU), is an insect conservationist. She is currently a PhD candidate in Conservation Ecology with a focus on insect pollinators at Stellenbosch University. She has published on insect pollinators in Nigeria. She is serving as the African Regional Coordinator of the Young Professional Taskforce of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. She is keen on science communication and shares her research and conservation tips on her social media pages (Facebook: Ibukunoluwa Balogun, Instagram: Ibukun conservation, LinkedIn: Ibukunoluwa Balogun).

Abstract:

Recently, urban areas have been touted as a refuge for insect pollinators, especially bees. However, these green areas are not necessarily designed for pollinators and pollinators are on a decline in many parts of the world. Furthermore, in African urban areas, where there is a mosaic consisting of the urban core, farms, and natural areas, how these green areas serve as a refuge for pollinators is poorly explored. This is important, especially in the wake of increasing urbanization and agricultural intensification in African cities. Hence, there is a need to assess the effectiveness of African cities as refuges for insect pollinators and their ecosystem functions. Here, we investigate how insect pollinator diversity differs between the urban core with gardens, agricultural areas, and natural areas in a southern African urban mosaic. We also study the influence of urban green spaces on the taxonomic diversity of insect pollinators. At each site, appropriate sampling methods were used to assess insects, floral resources, environmental and landscape variables. Results showed that the insect pollinator abundance, species richness and composition varied among green spaces. On a taxon level, some taxa had results similar between gardens and agricultural areas and some were similar between agricultural and natural areas. This suggests that agricultural areas can serve as stepping stone habitats. Also, this shows that every green space is important for insect pollinators and should be managed sustainably to increase habitat complementarity between green spaces in urban areas. Furthermore, there was a significant influence of floral resources on pollinator diversity. Whereas the effect of landscape variables was taxon specific. Here we show that floral variables are important for directing conservation efforts, indicating that flowering plants should be enhanced in urban areas, especially in human-modified areas such as agricultural areas and urban gardens.