Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for Tshwane

Project background
Further information
While the literature promotes the inclusion of a greater variety of ecosystem services in multi-functional urban green space areas, very little research has been done on urban green space areas in South Africa - specifically how these areas contribute to biodiversity conservation and influence public perception. Very few guidelines exist for landscape architects and horticulturalists to select plants based on biodiversity or ecosystem service criteria.
The project was conceptualized in 2016 by Dr Ida Breed, a landscape architect at the Department of Architecture, UP. The project spans the expertise of various disciplines and the aim is to incorporate researchers interested in urban biodiversity, ecosystem services and native species to collaborate on the project.
The project has received funding from the National Research Foundation (2017-2019), the UP Research Development Programme (2017-2019), the UP Capacity Development Programme (2020-2021).
Principal researcher: Dr C A Breed, Senior Lecturer, Department of Architecture.
Contact: ida.breed@up.ac.za
Implementation collaborators (2016-2019): Dr J Wentzel, Wildflower Nursery; Ivan van der Walt, Abrus Enterprises; Insite Group landscape architects, Werner Venter; Green Inc landscape architects, Wouter Labuschagne.
Research collaborators (2019-2020): Prof Catherine Sole; Prof Christian Pirk, Department of Zoology. University of Pretoria
Research collaborators (2020-2021): Prof S Cilliers; Prof J Berner, School of Biological Sciences, North-West University
Ongoing design and implementation maintenance: Dr Ida Breed, UP; Ivan van der Walt, Abrus Enterprises;