Technische Universität München
The Plant–Insect Interactions Group (PII) at the Technical University Munich (TUM) in Germany is an internationally recognised research group focusing on the ecological and evolutionary relationships between plants, insects, and their environment. The PII group at TUM has strong expertise in pollination biology, insect–plant interactions, multitrophic networks, and the impacts of environmental change and land management on insects and ecosystem services. A particular emphasis lies on understanding how habitat quality influences insect behaviour, fitness, and community dynamics.
The Chair of Soil Biophysics and Environmental Systems (SBE) at TUM explores how soil physical processes shape life in soil and regulate ecosystem functioning. SBEs research integrates soil physics, biology, and environmental science to understand how soil structure, water dynamics, and management influence biodiversity, plant–soil interactions, and ecosystem resilience.
The research group Urban Productive Ecosystems (UPE) at TUM investigates relationships between biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service provision, and human wellbeing in urban ecosystems, with a focus on pollinators and habitat management in urban agricultural systems. Transdisciplinary and participatory approaches such as citizen science and co-creation are main methodological component in UPEs projects. UPEs research aims to bridge theory and practice to create productive systems in cities that offer food, habitat and community.
Role within ProPollSoil
As coordinator of ProPollSoil, the PII leads the scientific integration and overall project management (WP1).
Additionally, PII contributes to the synthesis and conceptual integration of existing knowledge on soil–pollinator relationships, supporting the development of coherent frameworks that link soil properties with pollinator traits and ecological requirements (WP2). PII also supports the design and harmonisation of site and Case Study Area methodologies, through the development of sampling strategies, data standards, and cross-site comparability of soil and pollinator data (WP3 & WP5). PII is also involved in the integration and interpretation of empirical results, supporting analyses that link soil management and soil quality indicators to pollinator responses and ecosystem functioning (WP5 & WP6).
SBE investigate how soil physical and hydraulic properties shape habitat quality for ground-nesting pollinators (WP4).
We study how soil structure, moisture dynamics, soil health, land management practices, and emerging soil conditions influence nesting behaviour, survival, and resilience of pollinators. SBEs research also explores the feedback between pollinators and soil, examining how their activity affects soil physical properties and ecosystem functioning. By combining soil biophysical measurements, field monitoring, and laboratory experiments, SBE identifies soil conditions and management strategies that enhance pollinator tolerance, promote biodiversity, and support sustainable soil management.
UPE will lead data collection on pollinators and habitat management in urban community gardens (WP2, WP3, WP5).
This will consist of systematic data collection by researchers on pollinators, soil and ground cover management, as well as participatory approaches that involve urban gardeners in data collection on pollinators and their use of garden habitat features.
