Dr. Simon G. Potts, University of Reading, United Kingdom

Dr. Francesca Lanata, National Botanical Garden of Belgium and Botanical Garden of Kisantu, Democratic Republic of Congo

Dr. José Justin Mbimbi & Pr. Julien Punga, University of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Pr. Ferdinand Kombele Menea, IFA Yangambi, Democratic Republic of Congo

Dr. Michel-Pierre Faucon, Institut LaSalle, Beauvais, France

Prof. Pierre Meerts, Free University of Brussels/Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Prof. Grégory Mahy, Gembloux Agro-Biotech, Université de Liège, Belgium

Mr. Alain Pauly, Research Associate of the Belgian Royal Institute for Natural Sciences (IRScNB), Belgium

Mr. Paul Latham, Blairgowrie, United Kingdom

Assessing bee diversity in Central Africa (2008-present)


Focus on DRCongo

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

République Démocratique du Congo (RDC)

This project was initiated by Simon Potts (University of Reading) in Congo Brazzaville in 2007 through a Darwin Initiative Project (Defra Ref 15021).


I took over from Alain Pauly (IRScNB) in 2008 to be in charge of collecting wild bees in different habitats of Western DRC, in the Bas Congo and Kinshasa provinces. The objectives of the DRC project are mainly to work with Congolese Nationals to strengthen the National Biodiversity Strategy by:


  1. •Re-establishing insect (bee) collection in National Herbaria curated in Universities and Botanical Gardens;

  2. •Developing basic research and training facilities to provide long-term in country expertise;

  3. •Undertaking an integrated assessment of the biodiversity status of several provinces in DRCongo;

  4. •Developing a sustainable framework for assessing biodiversity in previously unexplored areas of DRCongo using national resources.

Project Detail

Since the onset of this project in DRCongo, we have worked in close collaboration with a team of researchers and students at the University of Kinsahsa and at the Botanical Garden of Kisantu. We used a combination of transects with insect nets and coloured pan traps to investigate the influence of land use on the diversity of bees. This sampling technique is directly inspired by the recent works of the EU ALARM project and the study by Westphal et al. (2008).

The bees sampled have been identified by Alain Pauly, a Belgian bee taxonomist with considerable expertise on African bees. The plants visited by bees in the study sites have been taken in consideration as well, and with the help of Paul Latham we are preparing a book on the diversity of wild bees and their associated plants in the Bas-Congo and Kinshasa Provinces.


Reference collection of wild bees will then be transferred back to the Congolese partners, and since 2010 we have discussed collaboration opportunities with a team of researchers from both the IFA Yangambi now based in Kisangani (Eastern Province of DRC) and the University of Lububmbashi (Katanga) in collaboration with the association Biodiversité Au Katanga (BAK), the Free University of Brussels/Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), Gembloux Agro-Biotech/Université de Liège (Belgium) and the Institut LaSalle at Beauvais (France)

Project Partners

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Photo N.J. Vereecken

Photo N.J. Vereecken

Photo N.J. Vereecken