Urban gardening has become increasingly popular, creating green oases in cities; however, many of these activities are undertaken in areas of high traffic density or on ex-brown field sites. As a consequence, there are still some barriers to the adoption of these urban gardening practices for food production. One of the public concerns is the transfer of urban pollutants such as heavy metals into the consumer’s food chain, however, city-wide data is often difficult and expensive to collect. In the citizen science project described herein, we conducted simple citizen-led common collaborative experiments in urban community gardens. These data provided information on the potential risk of heavy metal contaminants and ways in which to mitigate those risks in an urban gardening context. Generally, values were below guideline thresholds, however, at a few garden sites, soil trace metal concentrations (Pb, Cd, Zn) exceeded Austrian recommended limits. Moreover, only at two sites were plant trace metal concentrations shown to be above European food standards limits. Given the citizen’s positive response to the project, we suggest expanding this study to the whole of Vienna, giving newly established gardens a chance to predetermine the risks posed by their local soils.
Climate change scenarios for central Europe predict fewer but heavier rains during the vegetation period without substantial changes in the total amount of annual rainfall. To investigate the impact of rainfall patterns derived from regionalised IPCC scenarios on agroecosystems in Austria, we conducted an experiment using 3 m 2 lysimeters where prognosticated (progn.) rainfall patterns were compared with long-term current rainfall patterns on three agriculturally important soil types (sandy calcaric phaeozem, gleyic phaeozem and calcic chernozem). Lysimeters were cultivated with field peas (Pisum sativum) according to good farming practice. Prognosticated rainfall patterns decreased crop cover, net primary production (NPP) and crop yields, but increased root production and tended to decrease mycorrhization. Soil types affected the NPP, crop density and yields, weed biomass and composition, as well as the root production with lowest values commonly found in sandy soils, while other soil types showed almost similar effects. Significant interactions between rainfall patterns and soil types were observed for the harvest index (ratio crop yield versus straw), yield per crop plant, weed density and weed community composition. Abundance of the insect pest pea moth (Cydia nigricana) tended to be higher under progn. rainfall, but was unaffected by soil types. These results show that (a) future rainfall patterns will substantially affect various agroecosystem processes and crop production in the studied region, and (b) the influence of different soil types in altering ecosystem responses to climate change should be considered when attempting to scale-up experimental results derived at the plot level to the landscape level.
<p>Urban Gardening has become increasingly popular globally in the past two decades as urbanites begin to recognise the benefits of growing their own food and the sense of community these gardening activities engender. These activities grow as citizens reclaim derelict land and are increasingly using roof top gardens and novel containers, providing much needed green oases in the city, concepts which are particularly popular with the &#8220;share&#8221; generation. However, many such sites are in areas of high traffic density, on brown field sites or on sites overlying landfill, as a result of their urban location. The proximity to such sites may lead to worries about the food safety and reduction of the adoption of such healthy urban gardening practices. One of the main concerns is the transfer of urban pollutants into the consumer&#8217;s food chain. Trace metals are one of the contaminants frequently found in urban crops and soils. Perceived concerns about the effects of these heavy metal contaminants on human health often outweigh the true risk; part of the problem is the lack of data in the urban production context. Moreover, collection of city-wide data on the health of the soil is often difficult and expensive to collect. In this project we intend to attempt to overcome these issues by recruiting citizens to conduct simple common collaborative experiments in their urban gardens, from these data we will create a city map of soil health status and providing information on potential risk of heavy metal contaminants and ways in which to mitigate those risks in an Urban Gardening context. We chose a citizen science approach in this project, not only as it will allow us to gather a wealth of data but also it will empower us to jointly generate useful information for the greater public good which can contribute towards creating green sustainable cities.</p><p>This project will place the citizen at the heart of the experimental process in contrast to more traditional observational data collection. Using an experimental approach really exposes the citizens to the scientific process and enables them to gain tacit knowledge of how scientists overcome variance, bias and arrives at scientifically sound evidence based conclusions. As a result, citizen science can provide reassurance to the public about the rigour and process of scientific enquiry. In doing so it can inspire confidence and understanding of the nuances of political bias; putting contextual knowledge together, in learning by doing.</p>
Citizen science is a powerful tool for collecting data in inaccessible places and at scales that would otherwise not be possible. Studies using complex, laboratory-based technical analysis with samples derived from easy to conduct experiments could also capitalize on this approach, by including the public in the experimental undertaking. This approach offers practical communication opportunities to raise awareness about the scientific method. We used an experimental citizen science approach in order to communicate the concept of land-based carbon sequestration and the potential role of biochar (i.e. charcoal added to soil). At four gardening events (between 100 and 7,000 attendees) we encouraged participation in our pot-scale citizen science project. We aimed to assess drought resilience of pot plants in soils amended with biochar. Participants sent their mature plant samples to our laboratory for stable isotope analysis to get results and additional information on drought stress, that was otherwise not possible. We observed no significant negative or positive effects of biochar, neither on the water use efficiency, as determined by isotopic methods or on the growth of the bean plants. Our two-stage strategy (experimental citizen science and laboratory analysis) was an effective way of involving people. We identified some challenges sustaining commitment and made some improvements to the project design. Overall we successfully avoided the "learning deficit" trap by engaging the people in an experimental learning activity; demonstrating that combining experimental citizen science with lab-based analysis is a promising and inspiring approach for future studies.
<p>Soil organic carbon (SOC) depletion mainly affects croplands, and it reduces the function of soil to control erosion, to hold water and to store carbon. Hence, arable production needs adaptation of restorative practices to increase C sequestration. Roots are key for sustainable agriculture because they are the main precursors of SOC. Increased and deeper roots are a viable option to maximize carbon input to the soil to enhance SOC. However, there is a lack of data on the extent and distribution of roots for different crop types under different management conditions. This study aimed to quantify root carbon inputs and sequestration potential of maize as well as to determine root biomass and architecture under different organic amendment applications. Maize was labelled with <sup>13</sup>C-CO<sub>2</sub> in the field at the beginning of the growing period. Leaf, root, and soil subsamples from labelled and unlabelled plants were taken during the three weeks after labelling. The carbon distribution and turnover in the investigated pools was assessed by analysing <sup>13</sup>C by Elemental Analyzer Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (EA-IRMS). Furthermore, to test the effect of the organic amendments on root growth, maize was grown in an adjacent field with identical conditions with the following treatments: (i) control, (ii) biochar (iii) compost and (iv) NPK. At the end of the growing period, roots were excavated to 30 cm depth and prepared for biomass and root architecture determination. The data collected will allow us to determine carbon distribution and turnover in the investigated pools and assess total C inputs to the soil. Moreover, it will allow us to assess whether the management practices investigated can be used to enhance root C input.</p>
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