Lawn as a cultural and ecological phenomenon: A conceptual framework for transdisciplinary research

Ignatieva, Maria; Ahrné, Karin; Wissman, Jörgen; Tidåker, Pernilla; Hedblom, Marcus; Kätterer, Thomas; Marstorp, Håkan; Berg, Per; Eriksson, Tuula; Bengtsson, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2015.04.003

Cited by 77 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Malmö is situated in an agriculture dominated area in the south, Gothenburg in a forested area with a lot of bare rocks on the west coast and Uppsala is based in a landscape consisting of mixture of forest and agricultural land (approximately 50% each) in eastern Sweden. They represent potentially different climate conditions and local cultures in management and establishment of lawns (Ignatieva et al 2015). These three cities are further studied in a major transdisciplinary project about lawns where two urban Multi-family residential housing neighborhoods that are rather unique for Sweden are investigated; Million program Housing and Post war BPeoples home^where approximately 50% of the Swedish population live (see Ignatieva et al 2015).…”

Section: Methodology Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They represent potentially different climate conditions and local cultures in management and establishment of lawns (Ignatieva et al 2015). These three cities are further studied in a major transdisciplinary project about lawns where two urban Multi-family residential housing neighborhoods that are rather unique for Sweden are investigated; Million program Housing and Post war BPeoples home^where approximately 50% of the Swedish population live (see Ignatieva et al 2015). In Sweden 85% of the population live in urban areas (Statistics Sweden 2012).…”

Section: Methodology Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lawns are however mostly noticeable in the western world in particular but through modernization processes in, e.g., China there has been a fairly recent rapid increase in the establishments of lawns (Ignatieva et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lawn has supposedly become such an important component of cities due to the numerous ecosystem services lawns provide (Johnson 2013); e.g., good opportunities for activity as sport fields promotes good health, visual esthetic values that increase well-being, carbon sequestration, urban heat regulation (Wang et al 2016) area for water infiltration (Armson et al 2013), noise reduction (Fang and Ling 2003) and as substrate for biodiversity, especially when managed as meadows (Ignatieva et al 2015). However, lawns also have negative effects due to the high use of pesticides (e.g., 17% of the insecticides used in USA are used for lawns; Milesi et al 2005, but the usage of pesticides vary a lot between different regions of the world), fertilizers, vast water consumption (Runfola et al 2013) and potentially high management costs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, few studies investigated lawn continuity over time although lawns are an old cultural phenomenon, e.g., in Western Europe where they date back to medieval times (Ignatieva et al 2015). Robinson (2012) has, as one of the few, estimated land cover composition change between 1960 and 2000 at parcel level in an exurban residential area in Michigan USA.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Estimating urban lawn cover in space and time: Case studies in three Swedish cities

et al. 2017

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Lawns are considered monocultures and lesser contributors to sustainability than diverse nature but are still a dominating green area feature and an important cultural phenomenon in cities. Lawns have esthetical values, provide playground, are potential habitat for species, contribute to carbon sequestration and water infiltration, but also increase pesticides, fertilization, are monocultures and costly to manage at the same time. To evaluate the potential impact of lawns, whether positive or negative, it is of interest to estimate the total lawn cover in cities and its change over time. This is not a straightforward process, e.g., because many lawns are small and covered by trees. In this study we review the existing literature of lawn cover in cities and the different methodologies used for cover estimation. We found both pros and cons with NDVI and LiDAR data as well as manually interpreted aerial photos. The total cover of lawns in three case study cities was estimated to 22.5%. By extrapolating these percentages to all Swedish cities lawn cover was estimated to 2589 km 2 (0.6% of the terrestrial surface). The approximated total municipal management cost of lawns in all Swedish cities was 910,000,000 USD/ year. During 50 years lawn area almost doubled in relative cover and 56% of them were continuously managed. Since lawns constitute large parts of the urban greenery and are costly to manage it is highly relevant to consider their social, ecological and cultural value compared to alternatives, e.g., meadows with less intensive management.

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Section: Methodology Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodology Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Estimating urban lawn cover in space and time: Case studies in three Swedish cities

et al. 2017

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Performance of multiple turfgrass species during prolonged heat stress and recovery in a controlled environment

Breuillin‐Sessoms

Watkins

2020

Crop Science

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Increasing temperatures associated with climate change will be the next challenge for crop improvement, especially for turfgrass species that are often grown in urban green spaces. Previous research on turfgrass heat stress tolerance has been limited to a small number of species and cultivars with different heat stress conditions between studies; therefore, we assessed heat stress tolerance of 34 turfgrasses representing 14 species. Four replicates of each entry were established for at least 12 wk and then subjected to 49 d of heat stress (35/25 °C day/night) followed by a 4 wk recovery period (25/15 °C day/night). Turfgrass entries were assessed using the normalized difference vegetative index, the percentage of green obtained with digital image analysis, and membrane stability estimated by electrolyte leakage. Buffalograss [Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) J.T. Columbus], Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), tall fescue [Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort], and slender creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra ssp. littoralis) were more tolerant of heat stress than the other species. The Canada bluegrass (Poa compressa L.), blue grama [Bouteloua gracilis (Willd. ex Kunth.) Lag. ex Griffiths], and smooth brome (Bromus inermis Leyss.) cultivars were all tolerant of heat stress; however, only one cultivar for these three species was tested, making species‐wide generalizations difficult. In some cases, the cultivars and/or selections within a given species differed in heat stress response. Almost all entries were able to recover from the heat stress by the end of the recovery period. Altogether, we were able to identify turfgrasses that should perform adequately in high‐temperature urban environments.

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Drivers of soil and tree carbon dynamics in urban residential lawns: a modeling approach

Trammell

Pouyat

Carreiro

et al. 2017

Ecological Applications

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Soils constitute the largest sink of terrestrial carbon (C), and urban soils have the potential to provide significant soil C storage. Soils in urbanized landscapes experience a multitude of human alterations, such as compaction and management subsidies, that impact soil C dynamics. While field studies may provide data on urban soil C storage, modeling soil C dynamics under various human impact scenarios will provide a basis for identifying drivers of urban soil C dynamics and for predicting the potential for these highly altered soils to store C over time intervals not typically amenable to empirical validation. The goal of this study was to model soil C dynamics in residential lawns using CENTURY, a dynamic mechanistic model, to determine whether drivers of soil C dynamics in natural systems (e.g., soil texture) were equally useful for estimating soil C content of highly modified soils in urban residential areas. Without incorporating human impacts, we found no relationship between initial CENTURY model simulations and observed soil C (P > 0.05). Factors that best explained soil C accumulation for the observed soil C (bulk density, r = 0.30; home age, r = 0.37; P < 0.01) differed from those found important for the CENTURY model simulations (percent sand, r = 0.72, P < 0.001). Therefore, we conducted a modeling exercise to test whether simulating potential construction disturbance and lawn management practices would improve modeled soil and tree C. We found that incorporating these factors did improve CENTURY's ability to model soil and tree C (P < 0.001). The results from this analysis suggest that incorporating various human disturbances and management practices that occur in urban landscapes into CENTURY model runs will improve its ability to predict urban soil C dynamics, at least within a 100-yr time frame. Thus, enhancing our ability to provide recommendations for management and development practices that result in increasing urban soil C storage.

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Lawn as a cultural and ecological phenomenon: A conceptual framework for transdisciplinary research

Cited by 77 publications

References 18 publications

Estimating urban lawn cover in space and time: Case studies in three Swedish cities

Estimating urban lawn cover in space and time: Case studies in three Swedish cities

Performance of multiple turfgrass species during prolonged heat stress and recovery in a controlled environment

Drivers of soil and tree carbon dynamics in urban residential lawns: a modeling approach

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