Soil carbon pools and fluxes in urban ecosystems

“…Although certain urban habitat types may be highly productive, urbanization may reduce regional NPP rates as was observed in forested landscapes of the Southeastern United States (Milesi et al 2003). Variability in NPP rates among different types of urban habitat structure (from zero in paved areas to very high in fertilized lawns) may in turn give rise to high spatial heterogeneity in the C pools and fluxes of urban soils (Pouyat et al 2002;Byrne 2006).…”

Section: Ecosystem Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Halverson and Heisler (1981) found that construction activities reduced the pH and increased the sand content in soils under asphalt. In addition, the bulk density, nitrogen (N) and organic matter content of urban soils can be altered by human activities, especially management of vegetation structure (Green and Oleksyszyn 2002;Pouyat et al 2002;Hope et al 2005;Kaye et al 2005;Lorenz and Kandeler 2005). Scharenbroch et al (2005) and Golubiewski (2006) found that age of landscapes (i.e., time since initial urbanization) was a significant predictor of many soil properties including organic matter content which increased with landscape age.…”

Section: Abiotic Soil Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Old field Bark mulch Byrne (2006) levels of spatial and temporal heterogeneity than native soils (Craul 1985;Pouyat et al 2002;Hope et al 2005;Lorenz and Kandeler 2005) due to quickly changing human management regimes across time and space (e.g., in terms of disturbance and resource inputs). Therefore, it is critical for ecologists to measure as many soil variables as possible at all sites in urban studies to ensure that accurate conclusions are made about relationships among human activities, aboveground habitat structures and the structure and ecology of urban soils.…”

Section: Lawnmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Habitat structure: A fundamental concept and framework for urban soil ecology

Byrne

2007

Urban Ecosyst

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Habitat structure is defined as the composition and arrangement of physical matter at a location. Although habitat structure is the physical template underlying ecological patterns and processes, the concept is relatively unappreciated and underdeveloped in ecology. However, it provides a fundamental concept for urban ecology because human activities in urban ecosystems are often targeted toward management of habitat structure. In addition, the concept emphasizes the fine-scale, on-the-ground perspective needed in the study of urban soil ecology. To illustrate this, urban soil ecology research is summarized from the perspective of habitat structure effects. Among the key conclusions emerging from the literature review are: (1) habitat structure provides a unifying theme for multivariate research about urban soil ecology; (2) heterogeneous urban habitat structures influence soil ecological variables in different ways; (3) more research is needed to understand relationships among sociological variables, habitat structure patterns and urban soil ecology. To stimulate urban soil ecology research, a conceptual framework is presented to show the direct and indirect relationships among habitat structure and ecological variables. Because habitat structure serves as a physical link between sociocultural and ecological systems, it can be used as a focus for interdisciplinary and applied research (e.g., pest management) about the multiple, interactive effects of urbanization on the ecology of soils.

show abstract

“…As urban land use can be equated to soil use (Pouyat et al, 2007a;Setälä et al, 2014), urbanization not only modifies soil structure but also reduces the soil area/volume. Sites at which productive soils have been lost or replaced by functionally altered soils such as "made lands" (Pouyat et al, 2002;Pavao-Zuckerman, 2008) are often characterized by diminished organic matter (OM), carbon (C), and nutrient stocks (Craul and Klein, 1980;Short et al, 1986). Since soil C content relates to soil function and resultant ecosystem services (Franzluebbers, 2002), C-devoid urban soils may provide fewer benefits than those unaltered by humans (Pouyat et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation Type and Age Drive Changes in Soil Properties, Nitrogen, and Carbon Sequestration in Urban Parks under Cold Climate

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urban green spaces provide ecosystem properties fundamental to the provision of ecosystem services, such as the sequestration of carbon and nutrients and serving as a reservoir for organic matter. Although, urban vegetation influences soil physico-chemical properties, it remains unknown whether ecosystem properties depend on plant species portfolios. We tested the influence of three common functional plant groups (evergreen trees, deciduous trees, grass/lawn) for their ability to modify soils in parks of various ages under cold climatic conditions in Finland. We hypothesized that (i) plant functional groups affect soils differently resulting in divergent ecosystem properties, and (ii) that these ecosystem properties also depend on park age. We included 41 urban parks of varying ages (10, 50, and >100 years) and additional control forests. Park soils were sampled for physico-chemical parameters up to 50 cm depth. Our data indicate that plant functional groups modify soils differently, especially between the evergreen and lawn treatments at 50 and >100 year old parks. Soils under evergreen trees had the lowest pH and generally the highest percentage organic matter, percentage total carbon and percentage total nitrogen. Soil pH remained the same, whereas concentrations of organic matter, total carbon and total nitrogen declined by depth. Soils in the reference forests had lower pH but higher percentages organic matter, total carbon, and total nitrogen than those in parks. We estimate that old parks with evergreen trees can store 35.5 and 2.3 kg N m −2 -considerably more than in urban soils in warmer climates. Our data suggest that plant-soil interactions in urban parks, in spite of being constructed environments, are surprisingly similar to those in natural forests.

show abstract

Soil carbon pools and fluxes in urban ecosystems

Cited by 323 publications

References 30 publications

Nitrogen input from residential lawn care practices in suburban watersheds in Baltimore county, MD

Nitrogen input from residential lawn care practices in suburban watersheds in Baltimore county, MD

Habitat structure: A fundamental concept and framework for urban soil ecology

Vegetation Type and Age Drive Changes in Soil Properties, Nitrogen, and Carbon Sequestration in Urban Parks under Cold Climate

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About