Spatial heterogeneity of urban soils: the case of the Beijing metropolitan region, China

Abstract

Introduction: Urban soils are large pools of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements, supporting plant growth, sustaining biogeochemical cycles, and serving as the foundation for maintaining ecosystem function and services of urban green spaces (UGS). Quantifying urban soil properties is essential for assessing urban ecosystem services and detecting pollution. Characterizing spatial heterogeneity of urban soil properties, which may change with land use or urbanization, is crucial for understanding urban ecosystem functions.

Spatial Distribution and Health Risk Assessment of Soil Pollution by Heavy Metals in Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria

“…Soils from transport routes or roadsides and residential areas have high concentrations of heavy metals because they were frequently disturbed by human activities. This finding was consistent with similar earlier studies 5,11. Another factor that may increase concentrations of the heavy metals is the low pH of some of the surface soils.…”

“…The maximum mean concentration of Cu in this study was higher than the 28.82 mgkg −1 and 31.63 mgkg −1 measured in industrial and roadside soils in Beijing metropolitan region, China 11. The mean Cu concentration for urban soils in Ijebu-ode (14.71 mgkg −1 ) was, however, lower than the 30.17 mgkg −1 level recorded for residential areas in Beijing 11. Copper is a metal with very low mobility and studies have shown that it tends to accumulate in topsoil 3,43.…”

“…The mean Mn concentration in this study was 36.06 mgkg −1 , with a maximum of 101.03 mgkg −1 found in the dumpsite soil. The concentration of Mn was also higher in soils at the motor park and artisan workshop, which were, however, lower than the levels of 708, 721 683, 677, and 646 mgkg −1 recorded for industrial, roadside, residential, institutional, and forest soils, respectively, in Beijing, China 11. Soils from transport routes or roadsides and residential areas have high concentrations of heavy metals because they were frequently disturbed by human activities.…”

“…Among the heavy metals investigated in the urban soils in Ijebu-Ode, mean concentrations of Cd, Cu, and Ni were within the USEPA ECO-SSL for plants, soil, invertebrates, and mammalian wildlife 42. Accumulation of Cd, Cu, and Zn in urban soils along transport routes could be attributed to the abrasion of tires and vehicle parts 11,44–46…”

Urban-rural gradients in soil nutrients beneath Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis Carr.) are affected by land-use

“…Gradients in soil properties have been studied at the scales of patches (Jenerette et al 2010), cities (Pouyat et al 2006;Pouyat et al 2010), regions (Pouyat et al 2007;Li et al 2013), and globally (Pouyat et al 2006). The urban-rural gradient paradigm characterizes variation in soils with respect to the degree of urbanization as measured by land-use intensity (Su et al 2019), style of land management (Mao et al 2014), particular microenvironments (Liu et al 2007), and/or the ora and fauna that compose soils (Zhu and Carreiro 1999;Zhao et al 2010). This paradigm is considered useful for describing effects of urbanization on soil nutrients due to its simplicity and effectiveness (Bennett 2003;Vasenev et al 2013;Chen et al 2014;Meng et al 2018).…”