Soil Properties and Ecosystem Services: Overview and Introduction

Abstract. Urban soils are of increasing interest for their potential to provide ecosystem services such as carbon storage and nutrient cycling. Despite this, there is limited knowledge on how soil sealing with impervious surfaces, a common disturbance in urban environments, affects these important ecosystem services. In this paper, we investigate the effect of soil sealing on soil properties, soil carbon and soil nutrient stocks. We undertook a comparative survey of sealed and unsealed green space soils across the UK city of Manchester. Our results reveal that the context of urban soil and the anthropogenic artefacts added to soil have a great influence on soil properties and functions. In general, sealing reduced soil carbon and nutrient stocks compared to green space soil; however, where there were anthropogenic additions of organic and mineral artefacts, this led to increases in soil carbon and nitrate content. Anthropogenic additions led to carbon stocks equivalent to or larger than those in green spaces; this was likely a result of charcoal additions, leading to carbon stores with long residence times. This suggests that in areas with an industrial past, anthropogenic additions can lead to a legacy carbon store in urban soil and make important contributions to urban soil carbon budgets. These findings shed light on the heterogeneity of urban sealed soil and the influence of anthropogenic artefacts on soil functions. Our research highlights the need to gain a further understanding of urban soil processes, in both sealed and unsealed soils, and of the influence and legacy of anthropogenic additions for soil functions and important ecosystem services.

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Sustainability, certification, and regulation of biochar

Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira ◽

10.1590/s0100-204x2012000500003 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 47 (5) ◽

pp. 649-653 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Frank G. A. Verheijen ◽

Luca Montanarella ◽

Ana Catarina Bastos

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Soil Properties ◽

Socioeconomic Factors ◽

Half Life ◽

Global Scale ◽

Soil Sampling ◽

Temporal Scales ◽

Certification Procedure ◽

Time Periods ◽

And Behavior

Biochar has a relatively long half-life in soil and can fundamentally alter soil properties, processes, and ecosystem services. The prospect of global-scale biochar application to soils highlights the importance of a sophisticated and rigorous certification procedure. The objective of this work was to discuss the concept of integrating biochar properties with environmental and socioeconomic factors, in a sustainable biochar certification procedure that optimizes complementarity and compatibility between these factors over relevant time periods. Biochar effects and behavior should also be modelled at temporal scales similar to its expected functional lifetime in soils. Finally, when existing soil data are insufficient, soil sampling and analysis procedures need to be described as part of a biochar certification procedure.

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Development of an IoT system for sensing monitoring of soil properties

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-12860 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Byeongchul Lee ◽

Kyoung Jae Lim ◽

Jae E Yang ◽

Dong Seok Yang ◽

Jiyoeng Hong

Keyword(s):

Big Data ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Soil Properties ◽

Real Time ◽

System Analysis ◽

Vital Role ◽

Data System ◽

Soil Sensors ◽

Soil Ecosystem Services ◽

Time Basis

<p>In the age of big data, constructing a database plays a vital role in various fields. Especially, in the agricultural and environmental fields, real-time databases are useful because the fields are easily affected by dynamic nature phenomena. To construct a real-time database in these fields, various sensors and an Internet of Things (IoT) system have been widely used. In this study, an IoT system was developed to construct soil properties database on a real-time basis and aim to a big data system analysis that can assess ecosystem services provided from soil resources. The IoT system consisted of three types of soil sensors, main devices, sensor connectors, and subsidiary devices. The IoT system can measure soil temperature, moisture, and electrical conductivity (EC) data on a five-minute interval. Also, the devices were applied to two test-beds near Chuncheon city in South Korea and have been testing for the stability and availability of the system. In a further study, we will add various soil sensors and functions into the developed IoT system to improve their availability. If the developed IoT system becomes to be stable and functional, it can contribute to constructing soil properties database on a real-time basis and a big data system that assesses soil ecosystem services.</p>

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Degradation of Riparian Forest Affects Soil Properties and Ecosystem Services Provision in Eastern Amazon of Brazil

Land Degradation and Development ◽

10.1002/ldr.2547 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 482-493 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Danielle Celentano ◽

Guillaume X. Rousseau ◽

Vera Lex Engel ◽

Marcelo Zelarayán ◽

Elivaldo C. Oliveira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Soil Properties ◽

Riparian Forest

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Assessment of six soil ecosystem services by coupling simulation modelling and field measurement of soil properties

Ecological Indicators ◽

10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107211 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 121 ◽

pp. 107211

Author(s):

Yosra Ellili-Bargaoui ◽

Christian Walter ◽

Blandine Lemercier ◽

Didier Michot

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Soil Properties ◽

Field Measurement ◽

Simulation Modelling ◽

Soil Ecosystem ◽

Soil Ecosystem Services

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The effects of sealing on urban soil carbon and nutrients

10.5194/soil-2021-18 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Roisin O'Riordan ◽

Jess Davies ◽

Carly Stevens ◽

John N. Quinton

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Soil Properties ◽

Soil Carbon ◽

Urban Soil ◽

Great Influence ◽

Soil Nutrient ◽

Nitrate Content ◽

Soil Functions ◽

Soil Sealing ◽

Nutrient Stocks

Abstract. Urban soils are of increasing interest for their potential to provide ecosystem services such as carbon storage and nutrient cycling. Despite this, there is limited knowledge on how soil sealing with impervious surfaces, a common disturbance in urban environments, affects these important ecosystem services. In this paper, we investigate the effect of soil sealing on soil properties, soil carbon and soil nutrient stocks. We undertook a comparative survey of sealed and unsealed greenspace soils across the UK city of Manchester. Our results reveal that the context of urban soil and the anthropogenic artefacts added to soil have a great influence on soil properties and functions. In general, sealing reduced soil carbon and nutrient stocks compared to greenspace soil, however, where there were anthropogenic additions of organic and mineral artefacts this led to increases in soil carbon and nitrate content. Anthropogenic additions led to carbon stocks equivalent to or larger than those in greenspaces, potentially of a stable nature with long residence times. This suggests that in areas with an industrial past, anthropogenic additions can lead to a legacy carbon store in urban soil and make important contributions to urban soil carbon budgets. These findings shed light on the heterogeneity of urban sealed soil and the influence of anthropogenic artefacts on soil functions. Our research highlights the need to gain further understanding into urban soil processes, in both sealed and unsealed soils, and the influence and legacy of anthropogenic additions on soil functions and important ecosystem services.

Download Full-text