Anthropogenic and climatic shaping of soil nitrogen properties across urban-rural-natural forests in the Beijing metropolitan region

Geoderma ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 406 ◽  
pp. 115524
Author(s):  
Enzai Du ◽  
Nan Xia ◽  
Yang Tang ◽  
Zhaodi Guo ◽  
Yuying Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Nitrogen ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Urban Rural

scholarly journals Restoring Natural Forests as the Most Efficient Way to Water Quality and Abundance: Case Study from Želivka River Basin

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 814
Author(s):  
Josef Seják ◽  
Ivo Machar ◽  
Jan Pokorný ◽  
Karl Seeley ◽  
Jitka Elznicová
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Energy Potential ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Artificial Reservoirs ◽  
Water Vegetation

This article shows how to restore Central European natural capital effectively. Water in the landscape is primarily sustained by vegetation and soil, most effectively by natural forests and only secondarily by artificial reservoirs. The authors document these facts using a case study from the Želivka River basin (Švihov reservoir), which collects surface water for the metropolitan region of Prague and Central Bohemia. With the Energy-Water-Vegetation Method, the authors demonstrate that the cultural human-changed landscape of the Želivka river basin is able to utilize only about 60% of its solar energy potential. In 1.5% of the territory of the Czech Republic, society annually loses supporting ecosystem services at a level higher than 25% of the annual GDP of the CR 2015. Water retention in the landscape needs to be re-evaluated and addressed in accordance with the thermodynamic principles of life and ecosystem functioning in the biosphere. It is necessary to begin restoring the most efficient natural capital in the landscapes and to return the broad-leaved deciduous forests by intelligent forestation methods to the cultural landscape to the extent justified; this is especially true of the Želivka River basin, which is Czechia’s biggest surface drinking-water collecting area.

scholarly journals Quantifying the Spatial Integration Patterns of Urban Agglomerations along an Inter-City Gradient

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 5000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiliang Wan ◽  
Chuxiong Deng ◽  
Tao Wu ◽  
Rui Jin ◽  
Pengfei Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Landscape Composition ◽  
Urban Agglomeration ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Spatial Integration ◽  
Urban Agglomerations ◽  
Urban Rural

Understanding the integration process of urban agglomeration is essential for sustainable regional development and urban planning. However, few studies have analyzed the spatial integration patterns of metropolitan regions according to the impacts of landscape ecology along rail transit corridors. This study performed a comprehensive inter-city gradient analysis using landscape metrics and radar charts in order to determine the integration characteristics of an urban agglomeration. Specifically, we analyzed the evolution of spatial heterogeneity and functional landscapes along gradient transects in the Changsha–Zhuzhou–Xiangtan (CZT) metropolitan region during the period of 1995–2015. Four landscape functional zones (urban center, urban area, urban–rural fringe, and green core) were identified based on a cluster analysis of landscape composition, connectivity, and fragmentation. The landscape metric NP/LPI (number of patches/largest patch index) was proposed to identify the urban–rural fringe, which revealed that the CZT region exhibited a more aggregated form, characterized by a single-core, continuous development, and the compression of green space. The integration of cities has resulted in continued compression and fragmentation of ecological space. Therefore, strategies for controlling urban expansion should be adopted for sustainable urban development. The proposed method can be used to quantify the integration characteristics of urban agglomerations, providing scientific support for urban landscape planning.

scholarly journals Responses of soil-inhabiting mesostigmatid mites to deforestation and disturbance in oak (Quercus brontii) forests of southwestern Iran

2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (No. 12) ◽  
pp. 562-569
Author(s):  
Ali Bagheri-Kordeshami ◽  
Jahangir Khajehali ◽  
Farshid Nourbakhsh ◽  
Masoud Mortazavi Ardestani
Keyword(s):  
Soil Nitrogen ◽  
Dominant Species ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Sampling Time ◽  
Oak Forests ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Ph Values ◽  
Soil Mite ◽  
Mite Density ◽  
Southwestern Iran

The impacts of deforestation on edaphic mesostigmatid mites were investigated in oak forests of Lordegan, southwestern Iran, from April to October. A total of twenty-one species belonging to eighteen genera and ten families were collected and identified. The Shannon-Wiener, Simpson, Jaccard's and Margalef biodiversity indices were used for data analyses. Among the collected species, Antennoseius bacatus with 29% and Sessilunchus hungaricus with 16% relative abundance were the most abundant and dominant species in human-disturbed and natural forests, respectively. The estimated values were higher in natural oak forest than in disturbed and cultivated habitat. Significant differences were observed in soil nitrogen content and soil organic carbon between the two habitats, but not in pH values. Significant effects of sampling time and habitat were found on all four indices, but the effect of their interactions on these indices was not significant. It can be concluded that the changes in soil quality that resulted from deforestation may have a major role in reducing the soil mite density and related diversity indices in disturbed forests.

Integrating land development size, pattern, and density to identify urban–rural fringe in a metropolitan region

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 2045-2059
Author(s):  
Jian Peng ◽  
Qinghua Liu ◽  
Thomas Blaschke ◽  
Zimo Zhang ◽  
Yanxu Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Development ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Urban Rural

Drought years of 2018 and 2019 affect CO2 balance of urban forest ecosystems in the Ruhr Metropolitan Region (Germany) differently

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Scholz ◽  
Lutz Weihermüller ◽  
Thomas Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Soil Respiration ◽  
Carbon Content ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Urban Greening ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Rooting Zone ◽  
Soil Carbon Content ◽  
Plant Available Water

<p>Forests are important ecosystems for mitigating CO<sub>2</sub>. However, droughts affect the vitality of forests and alter CO<sub>2</sub> uptake. In worst cases, forest ecosystems can even turn from a carbon sink to a source in consequence of water shortage. Forest stands in urban areas are more prone to droughts because of elevated temperatures in comparison to rural land and unfavorable growth conditions such as limited rooting depth and low soil carbon content.</p><p>The drought years 2018 and 2019 in the Ruhr Metropolitan Region (Germany) were characterized by a 0.6 K higher mean annual temperature as normal and only 75 % of the normal annual precipitation. During this period, we investigated the CO<sub>2</sub> balance of urban forest ecosystems, considering annual changes in carbon stocks of tree biomass and litterfall and annual CO<sub>2</sub> effluxes from soil respiration, at eleven monitoring sites across the Ruhr Metropolitan Region by combining measuring and modelling approaches. The chosen sites represent the different urban forest types found here: old-grown semi-natural forests (beech, oak, maple), autochthon non-managed succession forests of birch, poplar or willow on brownfields and allochthone mixed forest stands planted in urban parcs and on heaps (urban greening forests).</p><p>Tree growth, leaf expansion, and CO<sub>2 </sub>efflux decreased at nearly all sites in 2019 in comparison to 2018 in consequence of the ongoing drought. While the semi-natural forests were able to increase CO<sub>2</sub> uptake by 11 % in 2019, the urban greening forests decreased their CO<sub>2</sub> uptake by 62.9 %. The succession forests were CO<sub>2</sub> sources in both years but increased the CO<sub>2 </sub>release in the second year by 85 % in comparison to the first year. Two sites turned from carbon sinks in 2018 to carbon sources in 2019. Correlation analyses showed that the soil hydraulic properties such as depth of the rooting zone, soil carbon content, and plant available water were the main influencing factors describing the decrease in tree growth and leaf development. Overall, the results indicate that, semi-natural forests on mesophilic sites are more resilient against droughts due to unlimited rooting zone, high soil carbon content, which favor the amount and accessibility of plant available water, while urban greening and succession forests are more vulnerable to droughts due to limiting rooting zone, low soil carbon content, and low plant available water. More vulnerable to droughts are also semi-natural forests on more extreme sites, like an examined Stellario-Carpinetum, which turned from a carbon sink in 2018 to a source in 2019. Furthermore, two patterns of seasonal changes in soil respiration were found in reaction to the drought. i) those of elevated soil respiration associated to elevated temperature in 2018 and decrease of soil respiration in 2019 in consequence of thermal denaturation of the microbial community, and one ii) those where, the mineralization activity was shifted to winter when the upper soil layer was rewetted, leading to larger soil respiration during the cold season.</p><p>Urban planners should ensure a deep rooting zone and carbon rich soils by establishing new urban forest stands to tackle drought periods.</p>

scholarly journals Acceleration of Soil Erosion by Different Land Uses in Arid Lands above 10Be Natural Background Rates: Case Study in the Sonoran Desert, USA

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 834
Author(s):  
Ara Jeong ◽  
Ronald I. Dorn ◽  
Yeong-Bae Seong ◽  
Byung-Yong Yu
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Sonoran Desert ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Arid Lands ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Natural Background ◽  
Sediment Yields ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Denudation Rates ◽  
Urban Rural

Land use changes often lead to soil erosion, land degradation, and environmental deterioration. However, little is known about just how much humans accelerate erosion compared to natural background rates in non-agricultural settings, despite its importance to knowing the magnitude of soil degradation. The lack of understanding of anthropogenic acceleration is especially true for arid regions. Thus, we used 10Be catchment averaged denudation rates (CADRs) to obtain natural rates of soil erosion in and around the Phoenix metropolitan region, Arizona, United States. We then measured the acceleration of soil erosion by grazing, wildfire, and urban construction by comparing CADRs to erosion rates for the same watersheds, finding that: (i) grazing sometimes can increase sediment yields by up to 2.3–2.6x, (ii) human-set wildfires increased sediment yields by up to 9.7–10.4x, (iii) after some post-fire vegetation recovered, sediment yield was then up to 4.2–4.5x the background yield, (iv) construction increased sediment yields by up to 5.0–5.6x, and (v) the sealing of urban surfaces led to one-tenth to one-half of the background sediment yields. The acceleration of erosion at the urban–rural interface in arid lands highlights the need for sustainable management of arid-region soils.

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