Microbial Indicators of Urban Soils and Their Role in the Assessment of Ecosystem Services: a Review

Soils support terrestrial ecosystem function and therefore are critical urban infrastructure for generating ecosystem services. Urbanization processes modify ecosystem function by changing the layers of soils identified as soil horizons. Soil horizons are integrative proxies for suites of soil properties and as such can be used as an observable unit to track modifications within soil profiles. Here, in an analysis of 11 cities representing 10 of the 12 soil orders, we show that urban soils have ∼50% fewer soil horizons than preurban soils. Specifically, B horizons were much less common in urban soils and were replaced by a deepening of A horizons and a shallowing of C horizons. This shift is likely due to two processes: (i) local management, i.e., soil removal, mixing, and fill additions, and (ii) soil development timelines, i.e., urbanized soils are young and have had short time periods for soil horizon development since urbanization (decades to centuries) relative to soil formation before urbanization (centuries to millennia). Urban soils also deviated from the standard A-B-C horizon ordering at a much greater frequency than preurban soils. Overall, our finding of common shifts in urban soil profiles across soil orders and cities suggests that urban soils may function differently from their preurban antecedents. This work introduces a basis for improving our understanding of soil modifications by urbanization and its potential effects on ecosystem functioning and thereby has implications for ecosystem services derived from urban landscapes.

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Soils in the urban critical zone - Analyse of anthropogenic pressures and current proposals to preserve soil functions and ecosystem services

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-12113 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Beatrice Bechet ◽

Laure Beaudet ◽

Philippe Branchu ◽

Patrice Cannavo ◽

Cécile Delolme ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Urban Soils ◽

Urban Ecosystem ◽

Critical Zone ◽

Soil Parameters ◽

Anthropogenic Pressures ◽

Interface Position ◽

The Status ◽

Soil Ecosystem Services

By 2017, the book "Soils within cities" (Levin et al., 2017) is moving away from the pedologist's description of urban soils to a broader understanding of urban soils, including the functions and the services they provide. This approach, which complements the naturalistic description of the soil, corresponds to the approach derived from the millennium ecosystems assessment (Morel et al., 2015; Walter et al., 2015). It is considered to be relatively anthropocentric and thus favours the integration of the soil in the urban socio-ecosystem.Considering the soil by both its pedogenesis and functioning in ecosystems induces taking into account the dynamics of this system, but raises, with regard to the literature on urban soils, the existing lack to qualify and quantify the processes of genesis and evolution, especially in relation to ongoing climate change (Baveye et al., 2016). On the other hand, the description of soil ecosystem services (regulation, provisioning, cultural services) immediately reveals the interdependence of soil biophysicochemical processes with those occurring in the hydrosphere, the atmosphere and the biosphere (Adhikari and Hartemink, 2016). In this respect, the soil plays an interface role, but is deeply disturbed in urban areas.The objective of the communication will be to review the status of urban soil in the "urban critical zone" concept. Through methodologies and results from projects implemented in French major cities that have enabled the development of databases, we will review the classification of these atypical soils and the changes in their properties and functions. Through the definition of the services they provide, we will propose a more integrated vision of this compartment of the urban ecosystem, by specifying the forcing caused by its interface position, but also the opportunities of improvement foreseen by the development of solutions for revegetation and de-sealing. We will see how the timeframe of soil evolution in urban zones can influence the data collection of soil parameters and mapping.

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Urban soil ecosystem services: contributing to sustainable urban development

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20260 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jessica Davies ◽

Roisin O'Riordan ◽

Carly Stevens ◽

John Quinton ◽

Chris Boyko

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Urban Development ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Urban Soil ◽

Urban Soils ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Sustainable Urban Development ◽

Soil Ecosystem ◽

Services Research ◽

Soil Ecosystem Services

Soil in urban areas has largely been left out of traditional soil research, however, there is now a growing interest in its importance due to the key role that cities will play in a more sustainable future. Soil provides vital ecosystem services, and these are becoming more pertinent for cities as the population of urban areas continues to grow. Services such as flood regulation, urban food growing, urban heat island mitigation and carbon storage, as well as cultural and recreational services, are unpinned by the healthy functioning of soils.The role of urban soil in providing ecosystem services in urban areas is understudied, and the complexities of understanding and quantifying soil ecosystem services has yet to be translated to the varied and highly heterogeneous context of cities. In this work, we will review the literature on soil ecosystem services in cities and present a state-of-the-art picture of current knowledge.We will discuss the variation of urban soils, their treatment and management in urban areas, and the associated difficulty in investigating and classifying them. The trends of urban soil ecosystem services research will be presented, considering which services have been most commonly studied across supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural categories; and in which countries. A co-occurrence analysis of key terms in the literature will also be presented, highlighting further patterns and gaps in knowledge. This will also lead to a discussion on the key drivers behind the soil threats in urban areas, such as soil compaction, sealing with impervious surfaces and contamination.The most studied services will be investigated further to allow a more detailed discussion into what we know about these services, and the impacts of urbanisation on their provision. This presentation will bring together the growing body of work on this relatively new research area, will identify gaps in our knowledge, and will highlight the impacts of urbanisation for urban soils. This will inform the way we treat and manage soil in urban areas, helping to optimise the provision of urban soil ecosystem services and contributing to more sustainable urban development for the future.

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