Investigating potential hydrological ecosystem services in urban gardens through soil amendment experiments and hydrologic models

Among the ecosystem services provided by urban greenspace are the retention and infiltration of stormwater, which decreases urban flooding, and enhanced evapotranspiration, which helps mitigate urban heat island effects. Some types of urban greenspace, such as rain gardens and green roofs, are intentionally designed to enhance these hydrologic functions. Urban gardens, while primarily designed for food production and aesthetic benefits, may have similar hydrologic function, due to high levels of soil organic matter that promote infiltration and water holding capacity. We quantified leachate and soil moisture from experimental urban garden plots receiving various soil amendments (high and low levels of manure and municipal compost, synthetic fertilizer, and no inputs) over three years. Soil moisture varied across treatments, with highest mean levels observed in plots receiving manure compost, and lowest in plots receiving synthetic fertilizer. Soil amendment treatments explained little of the variation in weekly leachate volume, but among treatments, high municipal compost and synthetic fertilizer had lowest leachate volumes, and high and low manure compost had slightly higher mean leachate volumes. We used these data to parameterize a simple mass balance hydrologic model, focusing on high input municipal compost and no compost garden plots, as well as reference turfgrass plots. We ran the model for three growing seasons under ambient precipitation and three elevated precipitation scenarios. Garden plots received 12–16% greater total water inputs compared to turfgrass plots because of irrigation, but leachate totals were 20–30% lower for garden plots across climate scenarios, due to elevated evapotranspiration, which was 50–60% higher in garden plots. Within each climate scenario, difference between garden plots which received high levels of municipal compost and garden plots which received no additional compost were small relative to differences between garden plots and turfgrass. Taken together, these results indicate that garden soil amendments can influence water retention, and the high-water retention, infiltration, and evapotranspiration potential of garden soils relative to turfgrass indicates that hydrologic ecosystem services may be an underappreciated benefit of urban gardens.

Mulches Used in Highbush Blueberry and Entomopathogenic Nematodes Affect Mortality Rates of Third-Instar Popillia japonica

Popillia japonica Newman (Japanese beetle) is an invasive, polyphagous pest in North America, as adults feed on plant foliage and larvae on roots. Management in crops relies on foliar and soil applications of insecticides, but entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) are effective biocontrol agents. In highbush blueberry, mulches (composts, woodshavings, sawdust, bark) are used for weed control and fertility. Therefore, our objective was to determine the effects of Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and Steinernema scarabaei on third-instar P. japonica in substrates commonly used as mulches in blueberry. In containers in the laboratory, larval mortality was 90–100% with H. bacteriophora for all substrates, but rates with S. scarabaei were lower and variable among substrates. A mixture of municipal compost + woodchips/sawdust resulted in 60% larval mortality without adding EPN, but few nematodes were recovered, indicating other causes of death. In a field microplot experiment in October, larval mortality rates were 50% at most for all EPN and substrate type combinations, likely due to lower than optimal soil and substrate temperatures for EPN survival and infectivity. Overall, a compost and woodchip/sawdust mulch should help suppress P. japonica populations in blueberry, and applying H. bacteriophora when temperatures are optimal to mulches can provide excellent larval control.

Municipal organic solid waste management and program sustainability: a study of the Region of Peel's green bin program

The diversion of municipal organics to manufacture compost is increasingly seen as a proactive alternative to waste management. This study examines the sustainability of Region of Peel's (ROP) Green Bin program through the lens of the Three Spheres of Sustainability: environment, economic and social. This model was used to establish the Sustainability Criteria which ask a total of 27 questions concerning the program's sustainability. To answer these questions, a literature review was conducted in addition to in-person interviews with two groups of farmers: one with experience using municipal compost and one without. The results indicated that the program is sustainable when the Deep Ecology and Strong Sustainability model is applied. Further, it was concluded that the environmental sphere plays a paramount role by limiting the social and economic spheres to its environmental carrying capacity. Practically speaking, composting is worthwhile even when faced with limited revenue and public misconceptions about compost.

Municipal organic solid waste management and program sustainability: a study of the Region of Peel's green bin program

The diversion of municipal organics to manufacture compost is increasingly seen as a proactive alternative to waste management. This study examines the sustainability of Region of Peel's (ROP) Green Bin program through the lens of the Three Spheres of Sustainability: environment, economic and social. This model was used to establish the Sustainability Criteria which ask a total of 27 questions concerning the program's sustainability. To answer these questions, a literature review was conducted in addition to in-person interviews with two groups of farmers: one with experience using municipal compost and one without. The results indicated that the program is sustainable when the Deep Ecology and Strong Sustainability model is applied. Further, it was concluded that the environmental sphere plays a paramount role by limiting the social and economic spheres to its environmental carrying capacity. Practically speaking, composting is worthwhile even when faced with limited revenue and public misconceptions about compost.

High water retention in urban garden soils leads to reduced leachate and elevated evapotranspiration

Among the ecosystem services provided by urban greenspace are the retention and infiltration of stormwater, which decreases urban flooding, and enhanced evapotranspiration, which helps mitigate urban heat island effects. Some types of urban greenspace, such as rain gardens and green roofs, are intentionally designed to enhance these hydrologic functions. Urban gardens, while primarily designed for food production and aesthetic benefits, may have similar hydrologic function, due to high levels of soil organic matter that promote infiltration and water holding capacity. We quantified leachate and soil moisture from experimental urban garden plots receiving various soil amendments (high and low levels of manure and municipal compost, synthetic fertilizer, and no inputs) over three years. Soil moisture varied across treatments, with highest mean levels observed in plots receiving manure compost, and lowest in plots receiving synthetic fertilizer. Soil amendment treatments explained little of the variation in weekly leachate volume, but among treatments, high municipal compost and synthetic fertilizer had lowest leachate volumes, and high and low manure compost had slightly higher mean leachate volumes. We used these data to parameterize a simple mass balance hydrologic model, focusing on high input municipal compost and no compost garden plots, as well as reference turfgrass plots. We ran the model for three growing seasons under ambient precipitation and three elevated precipitation scenarios. Garden plots received 12–16% greater total water inputs compared to turfgrass plots because of irrigation, but leachate totals were 20–30% lower for garden plots across climate scenarios, due to elevated evapotranspiration, which was 50–60% higher in garden plots. Within each climate scenario, difference between garden plots which received high levels of municipal compost and garden plots which received no additional compost were small relative to differences between garden plots and turfgrass. Taken together, these results indicate that garden soil amendments can influence water retention, and the high water retention, infiltration, and evapotranspiration potential of garden soils relative to turfgrass indicates that hydrologic ecosystem services may be an underappreciated benefit of urban gardens.

Bioremediation of phenanthrene-polluted soil using Bacillus kochii AHV-KH14 as a halo-tolerant strain isolated from compost

Background: Phenanthrene (PHE) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with crystalline structure of C14H10, which was produced from incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons and fossil fuels and can cause harmful biological effects. Bioremediation using halophilic bacteria is payed attention over chemical methods due to considerable benefits. Methods: In the present study, a halo-tolerant bacterium Bacillus kochii strain AHV-KH14 was isolated from municipal compost, and used for the bioremediation of PHE from the contaminated soil. The effects of operational parameters including soil/water ratio, initial inoculum size, PHE concentration, and salinity on the bioremediation performance were investigated. Results: A biodegradation efficiency of about to 98% was obtained for PHE concentration of 50 mg/ kg and salinity level of 1.5%. By increasing salinity content PHE concentration, PHE biodegradation rate decreased significantly. It was found that the bioremediation efficiency decreased with increasing PHE concentration. It was also revealed that for the unwashed soil sample, cumulative concentrations of different hydrocarbons played an important role in decreasing the efficiency of bioremediation. Conclusion: A natural hydrocarbon-contaminated soil sample with total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration of 2350 mg/kg was subjected to bioremediation using the selected conditions of operational parameters, and a biodegradation rate of 17.7% was obtained.

Targeting changes in soil porosity through modification of compost size and application rate

The global demand to increase food production from underperforming, water and nutrient limited soils is increasing, which has resulted in an increased dependency on water for irrigation. As fresh water is a finite resource, the increase in irrigation use has resulted in competition between water used for municipal purposes and that used for food and fibre production for an increasing global population. An opportunity exists to improve the efficiency of both urban and agricultural systems by taking green waste compost generated in urban centres and incorporating it into agricultural soils with poor water retention, thereby increasing the ability of these soils to efficiently retain irrigation water for plant use and also to capture a greater volume of water from rainfall. Addition of amendments to soil changes the pore space. The magnitude and cause for this change depends on amendment type, application rate, soil type and climatic conditions. The aim of this research was to determine if the incorporation of municipal compost (MC) can increase the quantity (total volume) and concentration (total volume per unit volume) of soil pores that hold readily available water (defined as macro-mesopores of 30–3 μm diameter) and plant available water (defined as mesopores of 30–0.3 μm diameter). We hypothesised that increases in total porosity would be positively correlated with MC application rate and increases in water holding porosity (macro-mesoporosity and mesoporosity) would be positively correlated with decreasing MC particle size due to the creation of inter-particle pore spaces < 30 μm in diameter. The MC was screened to three different maximum particle sizes – MC4 (<4 mm), MC2 (<2 mm) and MC0.25 (<0.25 mm) – and incorporated into repacked soil cores at five different rates: 0, 5, 25, 50 and 80% wt/wt. Incorporation of MC0.25 increased the concentration and quantity of macro-mesopores and mesopores at significantly lower application rates than MC4 and MC2. The finding that modification of MC particle size can produce targeted changes in inter-particle porosity suggests that this practice has potential to remediate hydraulic limitations of soils.