An assessment of urban horticultural soil quality in the United Kingdom and its contribution to carbon storage
An assessment of urban horticultural soil quality in the United Kingdom and its contribution to carbon storage
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英国城市园艺土壤质量及其对碳储存的贡献评估
DOI：
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146199
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发表时间：
2021
影响因子：
9.8
通讯作者：
Dobson M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dobson M
随着人们越来越多地参与城市园艺，了解城市园艺土壤的质量变得越来越重要。到目前为止，对个别城市或花园的案例研究限制了此类研究得出一般性结论的潜力。在这里，我们提出了第一个国家规模的土壤质量评估分配，在英国的城市园艺的主要形式。我们对英国10个城市地区的200个配额的土壤进行了采样。我们评估了一系列土壤质量指标(碳和氮浓度、C：N比、容重、碳密度、pH)，并将它们与农村耕地和园艺用地的土壤质量进行了比较。我们提出了全国碳储量分配的第一个估计。我们发现，分配园丁一贯采用有利于高土壤质量的管理做法。不同土壤类型的土壤质量差异显著，但总体上土壤质量较好：容重低(0.92g/cm−3)，土壤有机碳浓度和密度高(分别为58.2g/cm−1和58.1 mg/cm−3)。分配的土壤有机碳浓度比周围耕地和园艺用地高250%。配额仅占英国的0.0006%，在全国有机碳总储量中所占比例高达0.05%-0.14%。这项全国性的研究提供了令人信服的证据，证明与传统园艺不同，小规模的城市园艺生产不会降低土壤质量。事实上，在全国范围内，配额持有一小部分以前未被计算在内的碳储量。城市园艺用地是城市景观的重要组成部分，具有有效的土壤功能，应加以保护。随着公众对城市园艺用地需求的增加，以及从地方到国家各级的政策制定者倡导城市粮食生产，我们的研究结果表明，城市园艺可以保护或增强大多数人居住的城镇土壤提供的生态系统服务。
As participation in urban horticulture grows, understanding the quality of urban horticultural soils is of increasing importance. Until now, case studies of individual cities or gardens have limited the potential of such studies to draw generalised conclusions. Here, we present the first national scale assessment of soil quality in allotments, a dominant form of urban horticulture in the United Kingdom. We sampled soils in 200 allotments in 10 urban areas across Great Britain. We assessed a range of soil quality indicators (carbon and nitrogen concentration, C:N ratio, bulk density, carbon density, pH) comparing them to the quality of soils in rural arable and horticultural land. We present the first estimate of nationwide carbon storage on allotments. We found that allotment gardeners consistently employ management practices conducive to high soil quality. Allotment soil quality differed significantly between soil types but in general soils were of a high quality: low bulk density (0.92 g cm−3) and high soil organic carbon concentration and density (58.2 mg g−1and 58.1 mg cm−3respectively). Allotment soil organic carbon concentration was 250% higher than in the surrounding arable and horticultural land. Covering only 0.0006% of Great Britain, allotments contribute a disproportionate 0.05–0.14% of nationwide total organic carbon stocks. This national-scale study provides compelling evidence that small-scale urban horticultural production, unlike conventional horticulture, does not degrade soil quality. Indeed, allotments hold a small but previously unaccounted for carbon stock nationally. Urban horticultural land is a vital part of the urban landscape with effectively functioning soils that should be protected. As public demand for urban horticultural land rises and policy-makers from local to trans-national levels of governance advocate for urban food production, our findings demonstrate that urban horticulture can protect or enhance the ecosystem services provided by soils in cities and towns where the majority of people live.