The Role of Greenery in Adaptation of Urban Ecosystems to Climate Change

Abstract

In order to develop proposals for managing the functioning of the city’s green frame, a study has been carried out, regarding tree plantations and their litter layers, as well as some aspects of the urban ecosystems’ biological cycle of as part of the optimisation of the carbon footprint. The topic’s relevance is due to the global warming and the need to identify sources of direct and indirect anthropogenic impact on the carbon balance, as well as the need to assess the contribution of carbon emissions to the atmosphere of urban areas. The litter, despite its small contribution to the total carbon stock of the ecosystem, is the most mobile horizon, connecting vegetation and mineral soil horizons, thus its typology and properties are the most important characteristics that can be used to monitor urban ecosystems. It has been established that in urban ecosystems, compared to the natural analogues, there is an increase in the biological cycle intensity, which is associated with the following factors: a shift in the ratio of tree species in the city’s green frame towards a significant increase in the proportion of deciduous trees, the use of a greenery maintenance system and the destructive impact of recreation on litter layers. The percentage decrease in the amount of carbon in the litter of coniferous plantations as a result of recreational impact is 20–57%, in the case of the leaf litter collection – up to 90%, while in absolute terms the loss of carbon reserves is comparable and equal to 20–23 kg/100 m2 (we note that that the litter variant of larch plantations shows the absolute values of carbon losses 3 times higher). All studied variants of urban greenery subject to pronounced anthropogenic impact, demonstrate a decrease in the biological cycle isolation compared to undisturbed ones. A change in the organic matter circulation direction in urban ecosystems towards its depositing as a part of terrestrial detritus can be implemented both by regulating the intensity of the greenery maintenance, and by reducing its loss during recreation – design solutions for the organisation of landscape objects with the diversion of visitors’ transit flows from the locations of conifers ecosystems.