Abstract
Urban–rural gradients of soil nutrients may be affected by many factors including land use, vegetation cover, and management. In this study, focusing on one vegetation type (Chinese pine, Pinus tabulaeformis Carr.) to exclude the effects of vegetation cover, we investigated soil nutrients in three land-use types (neighborhoods, parks and roadsides) along urban–rural gradients in Beijing, China, to explore the differences in soil nutrients across land-use types and the changes of soil nutrients along the urban–rural gradient. Soil nutrients (organic carbon, calcium and magnesium) are significantly higher in neighborhoods and parks than in roadsides, while soil nutrients (except for magnesium) showed no significant differences between in neighborhoods and in parks. Interestingly, soil moisture, nitrate-nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, and available phosphorus and potassium all decreased along urban–rural gradients in parks, while only soil available phosphorus did so in neighborhoods and none soil variables studied showed this trend in roadsides. Thus, land use plays an important role in modifying urban–rural gradients of soil nutrients.
Highlights
Urbanization directly or indirectly affects the biological, physical and chemical properties of soils and the processes that affect them (Pouyat et al 2010; Herrmann et al 2018)
We studied urban-rural gradients in soil nutrients in Beijing, China, to answer two questions: (1) How do soil nutrients differ among different land-use types? (2) Are there clear urban-rural gradients in soil nutrients and do these differ among land-use types? Neighborhoods, parks, and roadsides are major land uses in both urban and rural areas in Beijing, China (Zhao 2010; Kuang 2012)
Land-use types differed in soil nutrient levels in these Chinese pine stands
Summary
Urbanization directly or indirectly affects the biological, physical and chemical properties of soils and the processes that affect them (Pouyat et al 2010; Herrmann et al 2018). The urban-rural gradient paradigm characterizes variation in soils with respect to the degree of urbanization as measured by land-use intensity (Su et al 2019), style of land management (Mao et al 2014), particular microenvironments (Liu et al 2007), and/or the flora and fauna that compose soils (Zhu and Carreiro 1999; Zhao et al 2010) This paradigm is considered useful for describing effects of urbanization on soil nutrients due to its simplicity and effectiveness (Bennett 2003; Vasenev et al 2013; Chen et al 2014; Meng et al 2018). Foti et al (2017) reported a similar trend: physical and chemical properties of woodland soils varied along urban-rural gradients, such gradients were attenuated under lawns where soils are more actively managed, e.g., by regular fertilization
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