Urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil ecosystem services

David J. Eldridge; Haiying Cui; Jingyi Ding; Miguel Berdugo; Tadeo Sáez-Sandino; Jorge Duran; Juan Gaitan; José L. Blanco-Pastor; Alexandra Rodríguez; César Plaza; Fernando Alfaro; Alberto L. Teixido; Sebastian Abades; Adebola R. Bamigboye; Gabriel F. Peñaloza-Bojacá; Tine Grebenc; Tine U. Nahberger; Javier G. Illán; Yu Rong Liu; Thulani P. Makhalanyane; Ana Rey; Christina Siebe; Wei Sun; Pankaj Trivedi; Jay Prakash Verma; Ling Wang; Jianyong Wang; Tianxue Wang; Eli Zaady; Xiaobing Zhou; Xin Quan Zhou; Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo

doi:10.1038/s42949-024-00154-z

Urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil ecosystem services

David J. Eldridge, Haiying Cui, Jingyi Ding, Miguel Berdugo, Tadeo Sáez-Sandino, Jorge Duran, Juan Gaitan, José L. Blanco-Pastor, Alexandra Rodríguez, César Plaza, Fernando Alfaro, Alberto L. Teixido, Sebastian Abades, Adebola R. Bamigboye, Gabriel F. Peñaloza-Bojacá, Tine Grebenc, Tine U. Nahberger, Javier G. Illán, Yu Rong Liu, Thulani P. MakhalanyaneAna Rey, Christina Siebe, Wei Sun, Pankaj Trivedi, Jay Prakash Verma, Ling Wang, Jianyong Wang, Tianxue Wang, Eli Zaady, Xiaobing Zhou, Xin Quan Zhou, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Greenspaces are important for sustaining healthy urban environments and their human populations. Yet their capacity to support multiple ecosystem services simultaneously (multiservices) compared with nearby natural ecosystems remains virtually unknown. We conducted a global field survey in 56 urban areas to investigate the influence of urban greenspaces on 23 soil and plant attributes and compared them with nearby natural environments. We show that, in general, urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil multiservices, with only six of 23 attributes (available phosphorus, water holding capacity, water respiration, plant cover, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and arachnid richness) significantly greater in greenspaces, and one (available ammonium) greater in natural areas. Further analyses showed that, although natural areas and urban greenspaces delivered a similar number of services at low (>25% threshold) and moderate (>50%) levels of functioning, natural systems supported significantly more functions at high (>75%) levels of functioning. Management practices (mowing) played an important role in explaining urban ecosystem services, but there were no effects of fertilisation or irrigation. Some services declined with increasing site size, for both greenspaces and natural areas. Our work highlights the fact that urban greenspaces are more similar to natural environments than previously reported and underscores the importance of managing urban greenspaces not only for their social and recreational values, but for supporting multiple ecosystem services on which soils and human well-being depends.

Original language	English
Article number	15
Journal	npj Urban Sustainability
Volume	4
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-024-00154-z
State	Published - 1 Dec 2024
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology
Environmental Engineering
Computational Mechanics
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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10.1038/s42949-024-00154-z

Cite this

Eldridge, D. J., Cui, H., Ding, J., Berdugo, M., Sáez-Sandino, T., Duran, J., Gaitan, J., Blanco-Pastor, J. L., Rodríguez, A., Plaza, C., Alfaro, F., Teixido, A. L., Abades, S., Bamigboye, A. R., Peñaloza-Bojacá, G. F., Grebenc, T., Nahberger, T. U., Illán, J. G., Liu, Y. R., ... Delgado-Baquerizo, M. (2024). Urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil ecosystem services. npj Urban Sustainability, 4(1), Article 15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-024-00154-z

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title = "Urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil ecosystem services",

abstract = "Greenspaces are important for sustaining healthy urban environments and their human populations. Yet their capacity to support multiple ecosystem services simultaneously (multiservices) compared with nearby natural ecosystems remains virtually unknown. We conducted a global field survey in 56 urban areas to investigate the influence of urban greenspaces on 23 soil and plant attributes and compared them with nearby natural environments. We show that, in general, urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil multiservices, with only six of 23 attributes (available phosphorus, water holding capacity, water respiration, plant cover, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and arachnid richness) significantly greater in greenspaces, and one (available ammonium) greater in natural areas. Further analyses showed that, although natural areas and urban greenspaces delivered a similar number of services at low (>25% threshold) and moderate (>50%) levels of functioning, natural systems supported significantly more functions at high (>75%) levels of functioning. Management practices (mowing) played an important role in explaining urban ecosystem services, but there were no effects of fertilisation or irrigation. Some services declined with increasing site size, for both greenspaces and natural areas. Our work highlights the fact that urban greenspaces are more similar to natural environments than previously reported and underscores the importance of managing urban greenspaces not only for their social and recreational values, but for supporting multiple ecosystem services on which soils and human well-being depends.",

author = "Eldridge, {David J.} and Haiying Cui and Jingyi Ding and Miguel Berdugo and Tadeo S{\'a}ez-Sandino and Jorge Duran and Juan Gaitan and Blanco-Pastor, {Jos{\'e} L.} and Alexandra Rodr{\'i}guez and C{\'e}sar Plaza and Fernando Alfaro and Teixido, {Alberto L.} and Sebastian Abades and Bamigboye, {Adebola R.} and Pe{\~n}aloza-Bojac{\'a}, {Gabriel F.} and Tine Grebenc and Nahberger, {Tine U.} and Ill{\'a}n, {Javier G.} and Liu, {Yu Rong} and Makhalanyane, {Thulani P.} and Ana Rey and Christina Siebe and Wei Sun and Pankaj Trivedi and Verma, {Jay Prakash} and Ling Wang and Jianyong Wang and Tianxue Wang and Eli Zaady and Xiaobing Zhou and Zhou, {Xin Quan} and Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo",

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doi = "10.1038/s42949-024-00154-z",

language = "English",

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Eldridge, DJ, Cui, H, Ding, J, Berdugo, M, Sáez-Sandino, T, Duran, J, Gaitan, J, Blanco-Pastor, JL, Rodríguez, A, Plaza, C, Alfaro, F, Teixido, AL, Abades, S, Bamigboye, AR, Peñaloza-Bojacá, GF, Grebenc, T, Nahberger, TU, Illán, JG, Liu, YR, Makhalanyane, TP, Rey, A, Siebe, C, Sun, W, Trivedi, P, Verma, JP, Wang, L, Wang, J, Wang, T, Zaady, E, Zhou, X, Zhou, XQ & Delgado-Baquerizo, M 2024, 'Urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil ecosystem services', npj Urban Sustainability, vol. 4, no. 1, 15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-024-00154-z

TY - JOUR

T1 - Urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil ecosystem services

AU - Eldridge, David J.

AU - Cui, Haiying

AU - Ding, Jingyi

AU - Berdugo, Miguel

AU - Sáez-Sandino, Tadeo

AU - Duran, Jorge

AU - Gaitan, Juan

AU - Blanco-Pastor, José L.

AU - Rodríguez, Alexandra

AU - Plaza, César

AU - Alfaro, Fernando

AU - Teixido, Alberto L.

AU - Abades, Sebastian

AU - Bamigboye, Adebola R.

AU - Peñaloza-Bojacá, Gabriel F.

AU - Grebenc, Tine

AU - Nahberger, Tine U.

AU - Illán, Javier G.

AU - Liu, Yu Rong

AU - Makhalanyane, Thulani P.

AU - Rey, Ana

AU - Siebe, Christina

AU - Sun, Wei

AU - Trivedi, Pankaj

AU - Verma, Jay Prakash

AU - Wang, Ling

AU - Wang, Jianyong

AU - Wang, Tianxue

AU - Zaady, Eli

AU - Zhou, Xiaobing

AU - Zhou, Xin Quan

AU - Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel

PY - 2024/12/1

Y1 - 2024/12/1

N2 - Greenspaces are important for sustaining healthy urban environments and their human populations. Yet their capacity to support multiple ecosystem services simultaneously (multiservices) compared with nearby natural ecosystems remains virtually unknown. We conducted a global field survey in 56 urban areas to investigate the influence of urban greenspaces on 23 soil and plant attributes and compared them with nearby natural environments. We show that, in general, urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil multiservices, with only six of 23 attributes (available phosphorus, water holding capacity, water respiration, plant cover, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and arachnid richness) significantly greater in greenspaces, and one (available ammonium) greater in natural areas. Further analyses showed that, although natural areas and urban greenspaces delivered a similar number of services at low (>25% threshold) and moderate (>50%) levels of functioning, natural systems supported significantly more functions at high (>75%) levels of functioning. Management practices (mowing) played an important role in explaining urban ecosystem services, but there were no effects of fertilisation or irrigation. Some services declined with increasing site size, for both greenspaces and natural areas. Our work highlights the fact that urban greenspaces are more similar to natural environments than previously reported and underscores the importance of managing urban greenspaces not only for their social and recreational values, but for supporting multiple ecosystem services on which soils and human well-being depends.

AB - Greenspaces are important for sustaining healthy urban environments and their human populations. Yet their capacity to support multiple ecosystem services simultaneously (multiservices) compared with nearby natural ecosystems remains virtually unknown. We conducted a global field survey in 56 urban areas to investigate the influence of urban greenspaces on 23 soil and plant attributes and compared them with nearby natural environments. We show that, in general, urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil multiservices, with only six of 23 attributes (available phosphorus, water holding capacity, water respiration, plant cover, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and arachnid richness) significantly greater in greenspaces, and one (available ammonium) greater in natural areas. Further analyses showed that, although natural areas and urban greenspaces delivered a similar number of services at low (>25% threshold) and moderate (>50%) levels of functioning, natural systems supported significantly more functions at high (>75%) levels of functioning. Management practices (mowing) played an important role in explaining urban ecosystem services, but there were no effects of fertilisation or irrigation. Some services declined with increasing site size, for both greenspaces and natural areas. Our work highlights the fact that urban greenspaces are more similar to natural environments than previously reported and underscores the importance of managing urban greenspaces not only for their social and recreational values, but for supporting multiple ecosystem services on which soils and human well-being depends.

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U2 - 10.1038/s42949-024-00154-z

DO - 10.1038/s42949-024-00154-z

M3 - Article

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JO - npj Urban Sustainability

JF - npj Urban Sustainability

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ER -

Urban greenspaces and nearby natural areas support similar levels of soil ecosystem services

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