make them ideal for capturing carbon in urban and suburban areas. Tis also means that perennial turfgrasses are great for remediating disturbed soils and restoring the carbon:mineral balance that is often destroyed during construction practices associated with urban sprawl. Increases in urbanization and the subsequent capture of carbon in managed turfgrass systems have the potential to increase ecosystem carbon stocks at regional scales, and perhaps even larger. When determining the relative contribution of each land-cover class to citywide ecosystem services, open space (turfgrasses in city parks, golf courses, and cemeteries) were the highest contributors to soil carbon stocks.
A relatively new area of research called Ecosystem Services (ES) is bringing to light the value of natural capital in urban and suburban environments. Photo by Steve Trusty
Ecosystem services delivered by urban green spaces can provide substantial benefits to the environmental, economic, and social health of urban and suburban areas. Photo by Steve Trusty
Phosphorous was lowest in open space and grasslands, and intermediate in forests, while saturated hydraulic conductivity was highest in forests followed by grasslands, residential areas, and then open space. Phosphorous was banned within Madison city limits in 2005, yet soil phosphorous still remained highest in residential areas. Tis could be due to legacy effects of phosphorous use in prior years, but also as a result of pet waste. A research study in Minnesota found that pet waste contributed up to 76 percent of total phosphorous in residential watersheds in Minnesota. Regardless, proper nutrient management plans are important in any urban or suburban area due to the large amounts of impervious surfaces that can lead to phosphorous being present in stormwater runoff. Te relatively high saturated hydraulic conductivity in forests and grasslands relative to developed land-cover is no surprise given the impacts of construction and impervious surfaces on reduced infiltration.
So, what does all this mean for the city of Madison, WI, and the ecosystem services provided by the relative contribution of the various land-cover classes of forests, grassland, open space, and developed residential lots?
It means that low and medium-developed residential lots accounted for over 50 percent of the carbon stocks in urban green spaces and over 60 percent of available soil phosphorous. While one may argue that increased soil phosphorous in residential lots is a bad thing, the ultimate fate of that soil phosphorous is really what is important. Te ability of managed turfgrasses to prevent soil erosion means that soil phosphorous from prior land-use legacy effects will likely remain in place, and not end up in local watersheds. Only if that land is disturbed, and proper construction practices are not followed, will that soil phosphorous leave a managed turfgrass system due to its dense, fibrous leaf, stem, and root structure and ability to hold it in place. Less developed green spaces such as urban forests comprised less than 9 percent of the total land cover but provided 19 percent of the city’s infiltration capacity.
Ecosystem services delivered by urban green spaces can provide substantial benefits to the environmental, economic, and social health of urban and suburban areas. Forests, open spaces including golf courses, cemeteries, parks, etc., and even residential lots all play a pivotal role in maintaining the balance between urban growth and nature. Te many positive benefits of maintaining healthy plants in urban environments has long been recognized, but through current and future research in the area of Ecosystem Services such as presented here, it will become increasingly simple to quantify these benefits and make their full value known.
Te full article on Dr. Ziter’s research, “Current and historical land use influence soil-based ecosystem services in an urban landscape,” can be found in the Journal of Ecological Applications, Volume 28(3), pp. 643-654. Carly Ziter, PhD, Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, developed this research with the assistance of her post- graduate doctoral student, Monica G. Turner.
Casey Reynolds, PhD, is executive director of Turfgrass Producers international.
TPI Turf News November/December 2018
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