Aims

Urban ecosystems comprise a range of habitats that support key ecosystem processes that are fundamental for the functioning of their soils. Relatively little is known about how different types of urban greenspaces and settlement ages influence the functioning of these important environments.

Methods

We evaluated how four types of urban greenspaces (habitat types: natural areas, parks, gardens, roadside verges) and three settlement ages (5 to 150 years) influence multiple plant and soil ecosystem properties at 60 sites in two seasons in urban areas in eastern Australia.

Results

The type of urban greenspace and the age of the settlement influenced their ecosystem properties. In particular, habitat type had a greater effect on nutrient pools and plant biomass than settlement age, with greater nutrient pools in household gardens, but lower plant cover and plant height on roadside verges. Natural areas supported richer plant communities. We found that soil pH and soil moisture (particularly in summer) explained the contrasting effects of urban environments and settlement age on fundamental ecosystem properties. Older settlements tended to have lower soil pH, which was generally associated with greater enzyme concentrations. Soil pH effects varied depending on functions and season.

Conclusions

Our work highlights the importance of considering settlement age and urban greenspace type for understanding the complexity of urban ecosystems, and the functions that they provide to humanity. Understanding the links between urban habitats, settlement age and ecological functions is a first step to promoting practices that sustain healthy and productive urban environments.

中文翻译：

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城市地区的生态系统属性随生境类型和居住年龄而变化

目的

城市生态系统包括一系列栖息地，这些栖息地支持关键的生态系统过程，这些过程对于土壤的功能至关重要。对于不同类型的城市绿地和居住年龄如何影响这些重要环境的功能，人们知之甚少。

方法

我们评估了四种类型的城市绿地（栖息地类型：自然区域，公园，花园，路边绿地）和三个居住年龄（5至150年）如何影响东部东部城市地区两个季节中60个地点的两个季节的多种植物和土壤生态系统特性澳大利亚。

结果

城市绿地的类型和居住区的年龄影响了其生态系统特性。特别是，生境类型对养分池和植物生物量的影响大于沉降期，在家庭花园中养分池更大，但在路边的植物覆盖率和植物高度较低。自然区为丰富的植物群落提供了支持。我们发现土壤的pH值和土壤湿度（尤其是在夏季）解释了城市环境和居住年龄对基本生态系统特性的反作用。较旧的住区往往具有较低的土壤pH，这通常与较高的酶浓度有关。土壤pH值的影响取决于功能和季节。

结论

我们的工作强调了考虑定居年龄和城市绿地类型对于理解城市生态系统的复杂性及其为人类提供的功能的重要性。了解城市栖息地，定居年龄和生态功能之间的联系是促进维持健康和生产性城市环境的实践的第一步。