Data from: Current and historical land use influence soil-based ecosystem services in an urban landscape

Urban landscapes are increasingly recognized as providing important ecosystem services (ES) to their occupants. Yet, urban ES assessments often ignore the complex spatial heterogeneity and land-use history of cities. Soil-based services may be particularly susceptible to land-use legacy effects. We studied indicators of three soil-based ES – carbon storage, water quality regulation, and runoff regulation – in a historically agricultural urban landscape and asked: (1) How do ES indicators vary with contemporary land cover and time since development? (2) Do ES indicators vary primarily among land-cover classes, within land-cover classes, or within sites? (3) What is the relative contribution of urban land-cover classes to potential citywide ES provision? We measured biophysical indicators (soil carbon (C), available phosphorus (P), and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks)) in 100 sites across 5 land-cover classes, spanning an ~125 year gradient of time since development within each land-cover class. Potential for ES provision was substantial in urban green spaces, including developed land. Runoff regulation services (high Ks) were highest in forests; water quality regulation (low P) was highest in open spaces and grasslands; and open spaces and developed land (e.g., residential yards) had the highest C storage. In developed land covers, both C and P increased with time since development, indicating effects of historical land-use on contemporary ES and tradeoffs between two important ES. Among-site differences accounted for a high proportion of variance in soil properties in forests, grasslands, and open space, while residential areas had high within-site variability – underscoring the leverage city residents have to improve urban ES provision. Developed land covers contributed most ES supply at the citywide scale, even after accounting for potential impacts of impervious surfaces. Considering the full mosaic of urban green space and its history is needed to estimate the kinds and magnitude of ES provided in cities, and to augment regional ES assessments that often ignore or underestimate urban ES supply.

城市景观为其居民提供重要生态系统服务（Ecosystem Services, ES）的价值日益得到认可。然而，当前城市生态系统服务评估往往忽略了城市复杂的空间异质性与土地利用历史。以土壤为基础的生态系统服务尤其易受土地利用遗留效应的影响。本研究在一处历史上为农业用地的城市景观中，针对三类以土壤为基础的生态系统服务指标——碳储存、水质调控与径流调控——展开研究，并提出以下三个问题：（1）生态系统服务指标如何随当代土地覆盖状况与开发后时长发生变化？（2）生态系统服务指标的差异主要存在于土地覆盖类型之间、土地覆盖类型内部，还是样地内部？（3）各类城市土地覆盖类型对全市潜在生态系统服务供给的相对贡献如何？本研究在覆盖5种土地覆盖类型的100个样地中测定了三类生物物理指标：土壤碳（C）、有效磷（P）与饱和导水率（Ks），且每个土地覆盖类型内的样地均覆盖了约125年的开发后时长梯度。包括建成用地在内的城市绿地，均具备可观的生态系统服务供给潜力。径流调控服务（高Ks值）在森林中表现最优；水质调控服务（低P值）在开放绿地与草地中表现最佳；而开放绿地与建成用地（如住宅庭院）的碳储存能力最强。森林、草地与开放绿地的土壤性质变异主要来自样地间差异，而住宅区的土壤性质则表现出较高的样地内变异——这凸显了城市居民对提升城市生态系统服务供给的关键作用。即便考虑到不透水表面的潜在影响，建成用地类型仍是全市尺度下生态系统服务供给的主要贡献者。若要准确估算城市所提供的生态系统服务类型与规模，并完善那些通常忽略或低估城市生态系统服务供给的区域生态系统服务评估体系，就必须充分考量城市绿地的完整景观镶嵌体及其开发历史。