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.