The Capability of Urban Green Spaces in providing Carbon Sequestration Ecosystem Services

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural resources and Environment, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran.

2 Corresponding Author, Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural resources and Environment, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran.

3 . Department of Rangelands and Watershed Management, Faculty of Natural resources and Environment, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran

Abstract

Carbon sequestration in the soil, as the main carbon reserve, can play an important role in reducing atmospheric carbon. In this study, we focused on evaluating the soil carbon storage and sequestration potential in urban green infrastructures including agricultural lands, gardens, parks, and vacant lands because of their considerable extent in Hamadan city. The SAVI index was used to determine the physical units of carbon sequestration ecosystem service using Sentinel-2 satellite images. Then, 108 sampling stations were selected using a systematic-random technique and at each station soil, litter, herbaceous samples, and all allometric data of trees and shrubs were collected in 10-meter plots. Samples were dried and transferred to the laboratory to analyze carbon. Statistical tests were performed using SPSS statistical software. According to the results, agricultural lands are the highest percentage of green infrastructures, and the highest amount of Carbon is stored in soils (312047 tons), tree and shrub covers (90266 tons), grass cover (8383 tons), and litter (771 tons), respectively. Since most of the urban green infrastructure area has been allocated to agricultural lands, gardens, parks, and vacant land, respectively, but the greatest potential of Carbon sequestration and storage has been done by park, garden, agriculture land and vacant land uses. In general, the results of this study showed that the highest carbon sequestration is the highest CO2 capture done by soils in the parks of the city which can be considered as a management option to reduce atmospheric carbon via creating more green spaces in the city of Hamadan.
Extended Abstract
1-Introduction
Cities, like any other complex ecosystem, provide specific ecosystem services to their residents and communities through green infrastructure located in and around urban areas. Green infrastructure in urban space is an interconnected network of green spaces that protect the value and function of the natural ecosystems and provide benefits related to human well-being. One of the most important of these services is carbon sequestration, which can lead to a huge reduction in the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. The supply of Carbon sequestration potential Ecosystem service is estimated based on the amount of carbon sequestration by soil and vegetation. This study, while extracting green land uses applying Sentinel 2 satellite imagery and field measurements, investigates the amount of storage and potential of organic carbon sequestration in soil and urban vegetation, in order to answer the question of whether soil and vegetation in different land uses (agricultural lands, Gardens, parks and vacant lands) have a significant effect on carbon sequestration. This issue is important in the city of Hamadan due to the considerable extent of green space in the city.
2-Materials and Methods
The city of Hamedan is located in western Iran and has an area of about 74 square kilometers. The SAVI index from Sentinel 2 satellite imagery was used to determine the physical units of carbon sequestration ecosystem service. Initially, 108 sampling stations were systematically randomly selected and at each station soil samples, herbaceous cover, litter and tree and shrub species were collected in 10 m2 plots and allometric data of all tree and shrub species were recorded. Then the samples were transferred to the laboratory and analyzed. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software. For mapping, green infrastructure polygons were considered as the basis. Total aboveground, underground, and soil biomass were calculated based on sampling plots (10 by 10 meters) and expressed in tons per hectare. The total sequestration map was made by overlaying and summarizing the soil and vegetation sequestration maps. Finally, the average supply values were extracted based on Zonal Statistics, and spatial units of urban ecosystem subdivisions or zonings.
3-Results and Discussion
According to the results, the highest area of green infrastructure is related to agricultural use, gardens, parks, and vacant lands, respectively. The highest potential for carbon storage and sequestration in the city of Hamadan is by soil (312047 tons), tree and shrub cover (90266 tons), herbaceous cover (8383 tons) and litter (771 tons), respectively. According to the results, the largest area of urban green infrastructure is related to agricultural fields, gardens, parks and vacant lands, respectively, but the greatest potential for sequestration and storage has been done by parks, gardens, agriculture and vacant land uses. On the other hand, the correlation results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between soil organic carbon and soil bulk density, so that with increasing organic matter in soil, soil bulk density decreases. This leads to the production of lumps and increases the pores in the soil and then reduces runoff and erosion leading to a reduction in the loss of organic carbon. Total carbon storage varies from 6.996-985.85 tons per hectare (sequestration potential also varies from 0.3540-37.9 tons per hectare). The results of the zonal statistics of the average carbon sequestration potential also vary from 159,277-27 tons per year (with a total carbon storage of 4.7609-11-58 tons per year per neighborhood). The highest average sediment potential is related to neighborhood 217 and the lowest is for neighborhood 109. According to the total statistics, the highest total sediment potential is related to neighborhood 114 and the lowest is related to neighborhood 109. In total, the city of Hamedan has the capacity to store about 54,000 tons of carbon per year and the potential to precipitate about 198,000 carbon dioxide.
4- Conclusion
In general, the results of this study showed that agricultural lands and gardens have a higher storage potential and carbon sequestration due to their larger area than other uses. However, the highest average carbon sequestration by soil occurs in parks compared to other uses. Parks with an area of about 282.36 hectares, make up approximately 9.81% of the green infrastructure and 3.8% of the total area of the city, which has a very low share compared to other land uses in the city; On the other hand, the highest carbon sequestration by soil occurs in parks compared to other uses, so the creation of green spaces and, especially, the development of parks as a vital option to reduce carbon in the atmosphere can be considered.
 

Keywords

References

Allen, R.G., Tasumi, M., Trezza, R., Waters, R. and Bastiaanssen, W.G.M. (2002). SEBAL: Surface Energy Balance Algorithms for Land. Advanced Training and User Manual, Version 1.0.
Armentano, T.V. (1980). Drainage of organic soils as a factor in the world carbon Cycle. Bioscience, 30(12): 825-830.
Atsbha, T., Belayneh, A. Zewdu, T. (2019). Carbon sequestration potential of natural vegetation under grazing influence in Southern Tigray, Ethiopia: implication for climate change mitigation”. Heliyon. 5.
Benedict, M.A. and McMahon, E.T. (2002). Green infrastructure: smart conservation for the 21st century”. Renewable Resources Journal, 20(3): 12-17.
Buragienė, S., Šarauskis, E., Romaneckas, K., Adamavičienė, K., Kriaučiūnienė, Z. Avižienytė, D., Marozas, V., Naujokienė, V. (2019). Relationship between CO2 emissions and soil properties of differently tilled soils. Sci Total Environ: 662: 786–795.
Butlin, T., Gill, S. and Nolan, P. (2015). An ecosystem services mapping method for use in green infrastructure planning. The Mersey Forest and the Green Infrastructure Think Tank, ISBN 978-0-9934267-0-4.
Burkhard, B., Kroll, F., Nedkov, S., Müller, F. (2012). Mapping ecosystem servicesupply, demand and budgets. Ecological Indicator. 21, 17–29.
Cavur, M., Duzgun, H. S., Kemec, S., and Demirkan, D.C. (2019). Land use and land cover classification of Sentinel 2A: St Petersburg Study, International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, XLII-1/W2: 13–16.
Contrerasa, R.C. and Rosas, L.E.Q. (2017). Analyzing scale, quality and diversity of green infrastructure and the provision of Urban Ecosystem Services: A case from Mexico City. Ecosystem Services, 23: 127–137.
Davarazar, M., Jahanianfard, D., Sheikhnejad, Y. Nemati, B., Mostafaie, A., Zandi, S., Khalajd, MR., Kamali, MR., Aminabhavi, T. (2019). Underground carbon dioxide sequestration for climate change mitigation-A scientometric study. J CO2 Util, 33: 179–188.
Deng, L., Liu, S., Kim, D.G., Peng, C., Sweeney, S., Shangguan, Z. (2017). Past and future carbon sequestration benefits of China’s grain for green program, Global Environmental Change, 47: 13–20.
Edmondson, J., Davies, Z., McHugh, N., Gaston, K., Leake, R. (2012). Organic carbon hidden in urban ecosystems. Sci. Report. 2, 963.
Elmqvist, T., Fragkias, M., Goodness, J., Güneralp, B., Marcotullio, P.J., McDonald, R.I., Parnell, S., Schewenius, M., Sendstad, M., Seto, K.C. and Wilkinson, C. (2013). Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities: A Global Assessment, 771p.
Frey, G. (2018). Re: Is there any equation for carbon sequestration? Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is_there_any_equation_for_carbon_sequestration/5bec5d7911ec7302b523b9a2/citation/download.
Forogh Nasab, M., Moradi, M., Moradi, G., & Taghizade-Mehrjardi, R. (2020). Topsoil Carbon Stock and Soil Physicochemical Properties in Riparian Forests and Agricultural Lands of Southwestern Iran. Eurasian Soil Science, 53(10), 1389–1395.
Ghasemi Aghbash, F., Heidarian, S., Solgi, E. (2018). The amount of carbon sequestration capability of tree cover and roadside soil (Case study: Khorramabad-Andimeshk Highway). PEC. 5(11):115-129. (In Persian).
Ghoreyshi, R., Goly kalanpa, E., Motamedi, j., Keivan Behjou, F. (2013). Carbon Sequestration Capacity in Rangeland Ecosystems and its Relation with Soil Physical and Chemical Characteristics in Rangelands of Khoy. Applied Soil Research, 1(2): 34-44. In Persian).
Heidari Safari Kouchi, A., Iranmanesh, Y., Rostami Shahraji, T. (2016). Above-ground and soil carbon sequestration of white poplar (Populus alba L.) species in four different planting spaces in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Iranian Journal of Forest and Poplar Research, 24(2), 213-200. Doi: 10.22092/ijfpr.2016.106984 (In Persian).
Heidarian, S., Ghasemi Aghbash, F. (2020). Study of Carbon sequestration in trees and soil in two urban parks of Kohdasht City. Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 22(1), 215-225. Doi: 10.22034/jest.2020.11035 (In Persian).
Haase, D., Larondelle, N., Andersson, E., Artmann, M., Borgström, S., Breuste, J., Gomez-Baggethun, E., Gren, A., Hamstead, Z., Hansen, R., Kabisch, N., Kremer, P., Langemeyer, J., Rall, E., McPhearson, T., Pauleit, S., Qureshi, S., Schwarz, N., Voigt, A., Wurster, D., Elmqvist, T. (2014). A quantitative review of urban ecosystem service assessments: concepts, models, and implementation. Ambio, 43: 413-433.
Hernandez, R.P., Koohafkan, P. and Antoine, j. (2004). Assessing carbon stocks and modelling win–win scenarios of carbon sequestration through land-use change. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS, 166 p.
Hossain, M.. (2020). Re: How can I differentiate between carbon sequestration and carbon storage capacity of a tree. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_can_I_differentiate_between_carbon_sequestration_and_carbon_s orage_capacity_of_a_tree/5e27053b6611238f03362675/citation/download.
IEA, (2012). World Energy Outlook 2012, 700p.
IPCC. (2001). Climate Change. The Scientific Basis. IPCC third assessment report, Working group I, Technical Summary, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 881 p.
Kremer, P., Hamstead, Z. A., McPhearson, T. (2016). The value of urban ecosystem services in New York City: A spatially explicit multicriteria analysis of landscape scale valuation scenarios. Environmental Science & Policy, 57-68.
Kuittinen, M., Moinel, C., Adalgeirsdottir, K. (2016). Carbon sequestration through urban ecosystem services, A case study from Finland. Sci Total Environ, 563: 623–632.
Maes, J., Teller, A. and Erhard, M. (2013). Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services. An analytical framework for ecosystem assessments under action 5 of the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020. 1st MARS report. Publications office of the European Union, Luxembourg. 60pp.
Malhi, Y. Baldocchi D.D. Jarvis P.G. (1999). The carbon balance of tropical, temperate and boreal forests, Plant Cell Environ, 22: 715–740.
McHale, M.R., Burke, I.C., Lefsky, M.A., Peper, P.J. and McPherson, E.G. (2009). Urban forest biomass estimates: is it important to use allometric relationships developed specifically for urban trees. Urban Ecosystems, 12(1): 95-113
Minasny, B. Malone, B.P. McBratney, A.B. Angers, D.A. Arrouays, D. Chambers, A. Chaplot, V. Chen, Z.S. Cheng, K. Das, B.S. Field, D.J. (2017). Soil carbon 4 per mille. Geoderma 292: 59–86.
Moradi Shahgharie, M., Tahmasbi, P. (2016). The effect of enclosure on carbon sequestration and soil physical and chemical properties in semi steppe rangelands of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. Natural Ecosystems of Iran, 6(4), 97-109. (In Persian).
Moulton, R.J., Richards, K.R. (1990). Costs of Sequestering Carbon Through Tree Planting and Forest Management in the United States. USDA Forest Service, General Technical Report WO-58, Washington, DC.
Nayak. A.K., Mahmudur Rahman, M., Naidu, R., B. Dhal, B., Swain, C.K. Nayak, A.D. Tripathi, R., Shahid, M., Rafiqul Islam, M. Pathak, H. (2019). Current and emerging methodologies for estimating carbon sequestration in agricultural soils: A review. Sci Total Environ, 665: 890–912.
Nedkov, S., Zhiyanski, M., Nikolova, M., Gikov, A., Nikolov, P. and Todorov, L. (2016). Mapping of carbon storage in urban ecosystems: A Case study of Pleven District, Bulgaria.  ISBN: 978-619-90446-1-2.
Nor Aizam, A., Noorazwani Mohd, R., Zaharah Mohd, Y., Zulkiflee Abd, L. (2017). Spatial Temporal Estimation and Analysis of Carbon Sequestration. Adv Sci Lett, 23(7): 6157-6162.
Novara, A., Gristina, L., Sala, G., Galati, A., Crescimanno, M., Cerda, A., Badalamenti, E. and Mantia, T.L. (2017). Agricultural land abandonment in Mediterranean environment provides ecosystem services via soil carbon sequestration. Science of the Total Environment, 576: 420–429.
Oliver, G.R.,S.H. Pearce, M.O. Kimberly, J.B. Ford-Robertson, K.A. Robertson, P.N. Beets, and L.G. Garrett (2004), Variation in soil carbon in pine plantations and implications for monitoring soil carbon stocks in relation to land-use change and forest site management in New Zealand, For. Ecol. Manage. 203: 283–295.
Peichl, M., and Arain, M.A. (2006). Above-and belowground ecosystem biomass and carbon pools in an age-sequence of temperate pine plantation forest. Agric. For. Meteorol, 140: 51–63.
Pilehvar, B., Jafari Sarabi, H., Mirazadi, Z. (2015).  Soil carbon sequestration compression in plantations with different species in Makhmalkooh forest park. khoramabad-Lorestan. Journal of Plant Research (Iranian Journal of Biology), 29(4): 706-716 (In Persian).
Pilli, R., T. Anfodillo, and M. Carrer (2006), Towards a functional and simplified allometry for estimating forest biomass, For. Ecol. Manage, 237: 583–593.
Reisi, M., Ghaderzadeh, H., Saedpanah, M., Moradi, A. (2019). Carbon storage in the Abidar urban forest, Sanandaj, Iran. Iranian Journal of Forest and Poplar Research, 27(3), 364-376. doi: 10.22092/ijfpr.2019.127421.1855. (In Persian).
Rossi, J., Govaerts, A., De Vos, B., Verbist, B., Vervoort, A., Poesen, J., Muys, B. and Deckers, J. (2009). Spatial structures of soil organic carbon in tropical forests- a case study of Southeastern Tanzania. Catena, 77: 19–27.
Sallustio, L., Quatrini, V., Geneletti, D., Corona, P., Marchetti, M. (2015). Assessing land take by urban development and its impact on carbon storage: Findings from two case studies in Italy. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 54: 80–90.
Sharp, J.D., Jaccard, M.K., Keith, D.W. (2009). Anticipating public attitudes toward underground CO2 storage. Int J Greenh Gas Control, 3: 641–651.
Solgi, E., Keramaty, M. and Solgi, M. (2020). Biomonitoring of airborne Cu, Pb, and Zn in an urban area employing a broad leaved and a conifer tree species. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 208:106400.
SSSA. Ad Hoc committee s.893. (2001). Carbon sequestration: position of the soil science society of America, 3p.
Strohbach, M.W. and Haase, D. (2012). Above-ground carbon storage by urban trees in Leipzig, Germany: analysis of patterns in a European city. Landsc Urban Plan. 104:95–104.
Taylor, L. L., Quirk, J., Thorley, R.M.S., Kharecha, P.A., Hansen, J., Ridgwell, A., Lomas, M.R., Banwart, S.A. and Beerling, D.J. (2016). Enhanced weathering strategies for stabilizing climate and averting ocean acidification. Nature Climate Chang, 6(4): 402–406.
Tang, Y.J. Chen, A.P. Zhao, S.Q. (2016). Carbon Storage and Sequestration of Urban Street Trees in Beijing, China. Front. Ecol. Evol. 4:53.
Vahedi, A., Mattagi, A. (2014). Amount of carbon sequestration distribution associated with oak tree’s (Quercus castaneifolia C.A. May) bole in relation to physiographical units of Hyrcanian natural forests of Iran. Iranian Journal of Forest and Poplar Research, 21(4), 716-728. (In Persian).
Varamesh, S. Hosseini, S.M. Abdi, N. (2011). Effect of Afforestation with Broadleaf Species on Carbon Sequestration in Soil of Chitgar Forest Park of Tehran. Iranian Journal of Soil Research, 25(3), 187. (In Persian).
Wang, F.P. Wang, X.C. Yao, B.Q. et al. (2018) Effects of land-use types on soil organic carbon stocks: a case study across an altitudinal gradient within a farm-pastoral area on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Journal of Mountain Science, 15(12).
Yan, G., Xing, Y., Wang, J., Li, Z., Wang, L., Wang, Q., Xu, L., Zhang, Z., Zhang, J., Dong, X., Shan, W., Guo, L. and Han, S. (2018). Sequestration of atmospheric CO2 in boreal forest carbon pools in northeastern China: Effects of nitrogen deposition. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 248: 70–81.
Yang, X.M., Xie, H.T., Drury, C.F., Reynolds, W.D., Yang, J.Y., Zhang, X.D. (2012). Determination of organic carbon and nitrogen in particulate organic matter and particle size fractions of Brookston clay loam soil using infrared spectroscopy. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 63: 177– 188.
Yosefi, S., Afzali, S.F., Mehrnia, M. Masoudi, M. (2014). Details of the authors of the article Soil carbon sequestration in the green space of urban parks (Case study: Shiraz city).  The first electronic conference on new findings in the environment and agricultural ecosystem, 14. (In Persian).
Zrinkafsh, M., Sabaghi, A., Naalbandi, Z. (2016). The Carbon Sequestration in Three Soils Types with Different Plant Coverage in Gazvin and Zanjan Provinces. Environmental Researches, 6(11), 111-113. (In Persian).
Zhao, C. and Sander, H.A. (2015). Quantifying and Mapping the Supply of and Demand for Carbon Storage and Sequestration Service from Urban Trees. PLoS One, 10 (8): 1-31.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics