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Grass-induced changes in properties of soils in urban green areas with emphasis on mobility of metals

  • POTENTIALLY HARMFUL ELEMENTS IN SOIL-PLANT INTERACTIONS
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Green areas in urban parks are special ecosystems because of social and ecological benefits.

Materials and methods

We investigated the ecological impacts of green spaces by comparing the properties of soils, with emphasis on metals, in green spaces and bare soil playgrounds in four urban parks in Murcia City (SE Spain).

Results and discussion

Organic matter (OM) contents in green areas are higher than playground soils due to litter decomposition from grass. Cation exchange capacity in green areas ranged from 10 to 14 compared to 2 cmol+kg−1 in playground soils, showing the effect of OM (and clay) contents in green areas due to the presence of vegetation. Soil total metal contents in urban parks are below the environmental threshold values for soils in Spain and other European countries, and come from atmospheric deposition and fertilizers application. Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)-extractable soil Cd in green areas (4% of total Cd) is lower than in playground soils (58% of total Cd). We attributed the reduced DTPA- and water-extractable Cd, Co, Cr, Mn, and Mo to the formation of stable complexes between metals and OM produced from the continued decomposition of roots of grasses in green spaces.

Conclusions

Grasses accumulate less metal than soils except in roots where Cr and Zn are higher than soils by as much as 31 and 17%, respectively. We conclude that grasses increased (up to 8×) soil OM content in green areas to significantly increase the ability of soils to accumulate nutrients for plants, and to retain and reduce the mobility and toxicity of metals in soils in urban parks.

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Acknowledgments

The financial support to conduct this study was partly provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada). J.A. Acosta acknowledges a “Saavedra Fajardo” contract from the Fundación Séneca of Comunidad Autónoma de Murcia (Spain). We also acknowledge the assistance from the Ministry of Education (Spain) provided to JMA during his sabbatical leave at UPCT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sustainable Use, Management, and Reclamation of Soil and Water Research Group, Department of Agrarian Science and Technology, Technical University of Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII, 52, 30203, Cartagena, Spain

    Jose Alberto Acosta, Angel Faz & Silvia Martínez-Martínez

  2. Environmental Science Program, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, Canada

    Joselito Modancia Arocena

Authors
  1. Jose Alberto Acosta
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  2. Angel Faz
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  3. Silvia Martínez-Martínez
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  4. Joselito Modancia Arocena
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Correspondence to Jose Alberto Acosta.

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Responsible editor: Jadwiga Gzyl

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Acosta, J.A., Faz, A., Martínez-Martínez, S. et al. Grass-induced changes in properties of soils in urban green areas with emphasis on mobility of metals. J Soils Sediments 14, 819–828 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013-0830-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013-0830-z

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