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Soil-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in urban garden systems: impact of irrigation, fertiliser and mulch

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Abstract

Urban green spaces provide important ecosystem services, such as amenity, biodiversity, productivity, climate amelioration, hydrological and biogeochemical cycling. Intensively managed urban gardens can sequester carbon through vegetation growth and soil C increase, but may experience nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and reduced soil methane (CH4) uptake from irrigation and fertiliser use. Soil atmosphere exchange of N2O, CH4 and carbon dioxide (CO2) was measured in lawn and wood chip mulched garden areas in Melbourne, Australia in winter, spring and summer under various water and fertiliser regimes. Gas exchange before and after lawn fertiliser application was measured continuously for three weeks using an automated chamber system. Applying fertiliser led to a peak N2O emission of >60 μg N m−2 h−1, but overall only weekly irrigation (10 mm) significantly increased mean soil N2O emissions above that in other treatments. Under mulch, mean soil N2O emissions (14.0 μg N m−2 h−1) were significantly smaller than from irrigated lawn (27.9 μg N m−2 h−1), whereas mean soil CH4 uptake under mulch (−30.7 μg C m−2 h−1) was significantly greater (p < 0.01) than in any lawn treatment. Lawns were either a weak CH4 sink or source. Soil C density (0–25 cm) under mulch (12.5 kg C m−2) was greater that under lawn (8.0 kg C m−2). On a carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) basis, soil N2O emissions offset the benefits of soil CH4 uptake. Mulched garden areas provide greatest C sequestration potential in soil and vegetation and the smallest non-CO2 emissions, as soil CH4 uptake offsets a large fraction of soil N2O emissions. Results of this study suggest that reducing the irrigation and fertiliser application to lawns can help mitigate GHG emissions from urban garden systems, and increasing the area of mulched perennial garden beds can also provide net GHG benefits; however, this needs to be tested in other garden systems with different soil types and environmental conditions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Andrew Smith and the Burnley gardeners for their assistance in enabling this research project, and Alex Campbell, Nick Osborne and Jamie Pearson for facilities and equipment. Thanks to Grant Harper for assistance in map preparation. We would also like to thank Matt Lee from the Creswick laboratories for analytical assistance and Dr Andrew Hamilton for assistance in statistical analysis. We would also like to acknowledge that the manuscript was greatly improved with the extensive and constructive comments of two anonymous reviewers and the section editor. This research project was partially funded by Australian Research Council Linkage Grant LP0455475 and the Victorian Greenhouse Strategy of the Department of Sustainability and Environment of Victoria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forest and Ecosystem Science, The University of Melbourne, 500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, 3121, Australia

    Stephen J. Livesley, Alison J. Smith, Luke J. Wylie & Stefan K. Arndt

  2. School of Resource Management and Geography, The University of Melbourne, 500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, 3121, Australia

    Ben J. Dougherty, Alison J. Smith & Damian Navaud

  3. School of Geosciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia

    Ben J. Dougherty

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  1. Stephen J. Livesley
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Correspondence to Stephen J. Livesley.

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Livesley, S.J., Dougherty, B.J., Smith, A.J. et al. Soil-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in urban garden systems: impact of irrigation, fertiliser and mulch. Urban Ecosyst 13, 273–293 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-009-0119-6

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