Elephant

Poetry

Social prescribing of urban agriculture: The importance of minimizing risks from soil contamination

The value of Green Social Prescribing (GSP) of Urban Agriculture (UA) is well proven, with many cities witnessing a rise in such activities. However, with burgeoning interest, there comes an increased need to understand the potential risks associated with these practices. City officials, from planners to policy makers, are keen to scale-up the concept, particularly through supporting a wide range of urban farms and community gardens to contribute within the built environment. Our opinion piece highlights potential barriers associated with a legacy of heavy metal enriched urban soils which underpin many UA activities in post-industrial regions, signposting the need for greater awareness of their use and management. In doing so, we provide a series of recommendations for increasing knowledge exchange around urban soils and risk in the context of GSP

Physiological responses and transcriptome analyses of upland rice following exposure to arsenite and arsenate

Acknowledgements This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.41471274) and the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Service Division (RESAS).Peer reviewedPostprin

Carbon and metal(loid)s in parkland and road verge surface soils in the city of Liverpool, UK

Urban soils are at the interface between land and people and provide a wide variety of important ecosystem services to highly populous areas. The aims of this soil survey were (1) to measure the bulk density, carbon (C) storage and pH of surface soils (0-15 cm depth) from public spaces (parks and road verges) in the city of Liverpool, UK, and (2) to determine the likely impact of these master variables on heavy metal concentrations (As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn). The bulk densities and organic matter contents varied considerably in the predominantly sandy textured soils within the city boundary, resulting in diverse C densities from 1-10 kg C m2. Organic carbon formed the majority of the labile, water-soluble and extractable C pool in these soils, a fact not easily elucidated from their organic matter or C content alone. The copper and lead concentrations in the sampled soils were correlated with organic matter and organic carbon in water-extracts. Cadmium and zinc appeared to be dependent only on soil pH, whilst arsenic was related positively to organic matter, but negatively to pH. Interrelationships, and hence synonymous distributions, of all metal(loid)s existed, but were strongest between Cu and As, and Cu and Pb. These results suggest that the diverse bulk densities, and hence carbon storage, of the urban soils surveyed influenced the dispersal of metals and arseni

Food for all? Critically evaluating the role of the Incredible Edible movement in the UK

The practice ofUrbanAgriculture (UA) - the growing of food and/or rearing of livestock within the city context - is on the rise globally (Hardman and Larkham, 2014). Arguments for UA vary, ranging from its potential to contract the food supply chain by relocating production closer to urban consumers, to the poten­ tial for improved social engagement , through bringing communities together on allotments, communal gardens and other growing spaces (Gorgolewski et al., 2011;Wiskereke and Viljoen, 2012). Proponents ofUA often cite Detroit (USA) and Havana (Cuba) as exemplars in which such practiceshave resulted in various positive impacts : regenerating space, feeding people in need and creating sus­ tainable economies (Gi orda, 2012). An emerging argument in Europe surrounds the potential for UA to create a more 'just' food system (Alkon and Agyeman, 2011). Whilst the link between food justice and UA has a nascent research base in North America, there is little exploration elsewhere, particularly in the UK (Tornaghi, 2014). There is also emerging research which focuses on the envir­ onmental benefits derived through UA, particularly its contribution to local ecosystems and usage of urban by-products as growing substrates (Chipungu et al., 2013). Co nversely there are warnings sounded in recent literature about the risks associated with UA, particularly in relation to the contaminated soils and waters and materials use to compose growing substrates (Chipungu et al., 2013)

Selenite Foliar Application Alleviates Arsenic Uptake, Accumulation, Migration and Increases Photosynthesis of Different Upland Rice Varieties

Funding This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41471274, 41807474), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Public Welfare Research Institute (2020-jbkyywf-zsl). Also, the authors would like to thank the support from the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Service Division (RESAS).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Impacts of Applying Metal(loid) Enriched Wood Ash to Soils on the Growth and Elemental Accumulation of Rice

Open access via the Springer Compact AgreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD