Direct and indirect effects of urban gardening on aboveground and belowground diversity influencing soil multifunctionality

Urban gardens are popular green spaces that have the potential to provide essential ecosystem services, support human well-being, and at the same time foster biodiversity in cities. We investigated the impact of gardening activities on five soil functions and the relationship between plant (600 spp.) and soil fauna (earthworms: 18 spp., springtails: 39 spp.) in 85 urban gardens (170 sites) across the city of Zurich (Switzerland). Our results suggest that high plant diversity in gardens had a positive effect on soil fauna and soil multifunctionality, and that garden management intensity decreased plant diversity. Indices of biological activity in soil, such as organic and microbial carbon and bacterial abundance, showed a direct positive effect on soil multifunctionality. Soil moisture and disturbance, driven by watering and tilling, were the driving forces structuring plant and soil fauna communities. Plant indicator values proved useful to assess soil fauna community structure, even in anthropogenic plant assemblages. We conclude that to enhance soil functions, gardeners should increase plant diversity, and lower management intensity. Soil protective management practices, such as applying compost, mulch or avoiding soil tilling, should be included in urban green space planning to improve urban biodiversity and nature’s contribution to people

Effects of garden management practices, by different types of gardeners, on human wellbeing and ecological and soil sustainability in Swiss cities

This is a pre-print of an article published in Urban Ecosystems. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-018-0806-2. The aim of this exploratory study is to address this research gap by identifying the characteristics of gardens and the management practices of gardeners that enhance the outcomes of gardening, which we separate into three dimensions: human wellbeing, biodiversity, and soil quality. Data were collected from 18 gardens in Zurich, Switzerland and a typology of gardeners was identified, which included ‘conservationist’, ‘functional’, ‘minimum effort’, ‘child-friendly’, and ‘aesthetic’ gardeners. The conservationist gardeners were found to have, on average, the highest species richness in their gardens, while the minimum effort gardeners had the lowest, which suggests that some degree of management can enhance species richness. The conservationist and minimum effort gardeners had, on average, the highest values for stable aggregates, while the minimum effort gardeners had the highest phosphorous content in their soil. The wellbeing of the minimum effort gardeners was lower than the other groups, which suggests it is the act of gardening, rather than merely having a garden, which leads to wellbeing outcomes. The results suggest that ecologically friendly gardening is compatible with desired social outcomes and furthermore that the beneficial effects of gardens are indeed related to the practices implemented by the gardeners, which are influenced by their attitudes towards gardening and the role of gardens in their lives

Der ökologische und soziale Wert von Stadtgärten

Die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Gärten als Lebensraum für Pflanzen und Tiere, den Bewirtschaftungsweisen der Gärten sowie dem Wohlbefinden der Gartennutzer und der Stadtbevölkerung sind wichtige aktuelle Forschungsfelder, die bislang nur wenig untersucht wurden. Im interund transdisziplinären Forschungsprojekt «BetterGardens» sollen diese Zusammenhänge analysiert und Strategien zur nachhaltigen Bewirtschaftung von Stadtgärten erarbeitet werden

Litter decomposition driven by soil fauna, plant diversity and soil management in urban gardens

In the face of growing urban densification, green spaces in cities, such as gardens, are increasingly important for biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, the influences of urban green space management on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships is poorly understood. We investigated the relationship between soil fauna and litter decomposition in 170 urban garden sites along a gradient of urbanisation intensity in the city of Zurich, CH. We used litter bags of 1 and 4 mm mesh size to evaluate the contribution of soil meso- and macrofauna on litter decomposition. By using multilevel structural equation models (SEM), we investigated direct and indirect environmental effects and management practices on litter decomposition and litter residue quality. We evaluated the role of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of soil fauna species on litter decomposition, based on a sample of 120 species (81,007 individuals; 39 collembola, 18 earthworm, 16 isopod, 47 gastropod species). We found highest litter decomposition rates using 4 mm mesh size litter bags, highlighting the importance of soil macrofauna. Urban warming, a proxy for urbanisation intensity, covaried positively, whereas soil disturbances, such as intensive soil and crop management, were negatively correlated with decomposition rates. Interestingly, soil fauna species richness decreased, with the exception of gastropods, and soil fauna abundance increased with urban warming. Our data also show that plant species richness positively affected litter decomposition by increasing soil fauna species richness and microbial activity. A multivariate analysis of organic compounds in litter residues confirmed the importance of soil fauna species richness and garden management on litter decomposition processes. Overall, we showed, that also in intensively managed urban green spaces, such as gardens, biodiversity of plants and soil fauna drives key ecosystem processes. Urban planning strategies that integrate soil protecting management practices may help to maintain important ecosystem services in this heavily used urban environment

A gardener’s influence on urban soil quality

Gardens are hot spots for urban biodiversity and provide habitats for many plant and animal species, both above- and below-ground. Furthermore, gardens provide a wide range of ecosystem services, including carbon (C) storage and nutrient cycling. Although the soil is the foundation of sustainable gardens providing those ecosystem services, very little is known about the consequences of garden management on soil quality. Here we present a comprehensive assessment of urban garden soil quality, including biotic and abiotic site characteristics combined with land-use history and garden management information in a multivariate evaluation. A set of 44 soil quality indicators was measured at 170 sites of 85 gardens in the city of Zurich, Switzerland, comprising contrastingly managed garden habitats along a gradient of urban density. Taken together, our results show that garden management was the driving factor that influenced soil quality and soil functions. Eco-physiological soil quality indices were useful to identify differences in disturbance and intensity of soil use, showing highest microbial [microbial biomass (Cmic)/soil organic carbon (SOC)] and lowest metabolic (qCO2) quotients in perennial grass sites compared to annual vegetable sites. Despite the intensity of soil disturbance in annual vegetable and flower beds, the highest endogeic earthworm biomass and diversity were found in those habitats. Whereas decomposition of green tea bags was higher in grass sites. Soil heavy metal contents varied considerably and could not be linked with garden management practices, but with spatial patterns of industry and traffic. We conclude that understanding soil quality in urban ecosystems needs multi-indicator frameworks to capture the complexity of soil characteristics and the influencing factors in space and time. This study contributes to a better understanding of urban gardens and enhances the development of sustainable soil management strategies aimed at long-term improvement of soil quality and related ecosystem services in cities

Urban soil quality assessment - a comprehensive case study dataset of urban garden soils

Soil is the foundation of ecosystem functioning in urban green spaces and provides key ecosystem

IGF1R expression by adult oligodendrocytes is not required in the steady-state but supports neuroinflammation.

In the central nervous system (CNS), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) regulates myelination by oligodendrocyte (ODC) precursor cells and shows anti-apoptotic properties in neuronal cells in different in vitro and in vivo systems. Previous work also suggests that IGF-1 protects ODCs from cell death and enhances remyelination in models of toxin-induced and autoimmune demyelination. However, since evidence remains controversial, the therapeutic potential of IGF-1 in demyelinating CNS conditions is unclear. To finally shed light on the function of IGF1-signaling for ODCs, we deleted insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) specifically in mature ODCs of the mouse. We found that ODC survival and myelin status were unaffected by the absence of IGF1R until 15 months of age, indicating that IGF-1 signaling does not play a major role in post-mitotic ODCs during homeostasis. Notably, the absence of IGF1R did neither affect ODC survival nor myelin status upon cuprizone intoxication or induction of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), models for toxic and autoimmune demyelination, respectively. Surprisingly, however, the absence of IGF1R from ODCs protected against clinical neuroinflammation in the EAE model. Together, our data indicate that IGF-1 signaling is not required for the function and survival of mature ODCs in steady-state and disease

Are movement disorders and sensorimotor injuries pathologic synergies? When normal multi-joint movement synergies become pathologic

The intact nervous system has an exquisite ability to modulate the activity of multiple muscles acting at one or more joints to produce an enormous range of actions. Seemingly simple tasks, such as reaching for an object or walking, in fact rely on very complex spatial and temporal patterns of muscle activations. Neurological disorders such as stroke and focal dystonia affect the ability to coordinate multi-joint movements. This article reviews the state of the art of research of muscle synergies in the intact and damaged nervous system, their implications for recovery and rehabilitation, and proposes avenues for research aimed at restoring the nervous system’s ability to control movement

Search for the rare decays B0→J/ψγB^{0}\to J/\psi \gamma and Bs0→J/ψγB^{0}_{s} \to J/\psi \gamma

A search for the rare decay of a $B^{0}$ or $B^{0}_{s}$ meson into the final state $J/\psi\gamma$ is performed, using data collected by the LHCb experiment in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and $8$ TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb$^{-1}$. The observed number of signal candidates is consistent with a background-only hypothesis. Branching fraction values larger than $1.7\times 10^{-6}$ for the $B^{0}\to J/\psi\gamma$ decay mode are excluded at 90% confidence level. For the $B^{0}_{s}\to J/\psi\gamma$ decay mode, branching fraction values larger than $7.4\times 10^{-6}$ are excluded at 90% confidence level, this is the first branching fraction limit for this decay.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-044.htm