New tree monitoring systems: from Industry 4.0 to Nature 4.0

Recently, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have grown rapidly and represent now a unique opportunity to improve our environmental monitoring capabilities at extremely low costs. IoT is a new system of thinking in which objects, animals or people are equipped with unique identifiers and transfer data a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT has evolved from the convergence of wireless technologies, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and the Internet. The development of these technologies in environmental monitoring domains allows real-time data transmission and numerous low-cost monitoring points. We have designed a new device, the TreeTalker©, which is capable of measuring water transport in trees, diametrical growth, spectral characteristics of the leaves and microclimatic parameters and transmit data in semi-real time. Here we introduce the device’s features, provide an example of monitored data from a field test site and discuss the application of this new technology to tree monitoring in various contexts, from forest to urban green infrastructures management and ecological research

Urban soils as hot spots of anthropogenic carbon accumulation: Review of stocks, mechanisms and driving factors

Urban soils and cultural layers may accumulate C over centuries and consequently large C stocks may be sequestered beneath cities. Processes and mechanisms leading to high C accumulation in urban soils remain unknown. Data on soil organic carbon (SOC), soil inorganic carbon (SIC), black (pyrogenic) carbon (BC), and nitrogen contents and stocks in urban soils were collected from 100 peer-reviewed papers. The database (770 data points for SOC, SIC, and BC stocks from 116 cities worldwide) was analysed considering the effects of climate and urban-specific factors (city size, age, and functional zoning) on C stocks. The processes of C accumulation specific for urban soils were analysed, and C sequestration rates were assessed. For the wide range of climatic conditions, total C content in urban soils was 1.5–3 times higher, and C accumulation was much deeper compared with natural soils, resulting in 3–5 times larger total C stocks. Urban SOC stocks increased with latitude, whereas SIC stocks were less affected by climate. City size and age were the main factors explaining intercity differences in C stocks. The intracity variability of C and N stocks was dominated by functional zoning: Large SOC and N stocks in residential areas and large SIC and BC stocks in industrial zones and roadsides were consistent across all climates and for cities of various sizes and ages. Substantial amounts of SOC, SIC, and N are sequestered in the subsoils, cultural layers, and sealed soils, underlining the importance of these hidden stocks for C assessments. Long-term С input from outside the cities and associated C accumulation coincided with upward soil growth of ~50 cm per century, and continuous accumulation of 15–30 kg C/m2 per century in urban soils and cultural layers. We conclude that, despite the relatively small area of cities, urban soils are hot spots of long-term soil C sequestration worldwide, and the importance of urban soils will increase in future with global urbanization

THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSESSMENT OF THE CULTURAL ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (CES)PROVIDED BY URBAN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE (UGI) IN MOSCOW

Urban areas provide a range of benefits to sustain and improve human livelihood and the qualityof life through the urban ecosystem services generated by green infrastructure. Given the importance and values of evaluating cultural ecosystem services, more attention should be paid to this issue, especially assessing and mapping CES in cities which have a lot of range of CES is more necessary. Although Moscow has a big variety of cultural ecosystems, there are no deep and detailed research about them. Accordingly, such an issue can be considered as an interestingknowledge gap in the research. The aim of this research is to present the importance of CES in Moscow. The information required for this study has been compiled with regard to articles, documents and library studies. The results show that according to the importance of protecting urban green infrastructure in Moscow as an ecosystem service provider, these systems should beincreasingly evaluated for use at macro-decision levels

Perceived benefits and costs of owning a pet in a megapolis : An ecosystem services perspective

Ongoing urbanization has led to a significant increase in the number of pets and has altered the relationships between pets and owners from primarily utilitarian to cultural (e.g., entertainment and health improvement). Existing classifications of ecosystem services (ES) (e.g., CICES) and nature’s contributions to people (NCP) explicitly consider only the ES provided by livestock and wild animals. This study attempted to translate perceived benefits and costs from owning pets (dogs or cats) in a megapolis into ES and disservices frameworks. The data were collected via an online questionnaire distributed through social media among residents of Moscow (Russia). The study showed that pets contribute to the well-being of city dwellers, for which owners are willing to put up with some potential risks and also bear monetary costs. Reasons for owning a pet have been translated into ES and NCPs ranging from regulating (4%) to provisioning (1%). However, cultural services linked to mental (26%) and physical (32%) health, spiritual, symbolic interaction (19%), and educational values (16%) have been the most prominent group. Considering an increase in pet owners, the interests and needs of this distinct stakeholder group need to be taken into account in urban planning and management. Pets’ integration into classifications and thus assessments of the urban ES can be a crucial step towards achieving this goal

Optimal spectral index and threshold applied to Sentinel-2 data for extracting impervious surface: Verification across latitudes, growing seasons, approaches, and comparison to global datasets

Many spectral indices have recently been developed for accurate extraction of impervious surfaces. Moreover, there are several 10-m global datasets available containing urban/impervious land cover class claiming to be of high accuracy. Up to date, there was no detailed analysis on the influence of easy-to-calculate spectral index and threshold on the final accuracy at large scale applied to Sentinel-2 scenes. Furthermore, the impact of growing season and the land-use type is unclear and the available global datasets must be validated in terms of their applicability for the accurate extraction of impervious surface for urban ecological applications. We show that the highest accuracy can be obtained by applying mNDVI and UCI thresholds (0.41 and −0.49 respectively) for summer median composites of Sentinel-2A/B acquisitions (highest R2>0.82 and lowest RMSE<10%) if validated against true imperviousness on the areal basis. In cases, where the number of cloud-free scenes is insufficient, an established growing season shall be used. Small artificial patches possess the highest uncertainty at this resolution, but not exceeding 20%. Spectral unmixing applied to pixels extracted using the thresholds do not significantly improve the overall estimates. Only ESA Worldcover 10-m demonstrated the comparable R2 and RMSE metrics among global datasets. Moreover, compared global datasets showed significant differences (up to tens of %) between the impervious surface estimates for selected ten cities, that highlights further evaluations of these data. Our results can successfully be implemented for mapping annual and even seasonal dynamics of imperviousness within the urban environment

Land-Use Change in New Moscow: First Outcomes after Five Years of Urbanization

Urbanization coincides with remarkable environmental changes, including conversion of natural landscapes into urban. Moscow megapolis is among the largest urbanized areas in Europe. An ambitious New Moscow project expanded the megapolis on extra 1500 km2 of former fallow lands, croplands and forests. The research aimed to monitor land use changes in New Moscow between 1989 and 2016 years. Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 images (30 m spectral resolution) and Sentinel – 2 images (10 m spectral resolution) were analyzed. All the images were collected for the similar summer period (from June to August). The images were preprocessed and classified by Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin in open source QGIS software to derive land cover maps. The following land cover classes were identified: water, built-up areas, bare soils, croplands and forested areas, and the total area covered by each class was estimated. The following land-use change pathways were reported: 1) reduction of the forested areas by 2.5% (almost 2000 ha) between 1989 and 1998; 2) partial reforestation (more than 1000 ha) and abandonment of croplands (more than 3000 ha) between 1998 and 2010 and 3) intensive urbanization (more than 11000 ha) between 2010 and 2016. New build-up areas and infrastructures were constructed on former forested areas and croplands. Although, some uncertainties in the absolute estimates are expected due to the classification errors, the general urbanization trend can be clearly distinguished as a principal outcome after the five years of New Moscow project

Carbon Dioxide Fluxes of an Urban Forest in Moscow

Mitigation of urban carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is crucial to combat climate change. Although urban forests are expected to sequester atmospheric carbon, few studies have evaluated net CO2 fluxes of extensive urban vegetation. In order to assess the mitigation potential of an urban forest, we measured CO2 fluxes with an eddy covariance tower in the Timiryazevsky urban forest located in northern Moscow during the two vegetation periods 2014 and 2017 and analyzed them regarding diurnal and seasonal patterns. Results of the carbon budget indicate that the forest area was on average a CO2 source in every month, although in early summer it was consistently a sink during daytime and also at daily scale on few occasions. The warmer and drier vegetation period of 2014 was in general a stronger source than the cooler and wetter vegetation period 2017. The results expand the sparse evidence of urban forests’ CO2 fluxes, though the impact of anthropogenic source contributions to the measured fluxes cannot be completely excluded. In order to validate our findings, independent verification of net CO2 flux components, enhanced footprint calculations and observations spanning over larger periods of time should be the next step

Effects of the Road Deicing Practices on Gas Exchange Parameters in Urban Lawn Ecosystems

More than 1100 million ha of the lands are affected by the soil salinity globally. In Europe, soil salinization affects 1 to 4 million ha and is concentrated mainly in Mediterranean. Among the major causes of salinization in rural areas are salt-water introgression into the ground waters used for irrigation and dust suppression practices, in urban areas - deicing of roads with chloride salts (NaCl, CaCl 2 ). To simulate urban soil salinization after the release of the deicing agents, Lolium perenne, typically used in urban public and private lawns, was planted in pots and grown in the green house for 5 months before being treated with NaCl 0 mM, 30 mM and 90 mM solution as regular irrigation practice. The grass was moved to 4 cm height. Gas exchange measurements: soil respiration, ecosystem respiration and net ecosystem exchange were measured from planted and non-planted collars, installed in the pots. Soil salinization affected negatively soil respiration rates but increased plant respiration proportionally to the level of salinization. Together with the decline in gross primary production, it resulted in no changes in the net ecosystem exchange rates between control and salt treatments. Lolium perenne could be recommended for urban lawns subjected to periodical salinization

Human dimensions of urban blue and green infrastructure during a pandemic. Case study of Moscow (Russia) and Perth (Australia)

Significant challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that features of a modern, sustainable and resilient city should not only relate to fulfilling economic and social urban strategies, but also to functional urban design, in particular, related to urban blue and green infrastructure (BGI). Using results from a web-based questionnaire survey conducted May–July 2020 in Moscow (Russia) and Perth (Australia), this paper provides insights regarding citizens’ needs for and values of urban BGI as well as their changes during and after the COVID-19 restrictions. Survey data collected during the lockdown period have captured information about people’s ability to access green and blue spaces within urban BGI, inequalities in access, feelings, and values as well as needs and perceived pathways of future development of urban natural environment. In both cities, lockdowns limited access of people to green spaces which affected their mental and physical health. Survey results revealed that the quality, functionality, and location of open green spaces illustrated a disparity in distribution, meaning that in many cases several communities from particular neighborhoods suffered from limited access to BGI. Furthermore, in addition to analyzing perceptions and values of urban nature during the COVID-19 pandemic, some suggestions for improvement of urban BGI based on the survey responses are provided.</p

Microbial C-availability and organic matter decomposition in urban soils of megapolis depend on functional zoning

Urbanization has various strong effects on soil processes. Despite an increasing number of studies focused on soil carbon (C) distribution and stocks within cities, the C and nutrient availability to microorganisms and their capacity to decompose organic matter remain nearly unknown. The factors responsible for these processes in megacities are characterized by a very high spatial heterogeneity and therefore, their effects should be investigated as related to specific environmental conditions – common for urban functional zones. This study focuses on the examination of the texture, C, available phosphorus (AP) and potassium (AK), mineral nitrogen, pH, and heavy metals (HMs) contents considering microbial C-availability (ratio of microbial biomass to C) and organic matter decomposition (BR) in soils of Moscow megapolis. The sampling sites were referred to recreational, residential and industrial zones. In the industrial and residential zones, the pH, AK, AP, and HMs were increased compared to recreational. Concurrently, the microbial С-availability and BR were much less in these zones. The high pH and AP content had negative effects on the BR for all soils. Soil segregation into groups (C-poor and C-rich, light texture and heavy texture) reduced heterogeneity and showed the additional patterns. In C-poor soils, the AP effect on BR was confirmed, but not of pH. The AK and Cu contents had negative effects on C-availability for C-poor and light soils, respectively. We conclude that careful control of the soil phosphorus and potassium contents as well as texture is necessary for planning the soil construction in megacities to consider their optimal functioning