Consistent topsoil carbon density and driving factors in urban greenspaces and natural ecosystems

Abstract Background Urban greenspaces have the potential to mitigate urban carbon footprints by storing soil organic carbon (SOC). Different management and plant communities associated with different types of urban greenspaces may hold contrasting SOC, as well as different proportions of particulate (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC). In addition, management could outweigh the effects of climate or soil properties as drivers of urban SOC storage, in contrast with natural environments. Methods We analyzed SOC, POC and MAOC densities (kg m −2 ) in topsoil (0-10 cm) across 27 cities in the Iberian Peninsula with contrasting climatic and edaphic conditions. At each city, we compared four types of urban greenspaces (golf courses, roundabouts, urban farms, and parks) with a nearby natural ecosystem. Results Results revealed that, despite large differences in their typology, contrasting urban greenspaces stored comparable topsoil SOC and MAOC densities to natural ecosystems. Golf courses and urban farms also showed similar POC density to natural ecosystems, whereas parks and roundabouts had lower amounts of this carbon fraction. Consistent with global natural patterns, MAOC dominated over POC in the topsoil, and both carbon fractions showed an inverse correlation with mean annual temperature. While MAOC exhibited saturation at higher SOC levels, POC steadily increased. Conclusion Although urban greenspaces are usually neglected in global soil carbon assessments, our study shows that, compared to natural ecosystems (median: 2.42 kg m −2 ; interquartile range: 1.77), these areas store an equally important density of carbon in the topsoil (median: 2.26 kg m −2 ; interquartile range: 1.30), and this carbon exhibits similar fraction dominance, temperature influence, and saturation across large spatial gradients.

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Journal
Plant and Soil
Published
2026-03-28
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-026-08484-w
Primary Topic
Land Use and Ecosystem Services
Type
article
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article

Consistent topsoil carbon density and driving factors in urban greenspaces and natural ecosystems

Santiago Soliveres, Eva García, Axel Campos-Castro, Felipe Bastida et al.
Plant and Soil
Land Use and Ecosystem Services
article

Consistent topsoil carbon density and driving factors in urban greenspaces and natural ecosystems

Santiago Soliveres, Eva García, Axel Campos-Castro, Felipe Bastida, María Leo, Nuria Casado-Coy, Jesús Pérez-López, Joana F. Costa, Aurora Torres, Svetlana Dashevskaya, Iván Prieto, Leonor Calvo, Camelia Algora, Daniela Figueira, Giada Centenaro, María Dolores Carmona-Yáñez, Ana López-Velasco, Elena Elena Aguilar-Santana, Cristian Carrillo-Guzmán, Beatriz Jiménez-Prieto, Carmen Lorenzo-Rodríguez, SANTIAGO MARTÍN-BRAVO, María José Fernández-Alonso, Carlos Urueta-Urueta, Tadeo Sáez-Sandino, Carlos Sanz-Lazaro, Manuel E. Lucas-Borja, Enrique G. de la Riva, Josu G. Alday, Jorge Durán, Pedro A. Plaza-Alvárez, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Alexandra Rodríguez, Cristina Armas, Sonia Chamizo, Pablo García-Palacios
article en

Abstract

Abstract Background Urban greenspaces have the potential to mitigate urban carbon footprints by storing soil organic carbon (SOC). Different management and plant communities associated with different types of urban greenspaces may hold contrasting SOC, as well as different proportions of particulate (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC). In addition, management could outweigh the effects of climate or soil properties as drivers of urban SOC storage, in contrast with natural environments. Methods We analyzed SOC, POC and MAOC densities (kg m −2 ) in topsoil (0-10 cm) across 27 cities in the Iberian Peninsula with contrasting climatic and edaphic conditions. At each city, we compared four types of urban greenspaces (golf courses, roundabouts, urban farms, and parks) with a nearby natural ecosystem. Results Results revealed that, despite large differences in their typology, contrasting urban greenspaces stored comparable topsoil SOC and MAOC densities to natural ecosystems. Golf courses and urban farms also showed similar POC density to natural ecosystems, whereas parks and roundabouts had lower amounts of this carbon fraction. Consistent with global natural patterns, MAOC dominated over POC in the topsoil, and both carbon fractions showed an inverse correlation with mean annual temperature. While MAOC exhibited saturation at higher SOC levels, POC steadily increased. Conclusion Although urban greenspaces are usually neglected in global soil carbon assessments, our study shows that, compared to natural ecosystems (median: 2.42 kg m −2 ; interquartile range: 1.77), these areas store an equally important density of carbon in the topsoil (median: 2.26 kg m −2 ; interquartile range: 1.30), and this carbon exhibits similar fraction dominance, temperature influence, and saturation across large spatial gradients.

Plant and Soil
University of Alicante (ES), Universitat de Lleida (ES), University of Zurich (CH), Misión Biológica de Galicia (ES), Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (ES), Estacion Experimental de Zonas Aridas (ES), Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias (ES), Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (ES), Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (ES), University of Almería (ES), Western Sydney University (AU), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (ES), University of Coimbra (PT), University of Castilla-La Mancha (ES), Universidad de León (ES), Universidad Pablo de Olavide (ES)
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Land Use and Ecosystem Services
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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