Improving green infrastructure: Enhancing multidimensional benefits from a soil health perspective

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Soil Science
• Urban Water Management

Background:

• Green infrastructure is crucial for urban water management, addressing runoff, pollution, and carbon storage.
• Optimization of green infrastructure components is understudied.
• Evaluating practical improvement measures is key to enhancing effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of five measures—herbaceous biochar (HB), wood biochar (WB), earthworm activity (EA), chemical fertilizer (CF), and leaf litter (LA)—on green infrastructure.
• To evaluate effects on carbon sequestration, pollutant removal, and soil health.
• To provide a scientific basis for optimizing green infrastructure design and management.

Main Methods:

• Experimental evaluation of five improvement measures on green infrastructure.
• Quantification of runoff control, pollutant removal rates (total phosphorus, ammonia nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand), and soil organic carbon (SOC) stock.
• Assessment of soil quality index.

Main Results:

• Runoff control exceeded 70% across all tested groups.
• Pollutant removal rates: total phosphorus (81.6%-93.3%), ammonia nitrogen (69.9%-79.2%), chemical oxygen demand (42.0%-61.9%).
• Biochar significantly increased SOC stock (HB: 52.5 Mg C/ha; WB: 25.0 Mg C/ha). Wood biochar (WB) yielded the highest soil quality index (2.57), a 25% improvement over the control.

Conclusions:

• Biochar amendments are highly effective in enhancing carbon sequestration and soil health in green infrastructure.
• Wood biochar demonstrates superior performance in improving soil quality.
• Further research into optimizing green infrastructure components can lead to more sustainable urban water management solutions.