ABSTRACT

QIZHENG MAO, GANLIN HUANG, ALEXANDER BUYANTUEV, JIANGUO WU, SHANGHUA LUO, AND KEMING MA

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Soil, as the component of urban green spaces (UGS) (Setälä et al. [2013]), plays a pivotal role in maintaining urban ecosystem services, such as biodiversity maintenance, water resources protection, microclimate regulation, carbon sequestration, food production, and fulfillment of cultural or recreational needs (Lovell and Taylor [2013]; Neil et al. [2014]; Wu [2014]). Urban soils are large pools of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements, serving as the foundation of urban ecosystems by supporting plant growth and sustaining biogeochemical cycles (Pouyat et al. [2002]). Quantifying soil properties and understanding soil conditions are essential for assessing ecosystem services provided by UGS and detecting pollution in UGS.