DOI: 10.6073/pasta/3847c58578bd9d5987a49e55066b497b
title: Baltimore Ecosystem Study: Physical, chemical and biological properties of forest and home lawn soils

description: Abstract:

 
 One-meter soil cores were taken to evaluate soil texture, bulk
 density, carbon and nitrogen pools, microbial biomass carbon and
 nitrogen content, microbial respiration, potential net nitrogen
 mineralization, potential net nitrification and inorganic nitrogen
 pools in 32 residential home lawns that differed by previous land use
 and age, but had similar soil types. These were compared to soils from
 8 forested reference sites.

 
 Purpose:

 
 Soil cores were obtained from residential and forest sites in the
 Baltimore, MD USA metropolitan area. The residential sites were mostly
 within the Gwynns Falls Watershed (-76.012008W, -77.314183E,
 39.724847N, 38.708367S and approximately 17 km2) Lawns on residential
 sites were dominated by a variety of cool season turfgrasses. Forest
 soil cores were taken from permanent forest plots of the Baltimore
 Ecosystem Study (BES) LTER (Groffman et al. 2006). These remnant
 forests are over 100 years old with soils that were comparable in type
 and texture to those underlying the residential study sites. Soils
 from all sites were from the Manor series (coarse-loamy, micaceous,
 mesic Typic Dystrudepts), which are well-drained upland soils with
 loamy textures and bedrock at 5 to 10 feet below the soil surface.

 
 To aid the site selection process we used neighborhoods in the
 Baltimore City metropolitan area that have been mapped using HERCULES,
 a high resolution land cover classification system designed to assist
 in the study of human-ecological systems (Cadenasso et al. 2007).
 Using HERCULES and additional data sources, we identified residential
 sites that were similar except for single factors that we hypothesized
 to be important predictors of ecosystem dynamics. These factors
 included land use history (agriculture and forest, n = 10 and n = 22),
 housing density (low and medium/high, n = 9 and n = 23), and housing
 age (4 to 58 yrs old, n = 32). Housing age was acquired from the
 Maryland Property View database. Prior land use was determined based
 on land use change maps developed by integrating aerial photos from
 1938, 1957, 1971, and 1999 into a geographic information system. Once
 a list of residential parcels meeting the predefined criteria were
 identified, we sent mailings to property owners chosen at random from
 each of the factor groups with the goal of recruiting 40 property
 owners for a 3 year study (of which this work is a part). We had
 recruited 32 property owners at the time that soil cores were
 obtained.

 
 Data have been published in Raciti et al. (2011a, 2011b)

 
 References

 
 Cadenasso, M. L., S. T. A. Pickett, and K. Schwarz. 2007. Spatial
 heterogeneity in urban ecosystems: reconceptualizing land cover and a
 framework for classification. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
 5:80-88.

 
 Groffman, P. M., R. V. Pouyat, M. L. Cadenasso, W. C. Zipperer, K.
 Szlavecz, I. D. Yesilonis, L. E. Band, and G. S. Brush. 2006. Land use
 context and natural soil controls on plant community composition and
 soil nitrogen and carbon dynamics in urban and rural forests. Forest
 Ecology and Management 236:177-192.

 
 Raciti, S. R., P. M. Groffman, J. C. Jenkins, R. V. Pouyat, and T. J.
 Fahey. 2011a. Controls on nitrate production and availability in
 residential soils. Ecological Applications:In press.

 
 Raciti, S. R., P. M. Groffman, J. C. Jenkins, R. V. Pouyat, T. J.
 Fahey, M. L. Cadenasso, and S. T. A. Pickett. 2011b. Accumulation of
 carbon and nitrogen in residential soils with different land use
 histories. Ecosystems 14:287-297.