Comparison of carbon storage between urban wilderness and artificial greenspaces.

Abstract

Vegetation carbon sink research mostly focused on natural vegetation with large areas. A few studies analyzed carbon sinks of urban artificial greenspace, but few studies summarized the carbon sink function of urban wilderness, which is a research direction to explore the synergistic improvement of carbon sinks and biodiversity in urban ecosystems. With data from literature, we compared the carbon storage per unit area of urban wilderness and urban artificial greenspaces, from the aspects of vegetation and soil. We found that urban wilderness had a significant advantage over artificial greenspaces in terms of vegetation carbon storage per unit area. Among different types of urban wilderness, the carbon storage per unit area of woodlands/wetlands was significantly higher than that of abandoned or vacant brownfield areas and artificial greenspaces in industrial and commercial residential areas, but not significant against artificial greenspaces in park leisure area, from both vegetation and soil aspects. To increase urban carbon storage, we proposed measures to rewild artificial greenspaces and protect urban wilderness, especially woodlands/wetlands. Future research could explore the differences between urban wilderness and artificial green-spaces in terms of vegetation characteristics and soil properties, and examine the carbon storage of different plot types of urban wilderness.