Progress 04/01/16 to 03/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The primary stakeholders to benefit from this project are urban farmers and gardeners, looking to produce food safely in potentially contaminated soil, and rural organic farmers, interested in managing the biological health of their soil. Our findings are also shared with academic researchers and land managers and could be used to inform policy for managing soils to reduce the dangers of heavy metal and understand the value of urban landscape design on biological diversity. Changes/Problems:COVID-19 protocols continued to restrict travel to sites for field work during the final year of the project, limiting our ability to carrying out research in Cleveland. Although closing the Cleveland Green Corp learning farms was said to be temporary and due to COVID-19 in 2020, the long-standing youth training program was terminated, and the community-based learning farms were sold. The absence of a youth urban farming program removed our venue to provide training young people on soil health in the final year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Postdoctoral researcher Youngnam Kim leading project is now a research professor at Gyeongsang National University in Korea studying heavy metal contamination. Postdoctoral researcher Kayla Perry, also worked on the project, and is now an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University. Most ofthe graduate students associated with this project have positions with government agencies or nonprofits focused on environmental impacts. Although we have not tracked all the undergraduates working on the project, many of them have gone on to graduate school or have positions with government agencies. During the final year, one undergraduate conducted independent research on the interactions between heavy metals, soil organic matter, and plant health and biochemistry. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Project Directors, postdoctoral researchers, and studentsmade 15 presentations at professional scientific meetings over the course of this project. We also shared findings with stakeholder groups at multiple meetings attended by organic farmers, urban farmers, and urban planners. Finally, we created curricula on soil health and beneficial insects for urban middle school/high school students. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the final year, astudy addressing Objective 2 was conducted to determine the extent to which Pb contamination impacts tomato growth and ability to defend against insect herbivory. Soils were collected from vacant lots in Cleveland, analyzed for Mehlich-3 Pb and treated with lead acetate to increase levels to 400 ppm or 2000 ppm Pb. Soils were then fertilized with either inorganic fertilizer or compost to measure the interactions of active organic matter on the physiological and metabolomic response of tomato plants to heavy metals. Above-ground biomass was slightly lower for plants receiving compost, but was not significantly different between Pb treatments. Overall, beet armyworm survivorship feeding on excised leaves was not impacted by either fertilizer or lead treatment; however, maintaining leaf turgor may have obscured results. Targeted metabolomics was conducted on leaf tissue to determine biochemical impacts, using UPLC-qTOF-MS analysis to quantify 153 metabolites associated with plant stress. Plants receiving synthetic fertilizer showed 6 upregulated and 8 downregulated stress-related metabolites, while composted plants had 7 upregulated and 17 downregulated metabolites. A more complete analysis of the full metabolic profiles of these plants will be conducted using non-targeted metabolomic software. The slightly greater effects of Pb on composted plants compared to inorganic fertilizer is not consistent with the hypothesized buffering effect of organic matter. It is possible that this benefit is only realized after sufficient time has passed to establish the required microbial community.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Phelan P. L., Kim, Y.-N., Basta, N. T., Gardiner, M. M. 2021. Potential for remediation of post-industrial urban soils by urban farming and organic matter management. Connecting Human Health to Ecological Health through Urban Agriculture Symposium, ASA-CSSA-SSSA Intl. Mtg, Salt Lake City, UT, Nov. 9.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Phelan, P. L. 2021. Remediation of post-industrial urban soils by organic matter management. OFFER Winter Webinar Series, Mar. 31.
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Progress 04/01/20 to 03/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The primary stakeholders to benefit from this project are urban farmers and gardeners, looking to produce food safely in potentially contaminated soil, and rural organic farmers, interested in managing the biological health of their soil. Our findings are also shared with academic researchers and land managers and could be used to inform policy for managing soils to reduce the dangers of heavy metal and understand the value of urban landscape design on biological diversity. Changes/Problems:The COVID-19 pandemic created significant roadblocks to field work and laboratory data collection and sample processing, due to mandatory stay-at-home orders. COVID-19 protocols prohibited field work for summer 2020 and lab work for a good portion of the year. The postdoctoral researcher leading the project returned to Korea due to COVID restrictions. The Cleveland Green Corp learning farms system for urban youth was cancelled for 2020 due to COVID-19, so we were not able to repeat our curriculum on soil health from last year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One MS student and one PhD student working on this project successfully completed their degrees. One undergraduate assisted with technical aspectsand one conducted an independent study, for which she received Honors. One postdoctoral researcher continued her work on the impacts of soil history, contamination, landscape, andinsect community ecology. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?COVID-19 severely restricted opportunities for communicating results and there were no public venues to discuss findings. One invited symposium presentation was made at a national professional meeting, held virtually. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?University COVID mandates will determine how much field or lab work we will be able to conduct during the next period. We hope to conduct some more experiments related to Objective 2 on the interactions between urban soil contaminants, soil organic matter, and plant health. We also plan to focus on publications. For Objective 5, we plan to present the soil health curriculum to the Cleveland Green Corp learning farms urban youth training program again.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Due to the constraints created by COVID protocols and stay-at-home mandates, attention was focused on analyzing data previously collected and available online. Obj.1: Analysis of amplicon sequencing results for soil bacteria and fungal populations indicated very different responses to land-use history for soils from urban vacant lots, peri-urban Metroparks, urban farms, and rural organic farms. NMDS ordination of bacterial ASV's showed almost complete separation of populations from the four soil types, although there was more overlap between vacant lots and urban farms, suggesting the possibility of an "urban soil signature." In contrast NMDS ordination of fungal ITS sequences resulted in no significant separation among soil type fungal communities. These differences in effects on community diversity parallel to some degree what we previously found for PLFA analysis. While PLFA does not have the resolution of amplicon sequencing, it is thought to be a better measure of relative abundance of living organisms. With PLFA, we found greater differences in the biomass of multiple bacterial groups among soil types compared to fungi. Structural equation modeling suggested that soil organic matter was the primary positive driver of bacterial communities but was not a significant determinant of fungal abundance. Obj. 2: We conducted PLS structural equation modeling (SEM) to understand the possible sources and mediators underlying the patterns of chemical contamination and plant nutrients found among the 96 soil samples in this study. The full theoretical model included proximity to former sites of steel smelters and associated coke plants, lead smelters, and traffic density to estimate the impacts of vehicular emissions, using Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) values, provided by the Ohio Department of Transportation. The model compared the impact of these potential emission sources with soil mediators (soil texture, soluble P, organic matter, and pH) to explain current contaminant and nutrient levels. When analyzing unmanaged soils (urban vacant lots and peri-urban Metroparks), organic contaminants were significantly positively correlated with proximity to industrial sites as was a group of heavy metals (As, Pb, Sr, and Zn). A second metal group comprised of Ba, Cu, Fe, and Ni was significantly positively correlated with traffic density. Plant nutrients, and to a less degree both metal groups, were positively correlated with soil pH. A different relationship was revealed when the pool of urban soils (vacant lots and urban farms) was analyzed. Here soil organic matter was almost the sole significant driver of soil chemistry, with positive effects on plant nutrients and negative effects on organic contaminants and both heavy metal groups. This finding was consistent with our previous suggestion that the addition of organic matter had significant local beneficial effects on soil remediation.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Delgado de la flor, Y. A. 2020. Spider and Beetle Communities across Urban Greenspaces in Cleveland, Ohio: Distributions, Patterns, and Processes [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587656050129337
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Tyrpak, A. M. 2020. How ant communities are shaped by vacant land management strategies, landscape context, and a legacy of industrialization [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1594477507523544
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Phelan P.L., Kim, Y.-N., Perry, K.I., and Gardiner M.M. 2020. Remediation of post-industrial urban soils by organic farming and organic matter management. Symposium: Entomology in Urban Agriculture: Growing Food for All. Entomological Society of America National Conference. Nov 18. (Virtual)
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Progress 04/01/19 to 03/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The primary stakeholders to benefit from this project are urban farmers and gardeners, looking to produce food safely in potentially contaminated soil, and rural organic farmers, interested in managing the biological health of their soil. Our findings are also shared with academic researchers and land managers and could be used to inform policy for managing soils to reduce the dangers of heavy metal and understand the value of urban landscape design on biological diversity. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Three graduate students and two post-docs conducted research on this project during this period; one graduate student finished her degree. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Various aspects of the project were presented in four research papers at a professional national meeting. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Next summer, we plan to conduct on-site experiments related to Objective 2, testing the interactions between urban soil contaminants, soil organic matter, and plant health. We plan to present the soil health curriculum to the Cleveland Green Corp learning farms urban youth training program again.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Obj. 2: Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine if the relationship between soil organic matter (OM) and reduced heavy metal contamination we observed in urban farms could be attributable to cause and effect. We tested the hypothesis that adding active OM reduces heavy metals through a mechanism of increased mobility by creating soil columns using contaminated vacant lot soils from Cleveland. The first experiment tested the effect of OM C:N. Since we only found a relationship between OM and heavy metals in urban farms, we hypothesized that biologically active OM with low C:N (e.g., compost) would cause greater leaching of heavy metals than organic material with low N. Soils were treated with either compost (C:N 21) or bark mulch (C:N 36) at a rate of 1% (10 kg/ha) or 2% (20 kg/ha). Artificial rainwater was added to the tops of columns once/week and 100 mL leachate was collected from the bottom. The cumulative levels of heavy metals leached across 6 weeks were higher for all OM treatments compared to the control, and 1% but not 2% compost caused higher leaching than bark mulch, so the hypothesis was only partially supported. Dissolved OM in the leachates, as measured by UV spectra, varied by treatment but did not correlate with Pb levels. A second experiment tested the hypothesis that dissolved OM was primarily responsible for the leaching of heavy metals from soils. Soil columns were treated with 1% compost (C:N 21), 1% peat moss (C:N 60), or the aqueous extract of those organic materials. Over the course of five weekly leaching events, all treatments caused significantly higher removal of heavy metals than the control. While there was no significant difference among treated soils in cumulative heavy metals leached, differences in the time course of leaching were noted across the five weeks. Peat moss solids and extract caused leaching to start sooner than did compost treatments, but later, compost exceeded peat moss in the levels of heavy metals leached. Although the dissolved and solid forms of the organic materials initially caused similar leaching, for both materials, the extract peaked in leaching level, followed by a decline, while the solid form continued to elicit leaching throughout the period of testing. Obj. 3: Sorting and identification of soil invertebrates from the 96 sites were completed, with >5000 specimens identified and 40 taxa represented. Dominant among the invertebrate communities were oribatid mites (28%), Formicidae (21%), other mites (19%), and Collembola (18%). Somewhat surprisingly, total invertebrate abundance was greatest in the vacant lot soils, primarily due to higher numbers of Oribatida and Formicidae. On the other hand, Collembola were highest in the urban farm and rural farm soils. Structural equation modeling identified organic matter as the strongest positive driver of Collembola and Isopoda populations among the soil parameters measured, while % sand was a strong predictor of non-oribatid mite populations. Obj. 5: The module on soil health was presented again to ca. 45 inner-city youth working at the Green Corps Urban Learning Farms
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Trejo Sypolt, E. (2019). The Impacts of Soil Degradation on Plant Pest Suppression in Cities [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1574779121415878
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Perry K.I., Phelan P.L., and Gardiner M.M. 2019. Importance of landscape and local drivers for structuring ground-dwelling beetle communities in urban greenspaces. Symposium: What Everyone Ought to Know about Insect Biodiversity in the Urban Environment. Ent Soc Am Natl Conf., St. Louis MO
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Sypolt E, Phelan L and Gardiner M. 2019. The capacity of urban greenspace soils to support biological control. Ent Soc Am Natl Conf., St. Louis MO
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Tyrpak A., Perry, K.I., Raczkowski J., Riley C., Gardiner M.M. 2019. Understanding how landscape pattern and history shape the ant communities occupying urban greenspaces. Ent Soc Am Natl Conf., St. Louis MO
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Sypolt E Phelan L and Gardiner M. 2019. Converting Vacant Lots: from Blight to Bright. Ent Soc Am Natl Conf., St. Louis MO
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Progress 04/01/18 to 03/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The primary stakeholders to benefit from this project are urban farmers and gardeners, looking to produce food safely inpotentially contaminated soil, and rural organic farmers, interested in managing the biological health of their soil. We also provide instructive workshops on pollinators, beneficial insects, and soil health forGreen Corps, Cleveland's agricultural work-study program, whichteaches innercityyouth to produce/sell vegetables on urban farms and provides leadership training. Ourfindings could be used in the future to inform policy and guidelines for managing soils to reduce the dangers of heavy metal and understand the value of urban landscape design on biological diversity. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training has been provided for 2postdoctoral researchers, 1 Ph. D. student, 3M.S. students, and 4 undergraduates, as well as reaching a large number of Cleveland youth in workshops coordinated through Green Corp. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of soil analyses and experiments have been shared with collaborating urban and rural farmers, Metropark research coordinators, and Holden Arboretum/Cleveland Botanical Gardens. Results have also been presented atmultiple scientific meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?16S and ITS amplicon sequence results are currently being analyzed by collaborators at the University of Colorado at Boulder to better characterize the soil microbial community. Soil column studies are underway to explore better the link between organic matter amendments and heavy metal migration in the soil. We are currently sorting and identify lady beetle, ant, and ground-dwelling beetle species collected from field sites during the summer of 2019. Analyses will be conducted to investigate the impacts of local and landscape variables on species abundance, richness, and composition. A subset of ground-dwelling beetles will be tested for heavy metal concentrations in their bodies to further investigate observed relationships with functional traits and soil heavy metal concentrations. Resource partitioning of abundant rove beetle species in vacant lots, pocket prairies, and old fields will be investigated by extracting and sequencing prey DNA from their guts. Pollinators collected via bee bowls from vacant lots, pocket prairies, and old fields are being pinned and identified to assess patterns in species abundance and richness.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Obj 1: Taxonomic composition of soil microbiota and fauna. Soil microbiota from different land histories are being analyzed by two methods: phospholipid fatty acids and 16S and ITS rRNA. PLFA analysis showed significant differences in the microbial communities among soil histories. Metropark soils had the highest levels of all groups, withlowest levels of gram- and gram+ bacteria, actinomycetes, and eukaryotes found in urban vacant lots, and lowest fungal levels in urban and rural farms. Amplicon sequencesare currently being analyzed to characterize the soil community at higher resolution.We tested the hypothesis that creating pocket prairies in the city would support ant species richness and alter species composition relative to vacant lots. We also compared vacant lot treatments to Metropark forests since this form of greenspace has historically been the principalconservation habitat in the Cleveland area. Using pitfall traps, we found that ant species richness and composition was similar in vacant lots and pocket prairies. However, ant species richness was lower and species composition was different in Metropark forests compared to the two vacant lot treatments. Using bait traps, ant species richness was higher in Metropark forests compared to vacant lots and pocket prairies. We tested the hypothesis that ant species richness would decline with increasing soil lead concentrations but did not find a significant relationship.We alsotested the hypothesis that creating urban gardens in the city would support ant species richness and alter species composition relative to vacant lots mown monthly. We also compared these two treatments to rural farms practicing organic agriculture. Using pitfall traps, ant species richness was similar in vacant lots and rural farms, but lower in urban gardens. Ant species composition was similar in vacant lots and urban gardens but differed in rural farms. Using bait traps, ant species richness and composition was similar in vacant lots and urban gardens, but richness was lower in rural farms. We also tested the hypothesis that ant species richness would decline with increasing soil lead concentrations but did not find a significant relationship. Obj 2: Relation between soil parameters and plant health.To determine how physical and chemical properties of urban soils influenced plant growth and defense from arthropod pests, we hypothesized that the added stress of urban legacy would decrease the soil health (due to nutrient loss from compaction and contamination) and the plant would then also be negatively impacted. This means that it would not be able to grow or defend itself as well and thus the herbivore performance would increase. Our key findings were that vacant lots had lower levels of plant available nutrients and organic matter present in the soil compared to urban gardens. Heavy metals were highest in vacant lots as compared to the urban gardens. When performing the bioassays, we found that there was no difference in the sizes between the larvae; however, the tomato plants were significantly larger in the urban gardens as compared to the urban farms. There was no relationship with the plant size and larvae weight between the two treatments. When examining the different soil components, we found that larvae and plant weight was negatively influenced by heavy metals, and plant weight was positively influenced by a variety of nutrients (Fe, Mg, P, NH4). Obj. 3: Relation between soil history and biocontrol services. To test whether the establishment of urban farms result in greater recruitment of native lady beetle species relative to vacant lots within Cleveland, OH, lady beetles were collected from urban farms, vacant lots and rural farms using yellow sticky traps during both 2018 and 2019. In 2018 we found seven species of native lady beetles representing 40% of all lady beetles captured. Findings showed that native lady beetle abundance and richness were similar across treatments. However, across habitats we found that native lady beetle abundance and richness were higher in sites with high lead (Pb) concentrations and greater prey abundance.To determine if native and exotic lady beetles respond similarly to landscape context, we calculated landscape composition and configuration at 200 m. We found a greater richness and abundance of both native and exotic species in isolated vacant lots surrounded by landscapes with a high proportion of impervious surface. Although counterintuitive, this pattern has been previously documented for other arthropods and potentially signals a concentration effect, where increased habitat limitation results in increased occupancy.We evaluated the abundance and diversity of spiders in the family Linyphiidae among habitats that varied in plant composition, management intensity, and level of urbanization in Cleveland, Ohio and surrounding Cuyahoga County. A total of 119 spiders comprising 17 linyphiid species were collected using a modified vacuum in June 2018. Preliminary results revealed the abundance and species richness of adult linyphiid spiders was highest in vacant lots and pocket prairies, and lowest in urban gardens and Metropark forests. Abundance and species richness of adult linyphiid spiders increased in sites with increasing forb richness, bloom richness, and plant height. These findings suggest greenspaces in urban landscapes support arthropod diversity, but local habitat characteristics such as the plant community are important to consider when managing for conservation. Obj. 4: Best management practices to enhance soil. Among the heavy metals of greatest concern in urban soils, Pb was the only one to exceed EPA VAP levels in many of the vacant lot sites. In comparison, urban farms soils showed significantly reduced levels of multiple heavy metals as well as organic contaminants (PAHs and HACs). The most significant predictor of heavy metals in urban farms was soil organic matter, which was strongly inversely related. This suggests that addition of composts and other carbon-based materials may be capable of remediating contaminated soils. Obj. 5: A curriculum for soil health was developed for the Cleveland Green Corps program operated by the Holden Arboretum and presented to ca. 50 inner-city youth working at the Green Corps Urban Learning Farms
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Riley C.B., Perry K.I., Ard K., Gardiner M.M. 2018. Asset or liability? Ecological and sociological tradeoffs of urban spontaneous vegetation on vacant land in shrinking cities. Sustainability 10: 119. doi: 10.3390/su10072139
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Emily Trejo Sypolt, Larry Phelan, and Mary Gardiner. Influence of urban soil legacies on tomato plant growth and herbivore performance: Implications for urban agroecosystem sustainability. Ent. Soc. Am., Ent. Soc. Canada, Ent. Soc. B.C. Joint Conf. Vancouver, BC
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Denisha Parker and Mary Gardiner. Does establishment of native pocket prairies influence the conservation value of urban vacant lots for lady beetles? Ent. Soc. Am., Ent. Soc. Canada, Ent. Soc. B.C. Joint Conf. Vancouver, BC
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Yvan Delgado de la Flor and Mary Gardiner. Influence of vacant lot habitat design and landscape context on spider community assembly. Ent. Soc. Am., Ent. Soc. Canada, Ent. Soc. B.C. Joint Conf. Vancouver, BC
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Alex Tyrpak, Kayla I. Perry , Yvan Delgado de la Flor, and Mary Gardiner. Ants as biological indicators of the value of urban vacant land as a conservation habitat. Ent. Soc. Am., Ent. Soc. Canada, Ent. Soc. B.C. Joint Conf. Vancouver, BC
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Mary Gardiner. Spider dietary niche partitioning positively influences species richness within urban vacant lots. Ent. Soc. Am., Ent. Soc. Canada, Ent. Soc. B.C. Joint Conf. Vancouver, BC
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Kayla I. Perry, Nicole C. Hoekstra , Yvan Delgado de la Flor, and Mary Gardiner. Dispersal limitations constrain grounddwelling beetle assemblages in an urban ecosystem. Ent. Soc. Am., Ent. Soc. Canada, Ent. Soc. B.C. Joint Conf. Vancouver, BC
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Perry, KI, NC Hoekstra, YA Delgado de la Flor, and MM Gardiner. Mechanisms of ground-dwelling beetle community assembly in an urban ecosystem. Biological Control Webinar Series, Midwest Biocontrol Working Group (NCERA 220).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Perry, KI, NC Hoekstra, YA Delgado de la Flor, and MM Gardiner. Mechanisms of ground-dwelling beetle community assembly in an urban ecosystem. Entomological Society of America-North Central Branch, Cincinnati, OH
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Dunkle, EJ, KI Perry, and MM Gardiner. Body size of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) decreases with urbanization. Entomological Society of America-North Central Branch, Cincinnati, OH
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Progress 04/01/17 to 03/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The primary stakeholders to benefit from this project are urban farmers and gardeners, looking to produce food safelyin potentially contaminated soil,and rural organic farmers, interested in managing the biological health of their soil.This year, we also worked with Cleveland Green Corps, who trainthe city's youth to produce and sell vegetables in urban farms. Our findings could be used in the future to inform policy and guidelines formanagingsoils to reduce the dangers of heavy metal and petrochemical contamination. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training has been provided for 1 postdoctoral researcher, 1 Ph. D. student, 1M.S. students, and 4undergraduates. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Workshops on soil biology and soil health were presented to farmers and gardeners at the Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Assoc and OSU organic farming field days. On-farm meetings with urban and rural farmers provided two-way exchange of experiential knowledge of farmers and current empirical research on soil contamination and soil health. Collaborating farmers were provided complete chemical, physical, and biological analyses results for their soils. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Additional sampling of soil invertebrates from the sites will be conducted using pitfall traps, sticky traps, and Berlese funnel extractions. We shall conduct additional bioassays of plant health potential for the soils, comparing tomato growth and soil capacity to suppress foliar insect performance and plant root pathogens. We shall also conduct more detailed characterization of microbial communities using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA and ITS rRNA gene amplicons.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During this reporting period, we expanded our database of soils sampled from Cleveland urban vacant lots, urban farms, nearby Metroparks, and outlying rural organic farms. All soils were analyzed for physico-chemical properties, including soil texture, total elemental levels using XRF, soluble elements using Mehlich-3 extraction followed by ICP-OES, organic matter, pH, and moisture. These analyses allowed us to characterize the soils for their capacity to provide nutrients and water for plant growth, as well as contamination by heavy metals. Soils were also analyzed for petrochemical contaminants using GC-MS identification and quantitation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic aromatic compounds (HACs). The biological communities of soils were compared using phospholipid fatty acid analysis. Soils collected from urban vacant lots showed a legacy of contamination by heavy metals, PAHs, and HACs, with levels of contamination inversely related to distance from centers of historic industrial activity. Vacant lots also showed the lowest levels of both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and actinomycetes according to PLFA analysis. In contrast, unmanaged MetroPark soils, mostly located outside Cleveland industrial areas, were consistently among the lowest for heavy metal and petrochemical contamination and had the highest abundances of bacteria, non-mycorrhizal fungi, and eukaryotes, particularly for wooded sites. Urban farms, which employed a range of organic soil management, showed significantly lower levels of heavy metal and petrochemical contaminants than did vacant lots and had significantly higher levels of plant minerals, available nitrogen, organic matter, and bacterial activity. Despite significant differences in microbial abundances among soil histories, there were no differences in their community diversities. Microbial abundance or diversity did not correlate significantly with any soil parameters, except total organic matter.
Publications
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Progress 04/01/16 to 03/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The first demographic targeted bythis project is the community of urban and rural organic farmers. We expect the information gathered to improve our understanding of biological soil health so soil management practices can be adapted to address the unique challenges associated with the legacy effects of different soil histories. The second audience is city planners,neighborhood groups, and land bank officialsin former industrial cities in need of information to guide decisions on the re-use of a growing expanse of vacant land in these cities. The third audience is urban youth working on urban farms through the Cleveland Green Corps program. Our planned workshops will provide hands-on opportunity for them to learn about the soil community and the ecosystem services it provides. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?During this first year of the project,training has been provided for 1 postdoctoral researcher, 1 Ph. D. student, 2 M.S. students, and 3 undergraduates. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Workshops on soil biology and soil health were presented to farmers and gardeners at the Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Assoc.On-farm meetings with urban and rural farmers provided opportunities for researchers to learn about the challenges and specific practices adopted by farmers and to provide them instruction on the current empirical understanding of soil health and updates on recent research findings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We shall continue field collection of soil samples in the coming year to double the database of information concerning the biological and chemical differences among urban farm, vacant lot, Metro Park, and rural farm soils. We also intend to complete identify invertebrate communities from all sites and characterize soil microbial and fungal communities using PLFA and DNA extraction/rRNA sequencing.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Sites were selected for soil collections from the four soil history types in and around Cleveland Ohio (urban vacant lots, Metro Parks, and urban and rural organic farms), using historical satellite imagery and written records. Collaborating relationships were established with urban and rural farmers for collection of soils and research permits were obtained for collection of soils from Metro Parks and other sites where required. During summer 2016, three soil samples were collected at each of approximately half of our intended total of 96 sites from among the four soil history types in order to allow sampling across years. A 10 cm diam x 8 cm deep sample from each site was transferred to a Berlese funnel for extraction of invertebrates. A second sample comprised of 3-2 cm diam x 15 cm deep cores was combined and analyzed for total mineral and heavy metal content following nitric acid microwave digestion. A third large soil sample was transferred to a cold room for subsequent PLFA analysis, DNA extraction, and bioassays of various ecosystem services. Vacant lot and urban farm soils possessed a similar sandy loam texture, while Metro Park and rural farms were both silty loamsoils. Mineral composition varied significantly among soil types. Lead was the only heavy metal showing significant variation among soil types, with levels highest in vacant lot soils, significantly lower in urban farms, and lowest in Metro Parks and rural farms. Levels of petroleum contaminants arising fromindustrial activity and burning fossil fuels, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, showed a similar pattern among the soil history types, i.e., highest in vacant lots, significantly reduced by urban farming, and lowest in Metro Parks and rural farms. Total organic matter was highest in urban farms, likely a reflection of the high levels of compost and other organic materials being added to these soils compared to even rural organic farms.
Publications
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