Carbon and nitrogen cycling in an urban constructed technosol: The artist-led carbon sponge pilot study
Sara Perl Egendorf, Maha Deeb, Brooke Singer, Nkwi Flores, Marisa Prefer, Zhongqi Cheng, Peter M. Groffman
Geoderma
Urban Farm DB summary
The Carbon Sponge pilot study, conducted at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, New York City, evaluated the effects of different plant communities on constructed Technosol formation and carbon and nitrogen cycling through an artist-led collaboration. Soils were constructed from NYC Clean Soil Bank sediments and urban municipal composts at a 2:1 ratio, creating 24 beds under 8 different planting regimes. Over the 21-month study duration, soils changed significantly in microbial biomass nitrogen content, sunflowers increased soil carbon and ammonium, and cover crop mixtures increased nitrate and ammonium.