Viacheslav Vasenev’s research while affiliated with Wageningen University & Research and other places

Identifying the relationship between the microbiomes of urban dust particles from different biotopes is important because the state of microorganisms can be used to assess the quality of the environment. The aim of this work was to determine the distribution and interaction patterns of microorganisms of dust particles in the air and on leaf surfaces. Metabarcoding of bacterial and fungal communities, PAH, and metal content analyses and electron microscopy were used in this work. The results obtained allowed us to characterise the biological and chemical components of the dust particles. Some bacterial and fungal genera were correlated with benzanthracene, fluoranthene, and Cu, Ni, Co, Zn, and Mn contents. Bacterial communities were found to be more sensitive to all the pollutants studied. PM10 microbial communities circulated between biotopes and study areas due to air flows, as evidenced by the presence of similar ASVs in fungi and bacteria. The results could help to understand the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities.

In the scientific community, ecosystem services (ESs) are well-recognized as a promising concept to more actively consider and plan for the multitude of benefits provided by the green environment and thus promote sustainable urban development. Yet, to have an impact on decision-making, the concept must spread from academia to practice. To understand to what extent ES have been adopted in practice and decision-making in Russia, we conducted a series of interviews and an online survey with both practitioners and scientists and complemented it by document analysis. Our results showed that ES are not adequately reflected in urban decision-making and planning processes. Moreover, we found no explicit references to ES in strategic urban planning and landscape development projects, although there are few implicit references in several reviewed documents. Among the identified challenges for better uptake of the concept in practice were many disagreements associated with the lack of a unified terminology, typology, and methods. Stakeholders understand the potential of applying ES valuation in practice, which includes a necessity to develop methodological materials and different tools based on real-life cases. Finally, a list of proposals on possible ways to better include ES in urban planning and in decision-making processes was formed by the respondents.

This study assessed the impact of the urease inhibitor Limus on the microbiological properties of soil during barley cultivation. It examined the activity of microbial groups associated with the nitrogen cycle (ammonifiers, denitrifiers), urease enzyme activity, microbial biomass, microbial respiration, and microbial metabolic quotient. It was found that the application of the inhibitor led to a fourfold reduction in gaseous ammonia emissions on the following day of the experiment and a suppression of enzymatic activity by 47% on the third day of the experiment compared to treatment with urea alone. Microbial biomass remained stable, and the application of the inhibitor led to a temporary suppression of basal respiration intensity, which returned to the control level by the third day.

Purpose With ongoing global warming, the carbon (C) balance of Arctic ecosystems has become a ‘hot’ topic; however, C stocks and fluxes in the soil of Arctic cities remain overlooked. The research aimed to estimate wintertime soil respiration and its contribution to the cumulative annual CO2 emission from urban and natural soil of Apatity town in the Russian Arctic zone. Materials and methods Soil respiration and microclimatic parameters (i.e., air temperature, soil temperature at 0 cm, 7 cm and 20 cm, and snow height) were observed from November 2020 until May 2023 at two urban (UR) sites (UR1 was in the town centre, and UR2 was in the town’s outskirts) in comparison to the natural forested area. Soil chemical (i.e., bulk density, pHw, contents of available P, total C, N, bulk contents of Cu and Ni) and microbial (i.e., Cmic, BR, qCO2, number of rRNA gene copies and community-level physiological profile) properties were analysed to explain patterns in soil respiration. Results A thicker snow layer and warmer soil temperature at the urban sites determined a higher than at the natural site cumulative annual soil CO2 efflux. The wintertime and snowy-period respiration accounted for 20% and 50% of the cumulative annual soil CO2 efflux, respectively, with remarkable spikes during the thawing period. The high variation in soil respiration between urban sites was explained by different states of microbial communities, with higher activity shown for younger and more intensively managed soil at the UR2 site. Conclusion An adequate estimate of soil C balance in Arctic cities must consider the wintertime soil respiration as an essential part of the cumulative annual CO2 efflux, whereas monitoring points inside the cities represent the gradient in mesoclimatic conditions driven by the urban heat island effect as well as the age and management of urban soils.

Purpose Anthropogenic influence leads to significant changes in soil properties and functions. Soil contamination by potentially toxic metals is one of the major environmental problems in urban environments. Traditional soil monitoring methods, while accurate, are often costly and labor-intensive, making it challenging to capture the intricate spatial variations of pollutants in urban soils. Proximal sensing based on X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis is considered a cost-effective approach for rapid assessment of soil contamination. The assessment accuracy depends on soil properties (e.g., texture, moisture, organic matter content) and detection limits for different elements. The research aimed to test a portable XRF analyzer for the assessment of soil contamination by potentially toxic metals in green zones of Moscow megalopolis. Materials and methods Initially, Olympus Vanta C pXRF was calibrated using artificially contaminated soil mixtures by Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd, representing a diversity of urban soils in Moscow. Linear regression was used to compare pXRF results with the ICP-OES method, and regression coefficients were used to set correction factors (k) for observed potentially toxic metals based on soil properties. Subsequently, the spatial mapping accuracy of topsoil contamination in three distinct green areas was assessed using pXRF (with and without correction factors) based on ICP-OES reference concentrations. Results The calibrated pXRF showed high accuracy for Pb (R² = 0.94, b = 0.91, p < 0.05), Cu (R² = 0.95, b = 0.95, p < 0.05), and Zn (R² = 0.95, b = 1.04, p < 0.05), moderate accuracy for Ni (R² = 0.68, b = 0.77, p < 0.05), and limited accuracy for Cd (p > 0.05) on a typical urban contamination level due to its high detection limit. Spatial variability in soil contamination was determined by comparison to the health thresholds (approximate permissible concentration and pollution indices), and the areas subjected to land-use restrictions were identified based on the regional environmental regulations. When calibrated by correction factors, mapping accuracy based on pXRF approached that of ICP-OES (in the range of 10%) for Ni, Cu, and Pb in major parts of the areas. Conclusion The study revealed that uncorrected pXRF measurements overestimated contamination. When tailored to specific urban soil conditions, pXRF offers a viable, cost-efficient alternative for assessing soil contamination. The developed approach improved the accuracy and reliability of local soil contamination maps by capturing spatial patterns ignored by conventional methods which is essential to optimize costs of soil rehabilitation and sustainable management of urban soils.

The microbiological parameters of technosols based on peat-sand mixtures, made in cities of different bioclimatic zones: Apatity (subarctic), Moscow (temperate humid), Rostov-on-Don (temperate dry), were determined for the first time. Such properties as microbial biomass, activity and specific respiration of technosols were evaluated by the technics of substrate-induced and basal respiration, as well as the physiological profile and functional diversity of soil microbial communities by the MicroResp technic. Fungal biomass was assessed using light luminescence microscopy. In technosols from different climatic zones, microbial biomass carbon and microbial activity (basal respiration) values were found to be lower compared to natural (background) reference soils. Fourteen months after the beginning of the experiment, the microbial biomass in Moscow and Rostov-on-Don decreased by around 1.5 and 2 times, respectively, compared to background soils, whereas in Apatity, on the opposite, it increased. Microbial respiration in the conditions of the north increased by 1.2 times, while in temperate climate it decreased by 1.2 (Moscow) and 3.4 times (Rostov-on-Don). The specific respiration (microbial metabolic quotient) qCO2 was found to be sufficiently high (3.5–4.5 CO2-C µg-1 Cmic h−1) for the first two years of the study for all experimental stations. Alterations in the microbial community physiological profile of technosols in different bioclimatic zones were discovered, most noticeably demonstrated in Moscow. In terms of fungal biomass, the technosols of Rostov-on-Don are closest to the background soil, while in Moscow it is lower by 2 times and almost 3.5 times in Apatity. After 14 months in the technosols, created in temperate humid and temperate dry conditions, tended to change the functional diversity of microbial communities towards natural reference. Under northern conditions, the physiological profile of the microbial community changed insignificantly. Alterations in the microbiological characteristics of technosols in various bioclimatic conditions revealed over a period of 14 months demonstrate a significant impact of the climatic factor on the formation of stable soil systems.KeywordsHuman-made soil constructionsBioclimatic gradientMicrobial specific respirationGreen infrastructureCommunity level physiological profile

The vulnerability of urban ecosystems to global climate change becomes a key issue in research and political agendas. Urban green infrastructures (UGIs) are widely considered as a nature-based solution to mitigate climate change and adapt to local urban climate anomalies in cities. However, UGI-induced cooling effect depends on the size, location and geometry of green spaces, and such dependencies remain overlooked. This research aimed to investigate the cooling effect of UGIs of different size under extreme conditions of 2021 summer heat wave for the case of Moscow megacity (Russia) using a numerical mesoclimatic model COSMO. UGIs objects were assigned to one of the four size categories (S, L, M and XL) based on their area. Their cooling effects at the local, non-local and city scales were evaluated based on comparison between the model outcomes for the realistic land cover and simulations for which UGI of a particular size category were replaced by the built-up areas typical for their surroundings. The highest cooling effect was observed for XL size UGIs, which reduced the local heat-wave-averaged air temperatures by up to 3.4 °C, whereas for the S size UGIs it did not exceed 2 °C. The cooling effectiveness for XL category was higher than for S category by 23 % inside the green spaces (locally), by 40-90 % in the buffer zones around the green space (non-locally) and by 35 % for the whole city. More effective cooling of large UGIs is partially explained by their stronger park breeze effect, i.e., impact on the airflow increasing the divergence over green spaces. However, when standardized to the population affected by cooling, the M size UGIs made the strongest contribution to the thermal environment where people live and work. The stronger non-local cooling induced by the largest UGI objects cannot compensate for their remoteness from the built environment.