TY - JOUR
T1 - Carbon stocks and sequestration of stormwater bioretention/biofiltration basins
AU - Kavehei, Emad
AU - Jenkins, Graham
AU - LEMCKERT, Charles
AU - Adame, M
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the Griffith School of Engineering and Built Environment, the Cities Research Institute and the Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University and the Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra, for helping financially support this project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/11
Y1 - 2019/11
N2 - Bioretention basins are a prominent type of vegetated stormwater infrastructure that provides various ecosystem services, such as carbon (C) sequestration. Despite the key role of organic matter in the performance of bioretention basins, there is little understanding of their C accumulation properties. Using detailed field studies, we investigated the spatial, temporal and vertical variation of C capture in the soil of 25 subtropical bioretention basins in Australia. A thirteen-year soil chronosequence was used to estimate C sequestration rate. It was observed that the bioretention basins displayed a spatially uniform depositional pattern of C in their ponding area. The mean areal C density of soil in the upper 20cm was 3.8 ± 0.3 kg C m-2, from which 32% was associated with the top 5cm of soil. There was a strong influence of age on C density only throughout the first top 20cm of the soil profile with a C sequestration rate of 0.31 kg C m-2 yr-1. Carbon quickly accumulates in the top 5cm layer while in the lower depths it accumulated at a more gradual rate. The results show that bioretention systems could be designed for the enhancement of their C sequestration potential, and amendments in their design, such as addition of a carbon source layer, are important for better managing carbon availability in the basins.
AB - Bioretention basins are a prominent type of vegetated stormwater infrastructure that provides various ecosystem services, such as carbon (C) sequestration. Despite the key role of organic matter in the performance of bioretention basins, there is little understanding of their C accumulation properties. Using detailed field studies, we investigated the spatial, temporal and vertical variation of C capture in the soil of 25 subtropical bioretention basins in Australia. A thirteen-year soil chronosequence was used to estimate C sequestration rate. It was observed that the bioretention basins displayed a spatially uniform depositional pattern of C in their ponding area. The mean areal C density of soil in the upper 20cm was 3.8 ± 0.3 kg C m-2, from which 32% was associated with the top 5cm of soil. There was a strong influence of age on C density only throughout the first top 20cm of the soil profile with a C sequestration rate of 0.31 kg C m-2 yr-1. Carbon quickly accumulates in the top 5cm layer while in the lower depths it accumulated at a more gradual rate. The results show that bioretention systems could be designed for the enhancement of their C sequestration potential, and amendments in their design, such as addition of a carbon source layer, are important for better managing carbon availability in the basins.
KW - Biofiltration basin
KW - Carbon sequestration
KW - Ecosystem service
KW - Green infrastructure
KW - Rain garden
KW - Stormwater control measure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073648131&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2019.07.006
DO - 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2019.07.006
M3 - Article
SN - 0925-8574
VL - 138
SP - 227
EP - 236
JO - Ecological Engineering
JF - Ecological Engineering
ER -