Analysis of the impact of urbanization on the ecological state of soils and woody vegetation in the forest parks of New Moscow

Green spaces and recreational soils play a crucial role in ensuring the sustainable development and functioning of cities. They help to reduce the content of volatile organic substances and fine dust in the air, create a microclimate, optimize water balance and preserve biodiversity, and provide cultural, aesthetic, and educational functions and services. The interaction of soil and plant components has a more significant impact on the sustainable development of green infrastructure in urbanized areas. This is especially true for new urbanized territories, where the history of land use has an additional impact on the properties of soil and green spaces.

The study is devoted to studying the recreational areas of New Moscow, formed on the site of a natural forest. The conducted studies make it possible to assess in a complex the interaction of plant and soil components and the impact of land use on the functions and properties of soils and green spaces in 4 parks located in New Moscow. Until July 1, 2012, which included all research objects in Moscow's forest park protective belt, and after 2012 it transferred them to Moscow. All of them have been sampled at 39 points to a depth of 50 cm and 10 points to a depth of 1 m. It carried out a visual assessment for 4117 trees located at each point within a radius of 20 m from the soil sampling. An analysis of species diversity and an analysis of the state of woody vegetation did not reveal significant differences. Thus, the best condition of the trees was found in the Rasskazovka park - 1.61 (on a 6-point scale by V. Alekseev), and the worst in the Ulyanovsk forest park - 1.82. The lowest average density of surface horizons (0–10 cm) was noted for the park of the 3rd microdistrict of the Moscow and Ulyanovsk Forest Park – 0.8 ± 0.1 g/cm3 and 0.8 ± 0.3 g/cm3. The pH value in the Ulyanovsk forest park is 5.1 ± 0.4. Also, there is an excess of approximately permissible concentrations (APC) in the parks for nickel, zinc, arsenic, and cadmium. For example, in the soil in the Troitskaya Grove park, excesses for all four metals are shown for some points. The data obtained indicate that forest parks are subject to anthropogenic impact, which negatively affects soil quality. The analysis of microbiological activity and carbon and the calculation of integral pollution indices will help more accurately determine the differences and factors that have a negative impact on forest ecosystems.