Urban ecosystem ecology at the soil-plant-atmosphere: Studies on a Parisian long-term chronosequence

The study of urban ecosystems has been expected to provide knowledge on general ecological questions and contribute to global change research, as well as develop practical knowledge on how to improve the contribution of the ecological infrastructure of cities to ecosystem services across scales. Due to the strong, urban-specific entanglement of abiotic factors (high near-ground CO2 concentrations, high amount of reactive nitrogen in the atmosphere, altered climate, light pollution etc.), studying long-term ecological dynamics of urban ecosystems appears essential since it can provide information on net patterns that are invisible on shorter time-scales, help infer the underlying processes and provide insights on the long-term effects of management practices on the ecological infrastructure and its sustainability. Street tree plantations in Paris were chosen as a model to pursue our investigations on these matters.