Effect of deicing salts on urban lawn components: a pot experiment

In many cities of temperate climate zone, lawns along roads are under salinization risk from de-icing agents. As a result, lawn components lose the capacity to perform ecosystem services. This pot experiment focused on the assessment of the state of lawn plants and soil under the impact of salt (NaCl) at low and high (240 and 2400 g m-2) concentrations, mimicking salinization levels close to and far from roads, respectively. Biomass, shoot length and chlorophyll a fluorescence were chosen as plant health indicators. Soil microbial biomass was used as a measure of the soil habitat potential, and organic matter decomposition as a measure of nutrient cycling. The high salt concentration depleted by 80% on average the potential to provide primary production services, habitat for microbes and nutrient cycling. The presence of plants mitigated the salinization effect on the microbial community of the turfgrass soil.