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Cited by 46Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesUrban Green Space and HealthUrban Arborization and Environmental Studies

Vegetation-based ecosystem service delivery in urban landscapes: A systematic review

Open access
Stroud, Sebastian, Peacock, Julie, Hassall, Christopher·2022·Basic and Applied Ecology
DOI 10.1016/j.baae.2022.02.007
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Abstract

The use of plants in cities and the ecosystem services they provide has attracted increased attention both publicly and within the research literature. Increasingly, the value of urban green and blue space is being recognised for its multiple benefits to human wellness and ecological integrity. A quantitative assessment of studies considering nature-based solutions and ecosystem services can identify the current evidence‐base for improving the provisioning of plant ecosystem services management and understanding barriers to adoption of nature-based solutions. Here, we provide a systematic review of the literature to characterise the current state of research on ecosystem service provision by urban blue and green space. We identified 684 relevant studies on urban plant literature and extracted key research themes. Studies were generally focused on terrestrial systems (89%) compared to aquatic systems such as blue space (11%). Geographically most studies were focused on Europe (39%), Asia (23%), and N. America (22%). Trees were the most frequently reported vegetation type studies (29%) followed by generic vegetation (20%), grassland (11%), forest (7%), and aquatic vegetation (5%). Many studies were short (41%), collecting data only over a single year or single field season. Many of the long-term studies are concerning land use/land cover change. Most studies (64%) were conducted for less than five years. The most-reported methodology was remote sensing technology (15%), followed by field surveys (8%), stakeholder surveys (6%), and ecosystem service models (5%). The most-reported ecosystem service types were regulation and maintenance (54%), cultural (28%), and provisioning (16%). Only a small number of studies looked solely at disservice (1%) or discussed ecosystem services in generic terms. Disservices were reported in only 16% of studies with the greatest single category of a disservice being biogenic volatile organic compounds and allergenic potential. Few studies (13%) reported on the use of nature-based solutions and these 80% only focused on a single nature-based solution. There was a lack of detail on plant species, 68% (n = 468) did not list the species studied. We conclude that there is a broad spectrum of research on urban vegetation services, overall, the focus of the literature is uneven. Research should seek to examine the species-specific responses to urbanisation and counter geographic disparities. There is also a need for longitudinal experimental data to identify the functioning and ecosystem service provision of green infrastructure in both urban green and blue space and factors that influence performance over policy- and management-relevant timescales.

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  • The Global South, including parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean, are newly emerging in the literature as contexts for NbS application, replication, scaling, and monitoring.

    “The Global South, including parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are newly emerging in the literature as contexts for NbS application, replication, scaling, and monitoring (36).”

    From Global synthesis and regional insights for mainstreaming urban nature-based solutions (2025) · cites this paper as [36]

    The Geographic, temporal and spatial section (page unavailable) identifies a few studies of native-vegetation services in the Global South and fewer studies in Africa, South and Central America, and parts of Asia. It calls for more research there, but does not establish that these regions are newly emerging contexts for NbS replication, scaling, or monitoring. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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  • There is a dominance of studies on terrestrial NbS with relatively limited research on aquatic and marine NbS and their cobenefits.

    “Another dimension in the ecological challenge is the dominance of studies on terrestrial NbS with relatively limited research on aquatic and marine NbS and their cobenefits (34, 36).”

    From Global synthesis and regional insights for mainstreaming urban nature-based solutions (2025) · cites this paper as [36]

    The Abstract reports that 89% of the reviewed urban-plant studies concerned terrestrial systems, versus 11% aquatic systems. The Discussion notes fewer studies of aquatic plants and their ecosystem services, and the Blue-green space section reports little focus on estuarine and coastal vegetation. The review is limited to vegetation-based services in urban landscapes, so it does not establish the same research imbalance for all terrestrial, aquatic, and marine NbS or their cobenefits. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Tsai, W. L., Floyd, M. F., Leung, Y. F., McHale, M. R., & Reich, B. J. (2016). Urban vegetative cover fragmentation in the US associations with physical activity and BMI. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 50, 509-517.
  2. Further Reading Nature-based Solutions Initiative (2020). University of Oxford, naturebasedsolutionsinitiative.org. Accessed 12/12/2021.
  3. Wallace, B. C., Small, K., Brodley, C. E., Lau, J., & Trikalinos, T. A. (2012). January). Deploying an interactive machine learning system in an evidence-based practice center: abstrackr.Proceedings of the 2nd. ACM SIGHIT international health informatics symposium.

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Authors
Stroud, S., Peacock, J., & Hassall, C.
Affiliations
University of Leeds (GB)
Corresponding author
Stroud, Sebastian
ORCID
Venue
Basic and Applied Ecology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2022-06
Volume
61
Pages
82-101
ISSN
1439-1791 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.baae.2022.02.007
OpenAlex
W4213254099
Cited by
46
References
126
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4
FWCI
0.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Basic and Applied Ecology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Natural Environment Research Council (NE/S007458/1)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Urban Green Space and Health
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Urban Arborization and Environmental Studies
Keywords
urban vegetation, ecosystem services, nature-based solutions, urban green space, urban blue spaces, green infrastructure, trees, cultural ecosystem services, provisioning services, biogenic volatile organic compounds, allergenicity, land use and land cover change, urbanization, research gaps

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