Carbon and water fluxes over a urban park area in Naples

Knowledge of the contribution of urban forests and green spaces to the carbon fluxes in Mediterranean urban areas is extremely important for understanding the carbon mitigation potential by urban vegetation. This is even more relevant after the publication of the "European Green Deal" that supports the plantation of at least 3 billion of additional trees by 2030 in urban and peri-urban areas and the "Mediterranean strategy for sustainable development" (2016-2025) both oriented towards sustainable cities and climate neutrality. Despite the importance, there is still little information regarding the carbon source/sink capacity of urban forests facing multiple stresses (e.g. high levels of air, water and soil pollution). To help in addressing this gap, we take advantage of an eddy-covariance (EC) station in the "Real Bosco di Capodimonte", a large green area of 125 ha characterized by a mixed mature Mediterranean forest located within the city of Naples in Italy, to measure the CO2 and H2O fluxes. Considering the complexity of the EC tower footprint, we used a split-footprint approach to assign CO2 and H2O fluxes to the forested areas excluding the influence of the urban area.Results showed that both CO2 and H2O fluxes are in the range of other natural evergreen Mediterranean ecosystems. In addition, the efficiency on sinking carbon is subjected to seasonal and inter annual variability, highlighting the role of physiological status of the vegetation. Finally, the vegetation of the Capodimonte Park can buffer and offset the carbon losses due to the residential area.