Li, Gui-LinBai, XuemeiYu, ShenZhang, HuaZhu, Yong-Guan2015-12-081530-9290http://hdl.handle.net/1885/34996Urbanization has significant impacts on local, regional, and global biogeochemical cycles, including through nutrient enrichment by food consumption, and especially in rapidly urbanizing countries. This article presents a time-series estimation of phosphorus (P) metabolism through food consumption in Chinese cities and examines its relationship to income level during the period 1985-2006. Our results show that approximately 39% of the total dietary P inflow is exported through direct sewage discharge without treatment, 35% is exported via the output of solid human excreta, 7% is exported through sewage sludge landfill, and 19% is left within urban areas. The total inflow of dietary P to urban systems increases with per capita disposable income level. Furthermore, the ratio of dietary P remaining in urban systems to total dietary P inflow, the dietary P remaining in urban systems per capita, and the dietary P remaining per unit urban built-up area respond in an inverted U shape to increases in per capita disposable income; the per capita outflow of dietary P shows a U-shaped response. These relationships may indicate that the impact of urban dietary P on urban environmental systems follows the traditional environmental Kuznets curve, while the environmental impact of urban dietary P on surrounding nonurban ecosystems initially decreases but then increases with the rising income of urban residents.Keywords: Biogeochemical cycle; Food consumption; Geochemical cycling; Industrial ecology; Nutrient flows; Urban environments; Biogeochemistry; Ecology; Economic and social effects; Metabolism; Nutrients; Phosphorus; Physiology; Sewage sludge; Food supply; environm Biogeochemical cycle; Industrial ecology; Nutrient flow; Urban environment; Urban food consumption; Urban geochemical cycling201110.1111/j.1530-9290.2011.00402.x2016-02-24