Urban greenspaces shape soil protist communities in a location-specific manner

TY - JOUR

T1 - Urban greenspaces shape soil protist communities in a location-specific manner

AU - Shangguan, Hua Yuan

AU - Geisen, Stefan

AU - Li, Zhi Peng

AU - Yao, Hai Feng

AU - Li, Gang

AU - Breed, Martin F.

AU - Scheu, Stefan

AU - Sun, Xin

N1 - Data archiving: on request

PY - 2024/1/1

Y1 - 2024/1/1

N2 - The impacts of urbanization on aboveground biodiversity are well studied, and its impact on soil microorganisms are also receiving increased attention. However, the impact of urbanization on the soil protists are hardly investigated. Here, we studied how urbanization and distinct urban greenspaces affect protist communities. We used amplicon sequencing of the18 S rRNA gene of samples from five types of urban greenspaces (parks, greenbelts, industrial areas, residential areas and hospital lawns), neighboring natural forests and agricultural ecosystems in Ningbo, China. We found that urban greenspaces harbored higher protist α-diversity than forests, while protist β-diversity increased from agricultural systems to urban greenspaces to forests. Among the studied driving factors, soil bacterial α- and β-diversity best predicted phagotrophic protist α- and β-diversity in urban greenspaces, while differences in α- and β-diversity of phototrophic protists were best explained by soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and fungal β-diversity, respectively. Abiotic factors i.e., total phosphorus and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, best predicted the α- and β-diversity of protist parasites in urban greenspaces, respectively. The results revealed that the composition and drivers of protist communities vary between functional groups and urban ecosystems. Overall, our findings contribute to a better understanding of drivers of soil protist communities and indicate that soil protist communities and associated soil functions could be managed in predictable ways in urban greenspaces.

AB - The impacts of urbanization on aboveground biodiversity are well studied, and its impact on soil microorganisms are also receiving increased attention. However, the impact of urbanization on the soil protists are hardly investigated. Here, we studied how urbanization and distinct urban greenspaces affect protist communities. We used amplicon sequencing of the18 S rRNA gene of samples from five types of urban greenspaces (parks, greenbelts, industrial areas, residential areas and hospital lawns), neighboring natural forests and agricultural ecosystems in Ningbo, China. We found that urban greenspaces harbored higher protist α-diversity than forests, while protist β-diversity increased from agricultural systems to urban greenspaces to forests. Among the studied driving factors, soil bacterial α- and β-diversity best predicted phagotrophic protist α- and β-diversity in urban greenspaces, while differences in α- and β-diversity of phototrophic protists were best explained by soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and fungal β-diversity, respectively. Abiotic factors i.e., total phosphorus and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, best predicted the α- and β-diversity of protist parasites in urban greenspaces, respectively. The results revealed that the composition and drivers of protist communities vary between functional groups and urban ecosystems. Overall, our findings contribute to a better understanding of drivers of soil protist communities and indicate that soil protist communities and associated soil functions could be managed in predictable ways in urban greenspaces.

KW - Functional groups

KW - Land-use

KW - Protists

KW - Soil biota

KW - Urban greenspaces

KW - Urbanization

KW - Soil Microbiology

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Nitrogen

KW - Carbon

KW - Parks, Recreational

KW - Ecosystem

KW - Soil

U2 - 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117485

DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117485

M3 - Article

C2 - 37907164

AN - SCOPUS:85175869912

SN - 0013-9351

VL - 240

JO - Environmental Research

JF - Environmental Research

IS - 1

M1 - 117485

ER -