Soil contamination in nearby natural areas mirrors that in urban greenspaces worldwide

Soil contamination is one of the main threats to ecosystem health and sustainability. Yet little is known about the extent to which soil contaminants differ between urban greenspaces and natural ecosystems. Here we show that urban greenspaces and adjacent natural areas (i.e., natural/semi-natural ecosystems) shared similar levels of multiple soil contaminants (metal(loid)s, pesticides, microplastics, and antibiotic resistance genes) across the globe. We reveal that human influence explained many forms of soil contamination worldwide. Socio-economic factors were integral to explaining the occurrence of soil contaminants worldwide. We further show that increased levels of multiple soil contaminants were linked with changes in microbial traits including genes associated with environmental stress resistance, nutrient cycling, and pathogenesis. Taken together, our work demonstrates that human-driven soil contamination in nearby natural areas mirrors that in urban greenspaces globally, and highlights that soil contaminants have the potential to cause dire consequences for ecosystem sustainability and human wellbeing

The global contribution of soil mosses to ecosystem services

Soil mosses are among the most widely distributed organisms on land. Experiments and observations suggest that they contribute to terrestrial soil biodiversity and function, yet their ecological contribution to soil has never been assessed globally under natural conditions. Here we conducted the most comprehensive global standardized field study to quantify how soil mosses influence 8 ecosystem services associated with 24 soil biodiversity and functional attributes across wide environmental gradients from all continents. We found that soil mosses are associated with greater carbon sequestration, pool sizes for key nutrients and organic matter decomposition rates but a lower proportion of soil-borne plant pathogens than unvegetated soils. Mosses are especially important for supporting multiple ecosystem services where vascular-plant cover is low. Globally, soil mosses potentially support 6.43 Gt more carbon in the soil layer than do bare soils. The amount of soil carbon associated with mosses is up to six times the annual global carbon emissions from any altered land use globally. The largest positive contribution of mosses to soils occurs under a high cover of mat and turf mosses, in less-productive ecosystems and on sandy and salty soils. Our results highlight the contribution of mosses to soil life and functions and the need to conserve these important organisms to support healthy soils.The study work associated with this paper was funded by a Large Research Grant from the British Ecological Society (no. LRB17\1019; MUSGONET). D.J.E. is supported by the Hermon Slade Foundation. M.D.-B. was supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2018-025483-I), a project from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the I + D + i (PID2020-115813RA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033a) and a project PAIDI 2020 from the Junta de Andalucía (P20_00879). E.G. is supported by the European Research Council grant agreement 647038 (BIODESERT). M.B. is supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant from Spanish Ministry of Science (RYC2021-031797-I). A.d.l.R is supported by the AEI project PID2019-105469RB-C22. L.W. and Jianyong Wang are supported by the Program for Introducing Talents to Universities (B16011) and the Ministry of Education Innovation Team Development Plan (2013-373). The contributions of T.G. and T.U.N. were supported by the Research Program in Forest Biology, Ecology and Technology (P4-0107) and the research projects J4-3098 and J4-4547 of the Slovenian Research Agency. The contribution of P.B.R. was supported by the NSF Biological Integration Institutes grant DBI-2021898. J. Durán and A. Rodríguez acknowledge support from the FCT (2020.03670.CEECIND and SFRH/BDP/108913/2015, respectively), as well as from the MCTES, FSE, UE and the CFE (UIDB/04004/2021) research unit financed by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC)

Biogenic factors explain soil carbon in paired urban and natural ecosystems worldwide

12 páginas.- 4 figuras.- 49 referencia.- Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01646-z .- Full-text access to a view-only version (Acceso a texto completo de sólo lectura en este enlace) https://rdcu.be/c8vZiUrban greenspaces support multiple nature-based services, many of which depend on the amount of soil carbon (C). Yet, the environmental drivers of soil C and its sensitivity to warming are still poorly understood globally. Here we use soil samples from 56 paired urban greenspaces and natural ecosystems worldwide and combine soil C concentration and size fractionation measures with metagenomics and warming incubations. We show that surface soils in urban and natural ecosystems sustain similar C concentrations that follow comparable negative relationships with temperature. Plant productivity’s contribution to explaining soil C was higher in natural ecosystems, while in urban ecosystems, the soil microbial biomass had the greatest explanatory power. Moreover, the soil microbiome supported a faster C mineralization rate with experimental warming in urban greenspaces compared with natural ecosystems. Consequently, urban management strategies should consider the soil microbiome to maintain soil C and related ecosystem services.This study was supported by a 2019 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, BBVA Foundation (URBANFUN), and by BES Grant Agreement No. LRB17\1019 (MUSGONET). M.D-B., P.G-P., J.D. and A.R. acknowledge support from TED2021-130908B-C41/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ Unión Europea NextGenerationEU/PRTR. M.D.-B. also acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the I + D + i project PID2020-115813RA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. M.D.-B. was also supported by a project of the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) and the Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades of the Junta de Andalucía (FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020 Objetivo temático ‘01 - Refuerzo de la investigación, el desarrollo tecnológico y la innovación’) associated with the research project P20_00879 (ANDABIOMA). D.J.E. was supported by the Hermon Slade Foundation. J.P.V. thanks the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) (EEQ/2021/001083, SIR/2022/000626) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), India (DST/INT/SL/P-31/2021) and Banaras Hindu Univeristy-IoE (6031)-incentive grant for financial assistance for research in plant-microbe interaction and soil microbiome. J.D. and A. Rodríguez acknowledge support from the FCT (2020.03670.CEECIND and SFRH/BDP/108913/2015, respectively), as well as from the MCTES, FSE, UE and the CFE (UIDB/04004/2021) research unit financed by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC).Peer reviewe

Global hotspots for soil nature conservation

19 páginas.- 5 figuras.- 98 referencias.- Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05292-xSoils are the foundation of all terrestrial ecosystems1. However, unlike for plants and animals, a global assessment of hotspots for soil nature conservation is still lacking2. This hampers our ability to establish nature conservation priorities for the multiple dimensions that support the soil system: from soil biodiversity to ecosystem services. Here, to identify global hotspots for soil nature conservation, we performed a global field survey that includes observations of biodiversity (archaea, bacteria, fungi, protists and invertebrates) and functions (critical for six ecosystem services) in 615 composite samples of topsoil from a standardized survey in all continents. We found that each of the different ecological dimensions of soils—that is, species richness (alpha diversity, measured as amplicon sequence variants), community dissimilarity and ecosystem services—peaked in contrasting regions of the planet, and were associated with different environmental factors. Temperate ecosystems showed the highest species richness, whereas community dissimilarity peaked in the tropics, and colder high-latitudinal ecosystems were identified as hotspots of ecosystem services. These findings highlight the complexities that are involved in simultaneously protecting multiple ecological dimensions of soil. We further show that most of these hotspots are not adequately covered by protected areas (more than 70%), and are vulnerable in the context of several scenarios of global change. Our global estimation of priorities for soil nature conservation highlights the importance of accounting for the multidimensionality of soil biodiversity and ecosystem services to conserve soils for future generations.This project received funding from the British Ecological Society (agreement LRA17\1193; MUSGONET). C.A.G. and N.E. were funded by DFG–FZT 118, 202548816; C.A.G. was supported by FCT-PTDC/BIA-CBI/2340/2020; M.D.-B. was supported by RYC2018-025483-I, PID2020-115813RA-I00\MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and P20_00879. M.A.M.-M. and S.A. were funded by FONDECYT 1181034 and ANID-PIA-Anillo INACH ACT192057. J.D. and A.R. acknowledge support from IF/00950/2014, 2020.03670.CEECIND, SFRH/BDP/108913/2015 and UIDB/04004/2020. Y.-R.L. was supported by 2662019PY010 from the FRFCU. L.T. was supported by the ESF grant PRG632. F.B. and J.L.M. were supported by i-LINK+2018 (LINKA20069) funded by CSIC. C.T.-D. was supported by the Grupo de Biodibersidad & Cambio Global UBB–GI 170509/EF. C.P. was supported by the EU H2020 grant agreement 101000224. H.C. was supported by NSFC32101335, FRFCU2412021QD014 and CPSF2021M690589. J.P.V. was supported by DST (DST/INT/SL/P-31/2021) SERB (EEQ/2021/001083) and BHU-IoE (6031).Peer reviewe

Publisher Correction: Soil contamination in nearby natural areas mirrors that in urban greenspaces worldwide

Correction to: Nature Communications, published online 27 March 2023 In the version of this article originally published, the current affiliation 25, “CEAZA, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile,” initially appeared as the last affiliation, offsetting all author footnotes from 25-39. The affiliation order has been restored in the article.Peer reviewe

Global homogenization of the structure and function in the soil microbiome of urban greenspaces

Acknowledgments We would like to thank C. Walsh and R. Ochoa-Hueso for advice on bioinformatics and statistical analyses. We also thank M. Martin for revising the English of the manuscript. In addition, we thank J. Owojori for connecting us with our sampling collaborator in Nigeria, A. R. Bamigboye. Funding: M.D.-B. and this project were supported by a 2019 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, BBVA Foundation (URBANFUN) and by the BES grant agreement no. LRB17\1019 (MUSGONET). M.D.-B. is also supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2018-025483-I). N.F. was supported by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation (DEB1556090 and DEB1542653). L.T. acknowledges support from Norway-Baltic collaboration grant EMP442 and Estonian Science Foundation grant PRG632. B.K.S. acknowledges a research award by the Humboldt Foundation and funding from the Australian Research Council (DP190103714). F.A. is supported by ANID FONDECYT 11180538 and 1170995. S.A. is funded by ANID FONDECYT 1170995 and ANID ANILLO ACT192027. F.B. and J.L.M. acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry and FEDER funds for the project AGL2017-85755-R, the i-LINK+ 2018 (LINKA20069) from CSIC, as well as funds from “Fundación Séneca” from Murcia Province (19896/GERM/15). C.P. acknowledges support from the Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation (2013–2016), award reference AGL201675762-R (AEI/FEDER, UE). M.B. acknowledges support from a Juan de la Cierva Formación grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FJCI-2018-036520-I). T.P.M. would like to acknowledge contributions from the National Research Foundation of South Africa and cities involved in the South African survey. Slovenian coauthors were supported by the research project J4-1766 “Methodology approaches in genome-based diversity and ecological plasticity study of truffles from their natural distribution areas” and the Research Program in Forest Biology, Ecology, and Technology (P4-0107) of the Slovenian Research Agency. J.D. and A. Rey acknowledge support from the FCT (IF/00950/2014 and SFRH/BDP/108913/2015, respectively), as well as from the MCTES, FSE, UE, and the CFE (UIDB/04004/2020) research unit financed by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC). J.P.V. acknowledges financial support from SERB (Science and Engineering Research Board) (EEQ/2017/000775) India. J.-Z.H. and H.-W.H. are financially supported by Australian Research Council (DP170101628). The BBVA Foundation accepts no responsibility for the opinions, statements, and contents included in the project and/or the results thereof, which are entirely the responsibility of the authors. Author contributions: M.D.-B. developed the original idea of the analyses presented in the manuscript and coordinated all field and laboratory operations. Field data were collected by M.D.-B., D.J.E., Y.-R.L., A.R.B., J.L.B.-P., J.G.I., T.P.M., C.S., P.T., E.Z., J.P.V., L.W., J.W., T.G., M.B., G.F.P.-B., T.U.N., A.L.T., X.-Q.Z., J.D., A. Rodriguez, X.Z., F.A., S.A., C.P., and A. Rey. Laboratory analyses were done by M.D.-B., N.F., H.-W.H., J.-Z.H., F.B., J.L.M., and L.T. Bioinformatic analyses were done by N.F., B.S., J.-T.W., B.K.S., and C.C.-D. Statistical analyses were done by M.D.-B. The manuscript was written by M.D.-B. and edited by N.F. and D.J.E., with contributions from all coauthors. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. The data associated with this study can be found in the following: https://figshare.com/s/529c98609cd88e78e1a3; DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.12930986.The structure and function of the soil microbiome of urban greenspaces remain largely undetermined. We conducted a global field survey in urban greenspaces and neighboring natural ecosystems across 56 cities from six continents, and found that urban soils are important hotspots for soil bacterial, protist and functional gene diversity, but support highly homogenized microbial communities worldwide. Urban greenspaces had a greater proportion of fast-growing bacteria, algae, amoebae, and fungal pathogens, but a lower proportion of ectomycorrhizal fungi than natural ecosystems. These urban ecosystems also showed higher proportions of genes associated with human pathogens, greenhouse gas emissions, faster nutrient cycling, and more intense abiotic stress than natural environments. City affluence, management practices, and climate were fundamental drivers of urban soil communities. Our work paves the way toward a more comprehensive global-scale perspective on urban greenspaces, which is integral to managing the health of these ecosystems and the well-being of human populations.Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y EvoluciónFac. de Ciencias BiológicasTRUEpu

Soil biodiversity supports the delivery of multiple ecosystem functions in urban greenspaces

22 páginas.-. 5 figuras.- 64 referencias.- Supplementary Information This pdf file includes: Supplementary Figs. 1–5, Tables 1–11 and references. https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41559-022-01935-4/MediaObjects/41559_2022_1935_MOESM1_ESM.pdfWhile the contribution of biodiversity to supporting multiple ecosystem functions is well established in natural ecosystems, the relationship of the above- and below-ground diversity with ecosystem multifunctionality remains virtually unknown in urban greenspaces. Here we conducted a standardized survey of urban greenspaces from 56 municipalities across six continents, aiming to investigate the relationships of plant and soil biodiversity (diversity of bacteria, fungi, protists and invertebrates, and metagenomics-based functional diversity) with 18 surrogates of ecosystem functions from nine ecosystem services. We found that soil biodiversity across biomes was significantly and positively correlated with multiple dimensions of ecosystem functions, and contributed to key ecosystem services such as microbially driven carbon pools, organic matter decomposition, plant productivity, nutrient cycling, water regulation, plant–soil mutualism, plant pathogen control and antibiotic resistance regulation. Plant diversity only indirectly influenced multifunctionality in urban greenspaces via changes in soil conditions that were associated with soil biodiversity. These findings were maintained after controlling for climate, spatial context, soil properties, vegetation and management practices. This study provides solid evidence that conserving soil biodiversity in urban greenspaces is key to supporting multiple dimensions of ecosystem functioning, which is critical for the sustainability of urban ecosystems and human wellbeing.This study was supported by a 2019 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, BBVA Foundation (URBANFUN), and by the BES grant agreement number LRB17\1019 (MUSGONET). M.D.-B. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the I+D+i project PID2020-115813RA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. M.D.-B. is also supported by a project of the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) and the Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades of the Junta de Andalucía (FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020 Objetivo temático ‘01-Refuerzo de la investigación, el desarrollo tecnológico y la innovación’) associated with the research project P20_00879 (ANDABIOMA). H.C. was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA28020202), National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFD1500202) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91951109, 42230511, 92251305). K.F. was supported by Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program by CAST (2021QNRC001) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M703302). F.D.A. and S.A. were supported by ANID FONDECYT 11180538 and 1170995. J.P.V. was supported by SERB (SIR/2022/000626, EEQ/2021/001083), DST (DST/INT/SL/P-31/2021) and Banaras Hindu University, IoE (6031) incentives grant for plant-microbe interaction and soil microbiome research. T.G. and T.U.N were supported by the Slovenian Research Agency grants P4-0107, J4-3098 and J4-4547.Peer reviewe

Soil contamination in nearby natural areas mirrors that in urban greenspaces worldwide

Liu et al. demonstrate that human-driven soil contamination in natural areas mirrors that in nearby urban greenspaces globally, and highlight the potential influence that soil contaminants have on ecosystem functions