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The influence of different types of urban land use on soil microbial biomass and functional diversity in B eijing, C hina
Author(s) -
Zhao D.,
Li F.,
Yang Q.,
Wang R.,
Song Y.,
Tao Y.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/sum.12034
Subject(s) - environmental science , biomass (ecology) , soil organic matter , land use , nutrient , organic matter , soil water , agronomy , abiotic component , ecosystem , microbial population biology , soil quality , ecology , biology , soil science , genetics , bacteria
Soil microbes in urban ecosystems are affected by a variety of abiotic and biotic factors resulting from changes in land use. However, the influence of different types of land use on soil microbial properties and soil quality in urban areas remains largely unknown. Here, by comparing five types of land use: natural forest, park, agriculture, street green and roadside trees, we examined the effects of different land uses on soil microbial biomass and microbial functional diversity in B eijing, C hina. We found that soil properties varied with land uses in urban environments. Compared to natural forest, soil nutrients under the other four types of urban land use were markedly depleted, and accumulation of C u, Z n, P b and C d was apparent. Importantly, under these four types of land use, there was less microbial biomass, but it had greater functional diversity, particularly in the roadside‐tree soils. Furthermore, there were significant correlations between the microbial characteristics and physicochemical properties, such as organic matter, total nitrogen and total phosphorus ( P < 0.05), suggesting that lack of nutrients was the major reason for the decrease in microbial biomass. In addition, the larger C / N ratio, N i concentration and pool of organic matter together with a higher p H contributed to the increase in microbial functional diversity in urban soils. We concluded that different land uses have indirect effects on soil microbial biomass and microbial community functional diversity through their influence on soil physicochemical properties, especially nutrient availability and heavy metal content.