Microbial Composition and Functional Diversity Differ Across Urban Green Infrastructure Types
Functional and biogeographical properties of soil microbial communities in urban ecosystems are poorly understood despite their role in metabolic processes underlying valuable ecosystem services. The worldwide emergence of engineered habitats in urban landscapes—green roofs, bioswales, and other typ...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00912/full |
| _version_ | 1829486562397650944 |
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| author | Aman S. Gill Kai Purnell Matthew I. Palmer Jaime Stein Krista L. McGuire |
| author_facet | Aman S. Gill Kai Purnell Matthew I. Palmer Jaime Stein Krista L. McGuire |
| author_sort | Aman S. Gill |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Functional and biogeographical properties of soil microbial communities in urban ecosystems are poorly understood despite their role in metabolic processes underlying valuable ecosystem services. The worldwide emergence of engineered habitats in urban landscapes—green roofs, bioswales, and other types of soil-based green infrastructure—highlights the importance of understanding how environmental changes affect the community assembly processes that shape urban microbial diversity and function. In this study we investigated (1) whether engineered green roofs and bioswales in New York City had distinct microbial community composition and trait-associated diversity compared to non-engineered soils in parks and tree pits, and (2) if these patterns were consistent with divergent community assembly processes associated with engineered specifications of green infrastructure habitats not present in conventional, non-engineered green infrastructure; specifically, tree pit and park lawn soils. We found that green roofs and bioswales each had distinct bacterial and fungal communities, but that community composition and diversity were not significantly associated with geographic distance, suggesting that the processes structuring these differences are related to aspects of the habitats themselves. Bioswales, and to a lesser extent green roofs, also contained increased functional potential compared to conventional GI soils, based on the diversity and abundance of taxa associated with nitrogen cycling, biodegradation, decomposition, and traits positively associated with plant growth. We discuss these results in the context of community assembly theory, concluding that urban soil microbial community composition and diversity in engineered habitats are driven largely by environmental filtering, whereas stochastic processes are more important among non-engineered soils. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T23:08:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-079c7050745f4eb0ae3f5271c7e49fd6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T23:08:38Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-079c7050745f4eb0ae3f5271c7e49fd62022-12-21T22:44:14ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2020-06-011110.3389/fmicb.2020.00912453898Microbial Composition and Functional Diversity Differ Across Urban Green Infrastructure TypesAman S. Gill0Kai Purnell1Matthew I. Palmer2Jaime Stein3Krista L. McGuire4Department of Environmental Science and Policy Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Barnard College, New York, NY, United StatesDepartment of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United StatesPrograms for Sustainable Planning and Development, School of Architecture, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United StatesFunctional and biogeographical properties of soil microbial communities in urban ecosystems are poorly understood despite their role in metabolic processes underlying valuable ecosystem services. The worldwide emergence of engineered habitats in urban landscapes—green roofs, bioswales, and other types of soil-based green infrastructure—highlights the importance of understanding how environmental changes affect the community assembly processes that shape urban microbial diversity and function. In this study we investigated (1) whether engineered green roofs and bioswales in New York City had distinct microbial community composition and trait-associated diversity compared to non-engineered soils in parks and tree pits, and (2) if these patterns were consistent with divergent community assembly processes associated with engineered specifications of green infrastructure habitats not present in conventional, non-engineered green infrastructure; specifically, tree pit and park lawn soils. We found that green roofs and bioswales each had distinct bacterial and fungal communities, but that community composition and diversity were not significantly associated with geographic distance, suggesting that the processes structuring these differences are related to aspects of the habitats themselves. Bioswales, and to a lesser extent green roofs, also contained increased functional potential compared to conventional GI soils, based on the diversity and abundance of taxa associated with nitrogen cycling, biodegradation, decomposition, and traits positively associated with plant growth. We discuss these results in the context of community assembly theory, concluding that urban soil microbial community composition and diversity in engineered habitats are driven largely by environmental filtering, whereas stochastic processes are more important among non-engineered soils.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00912/fullmicrobial ecologycommunity assemblyfunctional diversitymetagenomicsmicrobial biogeographyurban ecology |
| spellingShingle | Aman S. Gill Kai Purnell Matthew I. Palmer Jaime Stein Krista L. McGuire Microbial Composition and Functional Diversity Differ Across Urban Green Infrastructure Types Frontiers in Microbiology microbial ecology community assembly functional diversity metagenomics microbial biogeography urban ecology |
| title | Microbial Composition and Functional Diversity Differ Across Urban Green Infrastructure Types |
| title_full | Microbial Composition and Functional Diversity Differ Across Urban Green Infrastructure Types |
| title_fullStr | Microbial Composition and Functional Diversity Differ Across Urban Green Infrastructure Types |
| title_full_unstemmed | Microbial Composition and Functional Diversity Differ Across Urban Green Infrastructure Types |
| title_short | Microbial Composition and Functional Diversity Differ Across Urban Green Infrastructure Types |
| title_sort | microbial composition and functional diversity differ across urban green infrastructure types |
| topic | microbial ecology community assembly functional diversity metagenomics microbial biogeography urban ecology |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00912/full |
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