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.pdf
While 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.