An assessment of the influence of the urban environment on collembolan communities in soils using taxonomy- and trait-based approaches

Abstract

In this study we investigated collembolan communities using both taxonomy- and trait-based approaches in order to determine: (1) which soil or leaf litter characteristics are the main agents of species distribution and functional trait distribution in collembolan communities, and (2) which functional traits are more prevalent in species tolerant to urban environments. To investigate this, soil and leaf litter were sampled in the urban area of Naples, Italy and the collembolan community was analyzed using taxonomic and functional approaches. The results indicated that collembolan density was negatively affected by site pollution, and that species richness, diversity and evenness were positively affected by the organic matter content of the soil. Folsomia lawrencei was the most abundant species in sites with high metal contamination and low soil organic matter content, whereas Mesaphorura sp. and Parisotoma notabilis were the most ubiquitous taxa overall. The main agents affecting the frequency of functional traits were metal contamination of soil and litter, soil organic matter content, leaf specific mass and thickness of the litter. The species most tolerant to urban environmental conditions were found to have small body size, jumping motion strategy, sexual reproduction and presence of pigmentation.