Abstract
Urban brownfields are ecologically valuable ecosystems that have been and are under various anthropogenic influences. Because brownfields are subject to rapid development in urban areas, their biological communities, including soil mesofauna, are overlooked and seldom researched, even though they could provide valuable insight into the ecological functioning of these areas. This exploratory study describes the community characteristics of oribatid mite fauna of 12 brownfields in Tallinn, Estonia, and analyzes the potential of oribatid mites as bioindicators of brownfield successional stage. This study provides the first faunistic list of oribatid mites from the brownfields of Tallinn. No significant changes in species abundance or richness depending on the successional stage were discovered. While some changes in community structure were noted, due to low overall abundance, no clear indicators of brownfield successional stage were identified. For future research on urban brownfield oribatid fauna with the intention of finding potential bioindicators of brownfield properties, increasing the sampling size and inclusion of other groups of soil mesofauna is recommended.
Highlights
Urban brownfields, known as wastelands (Atkinson et al 2014; Mathey et al 2018) are areas that have been under development in past, but have not been in formal use since (CABERNET 2006; Siebielec et al 2012)
Due to high concentration of anthropogenic imputs and low organic matter content, urban wasteland Technosols encountered in this study, are very poor habitats for oribatid mites, resulting in low abundance and diversity
This study provided novel species data on brownfield oribatid mite communities in Tallinn, Estonia
Summary
Known as wastelands (Atkinson et al 2014; Mathey et al 2018) are areas that have been under development in past, but have not been in formal use since (CABERNET 2006; Siebielec et al 2012). Detailed information about the history of these areas is, not always available This makes decision making about future developments of the urban brownfields challenging. In Tallinn, Estonia, wastelands make up about 7% of the city area (Karro-Kalberg 2011). These areas are often considered as vacant space in cities and are under rapid changes, including consturction and road development, due to the current urban processes. Wastelands are ecologically important urban green spaces that offer various ecosystem services, including habitats for miscellaneous fauna and flora (Herbst and Herbst 2006; Strauss and Biedermann 2006; Pueffel et al 2018)
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