Pavement Overrides the Effects of Tree Species on Soil Bacterial Communities.

Yinhong Hu,Weiwei Yu,Bowen Cui,Hua Zheng,Yuanyuan Chen,Xiaoke Wang

doi:10.3390/ijerph18042168

Abstract

Human disturbance and vegetation are known to affect soil microorganisms. However, the interacting effects of pavement and plant species on soil bacterial communities have received far less attention. In this study, we collected soil samples from pine (Pinus tabuliformis Carr.), ash (Fraxinus chinensis), and maple (Acer truncatum Bunge) stands that grew in impervious, pervious, and no pavement blocks to investigate the way pavement, tree species, and their interaction influence soil bacterial communities by modifying soil physicochemical properties. Soil bacterial community composition and diversity were evaluated by bacterial 16S amplicon sequencing. The results demonstrated that soil bacterial community composition and diversity did differ significantly across pavements, but not with tree species. The difference in soil bacterial community composition across pavements was greater in pine stands than ash and maple stands. Soil bacterial diversity and richness indices decreased beneath impervious pavement in pine stands, and only bacterial richness indices decreased markedly in ash stands, but neither showed a significant difference across pavements in maple stands. In addition, bacterial diversity did not differ dramatically between pervious pavement and no pavement soil. Taken together, these results suggest that pavement overwhelmed the effects of tree species on soil bacterial communities, and had a greater effect on soil bacterial communities in pine stands, followed by ash and maple stands. This study highlights the importance of anthropogenic disturbance, such as pavement, which affects soil microbial communities.

Highlights

Of the world’s population, 55% lived in urban areas in 2018, and this is projected to reach 68% by 2050 [1]
We observed that pavement had a greater effect on soil bacterial community composition in pine stands, followed by ash and maple stands. Impervious pavement decreased both soil bacterial diversity and richness indices in pine stands, which was not observed in ash and maple stands. These results indicated that soil bacterial communities in pine stands were more sensitive to impervious pavement than were those in ash and maple stands
Our results showed that pavement was a more important predictor of soil bacterial community composition and diversity than tree species via changing soil properties

Summary

Introduction

Of the world’s population, 55% lived in urban areas in 2018, and this is projected to reach 68% by 2050 [1]. Impervious pavement covered by roads and buildings continues to increase because of population urbanization [2]. Impervious surfaces have adverse effects on urban ecosystems, such as urban waterlogging and the heat island effect [4]. Green spaces [5] and pervious pavement [6] are used widely to mitigate the adverse influences of impervious surfaces, biodiversity aboveground, including that of plants and birds, has declined with the increase in impervious surface areas in cities [7,8]. The effects of impervious surfaces on biodiversity underground, such as soil microbial diversity, are unclear

Methods

Results

Conclusion