Soil meso- and microfauna community acts as an environmental bioindicator in urban greenway landscapes

Abstract

Urbanization accelerates habitat fragmentation and leads to the decline of biodiversity in cities. Urban greenway landscapes provide not only social functions but also important ecological services. In this study, taxonomic richness, abundance, diversity, and the distribution of soil meso- and microfauna were investigated in three different urban greenway landscapes to assess their environmental quality. Urban greenway landscapes that had a richer tree species composition, higher deciduous tree ratios, wider ecological greenspace, moderate soil temperature and moisture, and lower soil bulk density and less lead were conducive to the survival and development of the soil meso- and microfauna community. Different soil fauna groups had varied responses to different environmental conditions in urban greenway landscapes. Microarthropods were more sensitive to plant communities; in contrast, soil moisture was the most important abiotic driver for hygrophilous meso-micro fauna. Our study highlights the importance of deciduous trees for their rich litter input, and the wide ecological greenspace for its buffering effect on various disturbances, which promote the conservation of biodiversity in urban greenway landscapes.