The effect of soil nutrient gradients on Collembola communities inhabiting typical urban green spaces

Abstract

Collembola are among the most abundant soil invertebrates in urban areas. Since communities of soil fauna can be structured by concentrations of soil nutrients, whose distribution in urban areas is highly heterogeneous, it can be hypothesized that (i) gradients in soil nutrient concentrations induce significant variation among the Collembola communities inhabiting lawns in the entire city, and (ii) spatially heterogeneous soil properties, especially the availability of soil nutrients, can affect spatial distribution of Collembola. The main objectives of the present study were to: (i) assess the variation of Collembola communities inhabiting uniform urban green spaces that can be associated with gradients in the concentrations of phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, and carbon across the entire urban area; (ii) determine how Collembola species inhabiting urban soils differ in terms of their preferences to particular nutrients; and (iii) determine whether distribution of Collembola is dependent on spatially heterogeneous soil properties. Collembola communities were sampled from 27 lawns distributed across the area of Warsaw (Poland). The community response to the properties of the soil were investigated by using multivariate statistics. Factors inducing significant variation among the Collembola communities were concentrations of potassium and phosphorus in the soil and soil pH, whereas concentrations of nitrogen and carbon did not have significant effects. The preferences of Collembola to particular factors were species-specific. The spatial distribution of Collembola communities was affected by soil properties. It can be summarized that gradients in concentrations of phosphorus and potassium are important environmental factors shaping the biodiversity of Collembola in urban greenery.