Soil Physico-Chemical Properties Change Across an Urbanity Gradient in Berlin

Whitehead, J. D.; Hempel, Stefan; Hiller, Anne; Lippe, Moritz von der; Rillig, Matthias C.

doi:10.3389/fenvs.2021.765696

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 77 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our study provides evidence that we cannot solely rely on soil chemistry research to explain plant-fungal interactions in urban systems. Previous research from the same study system has suggested that urban soils have lower levels of aggregate stability (Whitehead et al, 2021), our current study suggests that a lack of AM fungi, previously described as key causal agents in aggregate formation (Lehmann et al, 2020), is likely not the leading cause of the reduction in aggregate stability in this system.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

“…However, the basis of all plant, and consequently animal, diversity is the soil. Urban soils have variously been described as compressed (Yang and Zhang, 2011), polluted (Hanfi et al, 2020) and lacking aggregates (Whitehead et al, 2021), expressing increased pH (Asabere et al, 2018) and salinity (Dmuchowski et al, 2021). As such, the ability of symbiotic fungi to buffer the negative impacts of urbanity upon plant hosts makes them a vital component of maintaining urban greenspaces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Non-Mycorrhizal Fungal Presence Within Roots Increases Across an Urban Gradient in Berlin, Germany

Whitehead

Hempel

Rillig

2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Symbioses between plants and fungi are important in both promoting plant fitness and maintaining soil structure. The ways in which these relationships change across an urban gradient is subject to debate. Here we measured root colonisation including the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, non-mycorrhizal fungi, and root hair presence. We found no evidence of changes in levels of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonisation across an urban gradient, colonisation levels being driven instead by plant community. However, we did observe an increase in non-mycorrhizal fungal colonisation in association with increasing urbanity. Additionally, we observed an urban-related increase in root hair presence. Using principal component analysis we were able to provide strong evidence for these patterns being driven by an “urban syndrome”, rather than soil chemistry. Our findings have important implications for the wider understanding of abiotic stresses on fungal endophyte presence and shed light on the impacts of urbanity upon plant roots.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-Mycorrhizal Fungal Presence Within Roots Increases Across an Urban Gradient in Berlin, Germany

Whitehead

Hempel

Rillig

2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Previous research from the same study system as that of this study has observed a change in soil physico-chemical properties in response to an "urban syndrome" of variables (Whitehead et al, 2021). These changes included a reduction in aggregate stability and an increase in water infiltration rate.…”

mentioning

confidence: 63%

Soil microbial communities shift along an urban gradient in Berlin, Germany

Whitehead

Roy²,

Hempel³

et al. 2022

Front. Microbiol.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The microbial communities inhabiting urban soils determine the functioning of these soils, in regards to their ability to cycle nutrients and support plant communities. In an increasingly urbanized world these properties are of the utmost importance, and the microbial communities responsible are worthy of exploration. We used 53 grassland sites spread across Berlin to describe and explain the impacts of urbanity and other environmental parameters upon the diversity and community composition of four microbial groups. These groups were (i) the Fungi, with a separate dataset for (ii) the Glomeromycota, (iii) the Bacteria, and (iv) the protist phylum Cercozoa. We found that urbanity had distinct impacts on fungal richness, which tended to increase. Geographic distance between sites and soil chemistry, in addition to urbanity, drove microbial community composition, with site connectivity being important for Glomeromycotan communities, potentially due to plant host communities. Our findings suggest that many microbial species are well adapted to urban soils, as supported by an increase in diversity being a far more common result of urbanity than the reverse. However, we also found distinctly separate distributions of operational taxonomic unit (OTU)s from the same species, shedding doubt of the reliability of indicator species, and the use of taxonomy to draw conclusion on functionality. Our observational study employed an extensive set of sites across an urbanity gradient, in the region of the German capital, to produce a rich microbial dataset; as such it can serve as a blueprint for other such investigations.

show abstract

“…Soil hydrophobicity causes soil water repellency, which determines the infiltration of water into the soil, this controls precipitation and contribute to surface run-off or flooding [36]. Large-particle soils increase the levels of hydrophobicity [37]. The structure of the studied area as shown in Table 1 is loam-sandy in structure; this implies that it can have high hydrophobicity.…”

Section: Soil Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Physio-Chemical Properties of Soil in Ganawuri, Plateau State, Nigeria

Zitta¹,

Sarah²,

Kevin³

2022

IJFSA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increased food production is necessary for the fast growing population in the world. Soil health is associated with sustainable agriculture therefore the need to improve soil fertility and health is imperative. Sample of four soils were randomly selected at depth of 0-20cm for surface and 20-40cm for sub-surface. These sampled soils were taken and tested in the laboratory to determine their physio-chemical properties using various methods, based on the objectives. Results revealed that the soil colour shows a dark yellowish brown (10YR 3 / 6 ) for sub-face, yellowish brown (10YR 5 / 4 ) are seen under wet condition, and for the surface are brown (10YR 5 / 3 ) and sub-surface are very pale brown (10YR 6 / 3 ) under dried condition. The soil structure of the study area was found to be loamy sand at the surface and sub-surface. However, study revealed that soil pH is slightly acidic in nature and calcium chloride pH is moderately alkaline. Organic matter is moderately found. Nutrients such as potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium are low in the sampled soil. Total Exchangeable acidity (TEA) indicated a minimal quantity of aluminum and hydrogen (H) concentration. Electrical Conductivity shows that the soil is not saline in nature. The study therefore recommends crop rotation and agroforestry as well as addition of manures to improve the physio-chemical properties and soil fertility.

show abstract

Soil Physico-Chemical Properties Change Across an Urbanity Gradient in Berlin

Cited by 6 publications

References 77 publications

Non-Mycorrhizal Fungal Presence Within Roots Increases Across an Urban Gradient in Berlin, Germany

Non-Mycorrhizal Fungal Presence Within Roots Increases Across an Urban Gradient in Berlin, Germany

Soil microbial communities shift along an urban gradient in Berlin, Germany

Physio-Chemical Properties of Soil in Ganawuri, Plateau State, Nigeria

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About