The Composition and Assembly of Soil Microbial Communities Differ across Vegetation Cover Types of Urban Green Spaces

Abstract

Soil microorganisms play an important role in urban green spaces by providing ecological functions. However, information on the structure and assembly of microbial communities and the public risk of pathogenic bacteria in urban green spaces remains elusive. Here, we conducted a field survey on soil organisms in different vegetation cover types of urban green spaces (e.g., grasslands, shrublands, and woodlands) based on 16 S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. We found that soil microbial communities in grasslands were dominated by Pseudomonadota, Acidobacteriota, Actinomycetota, and Chloroflexota. The diversity and niche breadth of the microbial communities in grasslands showed differences compared to shrublands and woodlands. Stochastic processes, which contribute to community assembly in grasslands, were lower compared to shrublands and woodlands, dominating the soil microbial community assembly of urban green spaces. Compared with soil microbial communities in scrublands and woodlands, the network of soil microbial communities in grasslands was simpler and had a weaker stability. Furthermore, the value of the microbial index of pathogenic bacteria in the observed green spaces was 0.01, which means that the risk of potential pathogens in green spaces was low. This study provides crucial information for the sustainable management of urban green spaces by regulating soil microorganisms, offering novel insights into the public health risks associated with potential pathogenic bacteria in these green spaces.