The Roles of Invertebrates in the Urban Soil Microbiome

Bray, Natalie; Wickings, Kyle

doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00359

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…The results of this study are also relevant for urban soils, where restoration strategies focus on soil physical and chemical conditioning and removing or adding plant species (Pavao‐Zuckerman, 2008). The use of bioturbators can be a cost‐effective way of driving soil biodiversity and functions, increasing porosity and the processing of contaminants (Bray & Wickings, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Below‐ground ecosystem engineers enhance biodiversity and function in a polluted ecosystem

Bugnot

Gribben

O’Connor

et al. 2022

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Many important ecosystem functions are underpinned by below‐ground biodiversity and processes. Marine sediments, one of the most abundant habitats on earth, are essential to the mineralisation of organic matter. However, they are increasingly polluted by urban activities leading to the loss of biodiversity and the functions they provide. While traditional sediment remediation strategies are focussed on microbial and engineering solutions, we propose that the reintroduction of below‐ground ecosystem engineers (bioturbators) is important to rehabilitate polluted sediments and drive recovery of their functions in urban coastal ecosystems. We tested this notion by introducing bioturbators to nutrient polluted sediments to assess their survival, as well as their capacity to drive biodiversity and oxygenation and their potential to remediate nutrient pollution. Polychaete worms Diopatra aciculata and clams Katelysia sp. were added to mesocosms (ex‐situ), and the worms also added to experimental plots in‐situ. Potential for remediation was assessed with measures of nutrient content. All animals survived when introduced to polluted sediments and showed no evidence of sub‐lethal effects. Worms oxygenated sediments and reduced organic matter content by up to 50% in‐situ. The worms also drove shifts in the receiving communities at all locations and increased the number of taxa at one location. On the other hand, the effects of clams were variable, showing opposite effects in organic matter content at different sites and levels of pollution. Synthesis and applications. Global seafloor habitats are becoming increasingly degraded and novel strategies that combine biodiversity restoration with remediation are urgently needed to return function. Tube‐building bioturbators can stimulate nutrient processing in sediments proving multiple functional outcomes, but these effects are dependent on the receiving environment. In areas with medium levels of pollution, they can kick‐start recovery in a feedback loop whereby bioturbation increases oxygenation and nutrient remediation, shifting sediment biodiversity and contributing to further recovery. This can drive long‐term changes in sediment communities, particularly in urban areas where unvegetated sediments are conspicuous.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Below‐ground ecosystem engineers enhance biodiversity and function in a polluted ecosystem

Bugnot

Gribben

O’Connor

et al. 2022

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…Through the ubiquitous interactions between microorganisms and macroscopic plants and animals [ 92 , 93 ], plastics and their associated compounds exert multiple indirect biological impacts on environmental microbiomes. For example, plants can be impacted as they take up plastics such as polystyrene via their roots, altering root length, weight and oxidative stress responses, possibly by the disruption of cell wall pores and cell-to-cell connections used for nutrient transport [ 94 , 95 ].…”

Section: Impacts Of Plastics On the Environmental Microbiomementioning

confidence: 99%

Plastics and the microbiome: impacts and solutions

Lear

Kingsbury

Franchini

et al. 2021

Environmental Microbiome

144

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Global plastic production has increased exponentially since manufacturing commenced in the 1950’s, including polymer types infused with diverse additives and fillers. While the negative impacts of plastics are widely reported, particularly on marine vertebrates, impacts on microbial life remain poorly understood. Plastics impact microbiomes directly, exerting toxic effects, providing supplemental carbon sources and acting as rafts for microbial colonisation and dispersal. Indirect consequences include increased environmental shading, altered compositions of host communities and disruption of host organism or community health, hormone balances and immune responses. The isolation and application of plastic-degrading microbes are of substantial interest yet little evidence supports the microbial biodegradation of most high molecular weight synthetic polymers. Over 400 microbial species have been presumptively identified as capable of plastic degradation, but evidence for the degradation of highly prevalent polymers including polypropylene, nylon, polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride must be treated with caution; most studies fail to differentiate losses caused by the leaching or degradation of polymer monomers, additives or fillers. Even where polymer degradation is demonstrated, such as for polyethylene terephthalate, the ability of microorganisms to degrade more highly crystalline forms of the polymer used in commercial plastics appears limited. Microbiomes frequently work in conjunction with abiotic factors such as heat and light to impact the structural integrity of polymers and accessibility to enzymatic attack. Consequently, there remains much scope for extremophile microbiomes to be explored as a source of plastic-degrading enzymes and microorganisms. We propose a best-practice workflow for isolating and reporting plastic-degrading taxa from diverse environmental microbiomes, which should include multiple lines of evidence supporting changes in polymer structure, mass loss, and detection of presumed degradation products, along with confirmation of microbial strains and enzymes (and their associated genes) responsible for high molecular weight plastic polymer degradation. Such approaches are necessary for enzymatic degraders of high molecular weight plastic polymers to be differentiated from organisms only capable of degrading the more labile carbon within predominantly amorphous plastics, plastic monomers, additives or fillers.

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“…The invertebrate communities in urban soils can be taxonomically and functionally diverse and contain detritivores, microbivores, predators and ecosystem engineers (Byrne et al, 2008;Byrne & Bruns, 2004;Sophie Joimel et al, 2017;Rochefort et al, 2006;Schrader & Böning, 2006). Urban soil invertebrate communities are affected by the physical and chemical characteristics of urban soils and by land use and management practices (Bray & Wickings, 2019). Soil invertebrates are sensitive to many human activities and the resulting soil conditions, such as physical disturbance of soil cover, heavy metal pollution, pesticide contamination of soil, time of human exposure and land use history (Mcintyre et al, 2000;Pavao-Zuckerman & Coleman, 2007;Pavao-Zuckerman, 2008;Jones & Leather, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying plant disturbance indicators to reveal the hemeroby of soil macrofauna species

et al. 2020

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Hemeroby is an integrated indicator for measuring human impacts on environmental systems. Hemeroby has a complex nature and a variety of mechanisms to affect ecosystems. Hemeroby is often used to assess disturbances in different vegetation types but this concept has seldom been evaluated for animals. The role of the hemeroby gradient in structuring the soil macrofauna community was investigated. The experimental polygon was located in Botanical Garden of the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University (Dnipro City, Ukraine). There were 20 sites within the polygon. On each of them at 105 points samples of soil macrofauna were taken, soil penetration resistance, electrical conductivity of soil, depth of litter, height of grasses were measured. Within each site, a description of the vegetation cover was made. Based on the description of the vegetation, an indication of the level of ecosystem hemeroby within the polygons was conducted. In total, 48,457 invertebrate (Annelida, Arthropoda, and Mollusca) individuals of 6 classes, 13 orders, 50 families and 83 species or parataxonomic units were recorded. Phytoindication reveals that the level of hemeroby within the studied polygons varies from 34.9 to 67.2. The model V and VI from the HOFJO-list were the most optimal model of the species response to hemeroby gradient. The weighted average factor value was used to assess the optimal factor level for the species in a symmetrical bell-shaped response model. The optimal factor level of the hemeroby for the soil macrofauna species ranges from 34.9 to 66.0. Species also differ in degree of specialization to the factor of hemeroby. There was a regular change in the soil macrofauna community size and diversity in the hemeroby gradient. The limiting influence of anthropogenic transformation of the environment on the abundance of soil macrofauna community is clearly marked at the level of hemeroby above average. Species diversity of the community is greatest at moderate hemeroby level. Both relatively little transformed habitats and strongly transformed ones are characterized by lower species richness of the soil macrofauna community. The Shannon index shows a clear upward trend with increasing hemeroby. The Pielou index indicates that the main reason for this trend is an increase in community evenness with increasing hemeroby. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis was fully supported with respect to species richness. For the number of species, there is indeed a certain level of heterogeneity at which the number of species is highest. For another aspect of diversity, evenness, this pattern is not true. The evenness increases with increasing habitat disturbance. This result is due to a decrease in the abundance of dominant species.

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The Roles of Invertebrates in the Urban Soil Microbiome

Cited by 17 publications

References 95 publications

Below‐ground ecosystem engineers enhance biodiversity and function in a polluted ecosystem

Below‐ground ecosystem engineers enhance biodiversity and function in a polluted ecosystem

Plastics and the microbiome: impacts and solutions

Applying plant disturbance indicators to reveal the hemeroby of soil macrofauna species

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