Biogenic factors explain soil carbon in paired urban and natural ecosystems worldwide

Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, P. Garcia-Palacios, M. A. Bradford, D. J. Eldridge, M. Berdugo, T. Saez-Sandino, Y.-R. Liu, F. Alfaro, S. Abades, A. R. Bamigboye, F. Bastida, J. L. Blanco-Pastor, J. Duran, J. J. Gaitan, J. G. Illan, T. Grebenc, T. P. Makhalanyane, D. K. Jaiswal, T. U. Nahberger, G. F. Penaloza-BojacaA. Rey, A. Rodriguez, C. Siebe, A.L. Teixido, W. Sun, P. Trivedi, J.P. Verma, L. Wang, J. Wang, T. Yang, E. Zaady, X. Zhou, X.-Q. Zhou, C. Plaza

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Urban greenspaces support multiple nature-based services, many of which depend on the amount of soil carbon (C). Yet, the environmental drivers of soil C and its sensitivity to warming are still poorly understood globally. Here we use soil samples from 56 paired urban greenspaces and natural ecosystems worldwide and combine soil C concentration and size fractionation measures with metagenomics and warming incubations. We show that surface soils in urban and natural ecosystems sustain similar C concentrations that follow comparable negative relationships with temperature. Plant productivity’s contribution to explaining soil C was higher in natural ecosystems, while in urban ecosystems, the soil microbial biomass had the greatest explanatory power. Moreover, the soil microbiome supported a faster C mineralization rate with experimental warming in urban greenspaces compared with natural ecosystems. Consequently, urban management strategies should consider the soil microbiome to maintain soil C and related ecosystem services.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)450-455
Number of pages6
JournalNature Climate Change
Volume13
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Biogenic factors explain soil carbon in paired urban and natural ecosystems worldwide'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this