Threshold Reaction of Soil Arthropods to Simulative Nitrogen Deposition in Urban Green Spaces

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Andrea Squartini¹  Jiaen Zhang²  Lingzi Mo³  Augusto Zanella³  Guoliang Xu⁴  Shiqin Yu⁴  Xiaohua Chen⁵  Zhifeng Wu⁵  Bin Peng⁵ 

[1] Department of Agronomy, Animals, Food, Natural Resources and Environment DAFNAE, University of Padova, Padua, Italy;Department of Ecology, College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China;Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry TESAF, University of Padova, Padua, Italy;Rural Non-point Source Pollution Comprehensive Management Technology Center of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, China;School of Geography and Remote Sensing, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China;

关键词: N deposition;    urban lawn;    urban soil;    soil fauna;    soil biodiversity;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fevo.2021.711774

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Sustained nitrogen (N) deposition has a wide-ranging impact on terrestrial ecosystems. However, still little attention has been paid to responses of urban soil fauna to the increasing N deposition. To clarify such effects on the soil properties and soil fauna in typical urban lawns (featuring Cynodon dactylon vegetation), a control experiment was conducted for 1 year, in which NH4NO3 was added as the external N source with four treatments of N addition: N0 (i.e., only water), N1 (50 kg N ha–1 yr–1), N2 (100 kg N ha–1 yr–1), N3 (150 kg N ha–1 yr–1). Results showed that N additions influence soil faunal communities in the urban lawns soil. The relative abundance of Oribatida increased with the N treatment level, partially replacing the more sensitive Collembola. Significant differences in the Shannon-Wiener and Margalef indices (p < 0.01) supported this statement. Although higher doses of N addition showed adverse effects on soil fauna communities, low N inputs increased the soil fauna diversity and richness, especially at 5–10 cm depth. A threshold effect appears to exist: low N addition (<25 kg N ha–1) did not negatively affect pedofauna structure and composition, while in the range from these values up to 50 kg N ha–1, the composition of the soil fauna underwent major changes which were confirmed by the decline of biodiversity indices. These changes are accompanied by the decreased pH values with increasing N inputs.

【 授权许可】

Unknown