THE EFFECT OF LAND-USE TYPES ON COMPOSITION OF ABUNDANT AND RARE SOIL MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN URBAN AREAS IN CYPRUS

Abstract

With the rapid development of cities, different types of land-use in and around urban areas dramatically affect the properties and structure of soil, and further change soil microbial community structure and ecological functions. Although studies of microbial change and underlying drivers in urban and peri-urban soil have attracted considerable attention, the relationship among types of land-use, microbial change, and rare species are poorly understood. Here, the relationship among four different types of land use (e.g. forest, agriculture, industry, and school) and microbial community change, abundant, and rare species in soil were investigated in Cyprus. We found that different land-use types significantly impact the richness of abundant and rare species both in soil, while there were differences in the degree of impact. Based on network and cohesion analysis, microbial communities in forest and agricultural soil, which owned higher negative cohesion and modularity than in industrial and school soil, were more stable. Moreover, deterministic processes, especially homogeneous selection, tended to be more important in shaping the assembly of microbial communities in the soil of the four types of land use. This study considerably expanded our understanding of the effects of land use on soil microbial communities. That will provide a scientific basis for sustainable land use management in urban and peri-urban areas.