Heterogeneity of the urban soil microbiome and associations with physicochemical soil characteristics

Smets, Wenke; Bosiers, Taline; De Groof, Nona; Diels, Esther; Dubois, Jente; Gilis, Fine; Santullo Latorre, Agustina; Wuyts, Karen

doi:10.5194/we-26-35-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/we-26-35-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/we-26-35-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 1

Standard article

|

03 Mar 2026

Standard article |

| 03 Mar 2026

Heterogeneity of the urban soil microbiome and associations with physicochemical soil characteristics

Wenke Smets, Taline Bosiers, Nona De Groof, Esther Diels, Jente Dubois, Fine Gilis, Agustina Santullo Latorre, and Karen Wuyts

Cited articles

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Bainard, L. D., Klironomos, J. N., and Gordon, A. M.: The mycorrhizal status and colonization of 26 tree species growing in urban and rural environments, Mycorrhiza, 21, 91–96, 2011.

Bezberdaya, L., Kosheleva, N., Chernitsova, O., Lychagin, M., and Kasimov, N.: Pollution level, partition and spatial distribution of benzo (a) pyrene in urban soils, road dust and their PM₁₀ fraction of health-resorts (Alushta, Yalta) and industrial (Sebastopol) cities of Crimea, Water, 14, 561 , 2022.

Bissett, A., Richardson, A. E., Baker, G., Wakelin, S., and Thrall, P. H.: Life history determines biogeographical patterns of soil bacterial communities over multiple spatial scales, Molecular Ecology, 19, 4315–4327, 2010.

Brockett, B. F., Prescott, C. E., and Grayston, S. J.: Soil moisture is the major factor influencing microbial community structure and enzyme activities across seven biogeoclimatic zones in western Canada, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 44, 9–20, 2012.

More articles (49)

Short summary

Urban soil bacteria are important for human health, plants, and the environment. We studied bacterial communities under city trees and found that, like in non-urban soils, bacterial diversity is affected by soil pH and water availability. However, bacterial communities in cities can show quite a lot of variation between locations, and we suspect that they are therefore far more affected by historic construction. Our findings highlight the importance of paying attention to soil bacteria for city planning.