Soil contamination in nearby natural areas mirrors that in urban greenspaces worldwide

• Published in: Nature communications 2023-03, Vol.14 (1), p.1706-1706, Article 1706
• Main Authors: Liu, Yu-Rong, van der Heijden, Marcel G. A., Riedo, Judith, Sanz-Lazaro, Carlos, Eldridge, David J., Bastida, Felipe, Moreno-Jiménez, Eduardo, Zhou, Xin-Quan, Hu, Hang-Wei, He, Ji-Zheng, Moreno, José L., Abades, Sebastian, Alfaro, Fernando, Bamigboye, Adebola R., Berdugo, Miguel, Blanco-Pastor, José L., de los Ríos, Asunción, Duran, Jorge, Grebenc, Tine, Illán, Javier G., Makhalanyane, Thulani P., Molina-Montenegro, Marco A., Nahberger, Tina U., Peñaloza-Bojacá, Gabriel F., Plaza, César, Rey, Ana, Rodríguez, Alexandra, Siebe, Christina, Teixido, Alberto L., Casado-Coy, Nuria, Trivedi, Pankaj, Torres-Díaz, Cristian, Verma, Jay Prakash, Mukherjee, Arpan, Zeng, Xiao-Min, Wang, Ling, Wang, Jianyong, Zaady, Eli, Zhou, Xiaobing, Huang, Qiaoyun, Tan, Wenfeng, Zhu, Yong-Guan, Rillig, Matthias C., Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 704/158; 704/172; Antibiotic resistance; Cities; Contaminants; Ecological function; Economic factors; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Environmental stress; Genes; Human influences; Humanities and Social Sciences; Internationality; Life Sciences; Microbiota; Microorganisms; Microplastics; multidisciplinary; Nutrient cycles; Open spaces; Parks, Recreational; Pathogenesis; Pesticides; Plastics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Social factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomics; Soil - chemistry; Soil contaminants; Soil contamination; Soil Microbiology; Soil Pollutants - analysis; Soil Pollutants - chemistry; Soil pollution; Sustainability; Sustainable ecosystems; Urban planning
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37428-6

Soil contamination is one of the main threats to ecosystem health and sustainability. Yet little is known about the extent to which soil contaminants differ between urban greenspaces and natural ecosystems. Here we show that urban greenspaces and adjacent natural areas (i.e., natural/semi-natural ecosystems) shared similar levels of multiple soil contaminants (metal(loid)s, pesticides, microplastics, and antibiotic resistance genes) across the globe. We reveal that human influence explained many forms of soil contamination worldwide. Socio-economic factors were integral to explaining the occurrence of soil contaminants worldwide. We further show that increased levels of multiple soil contaminants were linked with changes in microbial traits including genes associated with environmental stress resistance, nutrient cycling, and pathogenesis. Taken together, our work demonstrates that human-driven soil contamination in nearby natural areas mirrors that in urban greenspaces globally, and highlights that soil contaminants have the potential to cause dire consequences for ecosystem sustainability and human wellbeing. Liu et al. demonstrate that human-driven soil contamination in natural areas mirrors that in nearby urban greenspaces globally, and highlight the potential influence that soil contaminants have on ecosystem functions.