Urbanization converts natural lands into anthropogenic-disturbed soils, which can dramatically influence soil biota. However, how urbanization influences patterns of soil biodiversity and the effects on habitat sensible groups, generalist and specialist species, are poorly understood. Here, we examined the responses of diversity and community composition of soil nematodes, the most abundant metazoans on Earth, to several urban land use types (i.e., forests, farmlands, green belts, hospitals, industrials, urban parks, and residential areas) related to urbanization. We found moderate effects of land use and its associated variables on patterns of species richness, but more dramatic changes in the abundance of habitat specialists versus generalists. Specifically, while specialists tended to be reduced, primarily due to an increase in soil pH, generalists were robust to land use changes, buffering the overall effect on the overall nematode diversity. Furthermore, our results showed that human density, as a proxy of urbanization intensity, was linked to changes in soil pH between land use types. Our results suggest that urbanization could influence the community composition of soil nematodes by favoring generalists over specialists. Together, these findings highlight the importance of understanding and considering the ecological consequences of urbanization on soil microfauna specialization in light of the urban land use management.

中文翻译：

---

城市绿地减少了土壤线虫的群落专业化


城市化将自然土地转化为人为干扰的土壤，这会极大地影响土壤生物群落。然而，人们对城市化如何影响土壤生物多样性的模式以及对栖息地敏感群体、通才和专业物种的影响知之甚少。在这里，我们研究了土壤线虫（地球上最丰富的后生动物）的多样性和群落组成对与城市化相关的几种城市土地利用类型（即森林、农田、绿化带、医院、工业、城市公园和住宅区）的响应。我们发现土地利用及其相关变量对物种丰富度模式的影响适中，但与通才相比，栖息地专家的丰度变化更大。具体来说，虽然专家往往减少，主要是由于土壤 pH 值的增加，但通才对土地利用变化很稳健，缓冲了对整体线虫多样性的整体影响。此外，我们的结果表明，人类密度作为城市化强度的代表，与土地利用类型之间土壤 pH 值的变化有关。我们的结果表明，城市化可以通过偏爱通才而不是专家来影响土壤线虫的群落组成。总之，这些发现强调了在城市土地利用管理的情况下理解和考虑城市化对土壤微型动物专业化的生态影响的重要性。