Microbial Diversity of Soils under Anthropogenic Load

Abstract

Anthropogenic impacts have complex effects on microbial communities in urban soils. These changes can impact key ecosystem functions such as carbon cycling, biodegradation, and the maintenance of ecosystem health. Monitoring and assessing anthropogenic effects, as well as preserving soil biodiversity in urbanized areas, are important tasks to ensure the sustainability of the urban ecosystem in the future. Given the increasing urbanization and ecosystem changes, research in this area is becoming increasingly relevant. The taxonomic structure of microorganisms in the urban soils of a metropolis has been determined. It has been established that soil microbiocenoses directly depend on the degree of anthropogenic load. Thus, a decrease in the total microbial count was noted in samples with a low organic matter content - locations near busy highways, while park areas have a higher concentration and a wider variety of different groups of microorganisms. It was shown that the intensity of basal soil respiration is directly proportional to the number of viable microbial cells detected.