SOIL BIOIVERSITY IN NATURAL AND ANTHROPIZED ECOSYSTEMS

Land use changes (e.g. transformation of natural landscapes, forest degradation, and increase in croplands) due to human activities are considered amongst the most influential ecological disturbances affecting soil biodiversity and environmental sustainability. Restoring and managing soil biodiversity requires a better understanding of the determinants of soil biodiversity and how they function. To identify the differences in soil biodiversity of natural and anthropogenic ecosystems, we want to compare the community composition, species co-occurrence patterns, and ecological assembly processes of soil microbial communities in a paired setting featuring a natural and an anthropogenic ecosystem facing each other at identical climatic, pedological, and vegetational conditions. To achieve this goal, two pairs of relatively closed and small-island systems were chosen in Italy and China. The Italy field survey was carried out at two adjacent strips of land within the Po River delta lagoon system (Veneto, Italy), one of which is protected within a natural preserve and the other has been converted for decades into a tourist resort. The China field survey was carried out on a natural preserve island and an island heavily occupied by agriculture and industry of Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. This study aimed 1) to identify how the soil bacterial and fungal diversity, abundance, and community composition change under different anthropogenic disturbances(e.g. settlement, agriculture, and industrial); 2) to investigate what specific mechanisms allow certain microbes to persist under anthropogenic pressures or environmental modifications; 3) to evaluate microbial diversity changes impact the ecological function and stability in anthropogenic ecosystems. Keywords: Soil biodiversity, Soil microorganisms, Co-occurrence pattern, Anthropogenic habitat, Environmental sustainability