title: Biogeographic patterns in below-ground diversity in New York City's Central Park are similar to those observed globally.
abstract: Soil biota play key roles in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, however, compared to our knowledge of above-ground plant and animal diversity, the biodiversity found in soils remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we present an assessment of soil biodiversity and biogeographic patterns across Central Park in New York City that spanned all three domains of life, demonstrating that even an urban, managed system harbours large amounts of undescribed soil biodiversity. Despite high variability across the Park, below-ground diversity patterns were predictable based on soil characteristics, with prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities exhibiting overlapping biogeographic patterns. Further, Central Park soils harboured nearly as many distinct soil microbial phylotypes and types of soil communities as we found in biomes across the globe (including arctic, tropical and desert soils). This integrated cross-domain investigation highlights that the amount and patterning of novel and uncharacterized diversity at a single urban location matches that observed across natural ecosystems spanning multiple biomes and continents.
authors.affiliation: School of Global Environmental Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Leff
authors.affiliation: Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barberán
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Scott Thomas
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Bates
authors.affiliation: Illumina UK, Chesterford Research Park, Little Chesterford, Saffron Walden, Essex CB10 1XL, UK.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Betley
authors.affiliation: School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Crowther
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Eugene F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Emily E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Oldfield
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: E Ashley
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Steenbock
authors.affiliation: School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bradford
authors.affiliation: School of Global Environmental Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Diana H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA noah.fierer@colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Noah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fierer
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009519:New York City; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012987:Soil / Q000469:parasitology; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S; D012987:Soil
keywords: 16S rRNA gene; 18S rRNA gene; Archaea; Bacteria; Eukarya; soil biodiversity