Soil microbiota associated with immune-mediated disease was influenced by heavy metal stress in roadside soils of Shanghai.

Heavy metals (HMs) and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) in soils can be detrimental to both soil microorganisms and public health. However, the effects of HMs and TPHs on microbes as well as the consequent microbial-derived health risk remains unclear in soils by local roads where citizens are clearly accessible to traffic-derived pollutants. Herein, we sampled 84 roadside soils throughout Shanghai. We measured the levels of soil edaphic factors, 6 HMs, and alkane TPHs. We further focused on the responses of bacterial and fungal communities assessed via sequencing and network analysis. Results showed that all soil HMs exceeded background levels of Shanghai soil, while the levels of TPHs are comparable to unpolluted sites. Bacterial network nodes and links decreased sharply under HM stress whereas that of fungal networks remained unchanged. The differential pattern was attributed to the asynchronous response of key classes that fungal key classes were more resistant to HMs than bacteria. In addition, 66.8 % of fungal genera associated with immune-mediated disease increased with increased HM stress for its HM tolerance. Together our findings indicate that despite the relatively stable fungal community in response to environmental stresses, the elevation of harmful fungi likely pose threats to health of urban dwellers.

Acute resource pulses from periodical cicadas propagate to belowground food webs but do not affect tree performance.

Acute resource pulses can have dramatic legacies for organismal growth, but the legacy effects of resource pulses on broader aspects of community structure and ecosystem processes are less understood. Mass emergence of periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) provides an excellent opportunity to shed light on the influence of resource pulses on community and ecosystem dynamics: the adults emerge every 13 or 17 years in vast numbers over much of eastern North America, with a smaller but still significant number becoming incorporated into forest food webs. To study the potential effects of such arthropod resource pulse on primary production and belowground food webs, we added adult cicada bodies to the soil surface surrounding sycamore trees and assessed soil carbon and nitrogen concentrations, plant-available nutrients, abundance and community composition of soil fauna occupying various trophic levels, decomposition rate of plant litter after 50 and 100 days, and tree performance for 4 years. Contrary to previous studies, we did not find significant cicada effects on tree performance despite observing higher plant-available nutrient levels on cicada addition plots. Cicada addition did change the community composition of soil nematodes and increased the abundance of bacterial- and fungal-feeding nematodes, while plant feeders, omnivores, and predators were not influenced. Altogether, acute resource pulses from decomposing cicadas propagated belowground to soil microbial-feeding invertebrates and stimulated nutrient mineralization in the soil, but these effects did not transfer up to affect tree performance. We conclude that, despite their influence on soil food web and processes they carry out, even massive resource pulses from arthropods do not necessarily translate to NPP, supporting the view that ephemeral nutrient pulses can be attenuated relatively quickly despite being relatively large in magnitude.

Heavy metals from heavy land use? Spatio-temporal patterns of urban runoff metal loads.

Urban hydrology is characterized by increased runoff and various pollutant sources. We studied the spatio-temporal patterns of stormwater metal (Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Pb) concentrations and loads in five urbanized and one rural catchment in Southern Finland. The two-year continuous monitoring revealed a non-linear seasonal relationship between catchment urban intensity and metal export. For runoff, seasonal variation decreased with increasing imperviousness. The most urbanized catchments experienced greatest temporal variation in metal concentrations: the annual Cu and Zn loads in most of the studied urbanized catchments were up to 86 times higher compared to the rural site, whereas Fe loads in the urbanized catchments were only circa 29% of the rural load. Total metal levels were highest in the winter, whereas the winter peak of dissolved metal concentrations was less pronounced. The collection of catchment characteristics explained well the total metal concentrations, whereas for the dissolved concentrations the explanatory power was weaker. Our catchment-scale analysis revealed a mosaic of mainly diffuse pollutant sources and calls for catchment-scale management designs. As urban metal export occurred across seasons, solutions that operate also in cold conditions are needed.

Immune-mediated disease associated microbial community responded to PAH stress in phyllosphere of roadside greenspaces in Shanghai.

Microorganisms in urban greenspaces play key roles in ecosystem service provision and potentially influence human health. Increasing evidence suggests that anthropogenic disturbance poses constant stress on urban microbial communities, yet, as previous studies have focused on non-contaminated greenspaces, it has remained largely unknown how microorganisms respond to anthropogenic stress in roadside greenspaces with contamination. Our previous effort determined phyllosphere PAHs of camphor trees in 84 sites of roadside greenspaces along the urban-rural gradient in Shanghai. Here, we further investigated the phyllosphere microbial communities (PMCs) of the same sites across the same urban categories, including urban, suburban, and rural areas using high-throughput DNA sequencing. We aimed to explore how PMCs, especially those associated with immune-mediated diseases (IMDs), were affected by PAHs and the surrounding land-use types. We found that several microorganisms associated with increasing IMD risk were stimulated by PAHs. The composition of PMCs differed between the three urban categories which can be largely explained by the variation of phyllosphere PAH concentration and the surrounding land-use types. Similar to our previous study, suburban areas were linked with the most potential adverse health effects, where we observed the lowest bacterial diversity, the highest relative abundance of IMD-associated bacteria, and the highest relative abundance of Pathotroph. Urban green-blue infrastructure (GBI) was positively correlated with the diversity of PMCs, whereas urban grey infrastructure tended to homogenize PMCs. Notably, GBI also reduced the relative abundance of IMD-associated and pathogenic microbes, indicating the potential health benefits of GBI in land-use planning. Taken together, our study emphasizes the need to further investigate environmental communities in contaminated traffic environments, as human microbiomes are directly exposed to risky microorganisms.

Urbanization minimizes the effects of plant traits on soil provisioned ecosystem services across climatic regions.

An increasingly urbanized world is one of the most prominent examples of global environmental change. Across the globe, urban parks are designed and managed in a similar way, resulting in visually pleasing expansions of lawn interspersed with individually planted trees of varying appearances and functional traits. These large urban greenspaces have the capacity to provide various ecosystem services, including those associated with soil physicochemical properties. Our aim was to explore whether soil properties in urban parks diverge underneath vegetation producing labile or recalcitrant litter, and whether the impact is affected by climatic zone (from a boreal to temperate to tropical city). We also compared these properties to those in (semi)natural forests outside the cities to assess the influence of urbanization on plant-trait effects. We showed that vegetation type affected percentage soil organic matter (OM), total carbon (C) and total nitrogen (N), but inconsistently across climatic zones. Plant-trait effects were particularly weak in old parks in the boreal and temperate zones, whereas in young parks in these zones, soils underneath the two tree types accumulated significantly more OM, C and N compared to lawns. Within climatic zones, anthropogenic drivers dominated natural ones, with consistently lower values of organic-matter-related soil properties under trees producing labile or recalcitrant litter in parks compared to forests. The dominating effect of urbanization is also reflected in its ability to homogenize soil properties in parks across the three cities, especially in lawn soils and soils under trees irrespective of functional trait. Our study demonstrates that soil functions that relate to carbon and nitrogen dynamics-even in old urban greenspaces where plant-soil interactions have a long history-clearly diverged from those in natural ecosystems, implying a long-lasting influence of anthropogenic drivers on soil ecosystem services.

Evergreen trees stimulate carbon accumulation in urban soils via high root production and slow litter decomposition.

Urban soils can, when not sealed, store a considerable amount of carbon (C) especially under cool climates. Soil C sequestration is controlled by plant functional type, but the mechanisms by which plant types affect C accumulation in urbanised settings is poorly known. We selected 27 urban parks of varying ages (young: 5-15, old: >70 years) and 10 reference forests (>80 years) in southern Finland to study whether the ability of soils to store C relates to (i) the decomposition rate of different litter types (recalcitrant vs. labile), and/or (ii) organic matter (OM) input via root production among three common plant functional types (deciduous trees, evergreen trees, grass/lawn). Our results suggest that the high soil C accumulation under evergreen trees can result from low needle litter decomposability, accompanied by a low soil CO2 efflux. Furthermore, high root production by evergreen trees compared to deciduous trees and lawns, likely reflects the high % OM under evergreen trees. We showed that plant effects on C inputs and outputs are modulated, either directly or indirectly, by park age so that these effects are accentuated in old parks. Our results suggest that despite the capacity of evergreen trees to accumulate C in soils in urban parks, this capacity is far less compared to soils in forests of the same age. OM content under deciduous trees did not differ between old parks and reference forests, suggesting that the raking of leaves in the fall has a surprisingly small impact on OM and C accumulation in urban parks. Soil OM content is an important measure that controls various ecosystem services in cities and elsewhere. Therefore, increasing the proportion of evergreen trees in urban parks in cool cities is a good option to boost the ecosystem services capacity in the often strongly disturbed urban soils.

The ability of selected filter materials in removing nutrients, metals, and microplastics from stormwater in biofilter structures.

Creative solutions to manage stormwater include ecologically based designs, such as biofilter structures. A laboratory experiment was established to study the ability of biofilters to remove nutrients, metals, total suspended solids (TSS), and total organic C originating from roadside stormwater as melted snow. Special attention was paid to the removal of P. In addition, the fate of microplastics (MPs) in the biofilters was followed. The materials selected for biofilters were (a) crushed light-expanded clay aggregates without biochar or amended with biochar, (b) Filtralite P clay aggregates, (c) crushed concrete, or (d) filter sand. A layer to support grass growth was placed above these materials. Stormwater was rich in TSS with associated P and metals, which were substantially retained by all biofilters. Filtralite and concrete had almost 100% P removal, but the high pH had adverse effects on plants. Light-expanded clay aggregates had lower retention of P, and, when mixed with biochar (30% v/v), the leaching of P increased and N retention was improved. None of the materials was ideal for treating both nutrients and metals, but sand was generally best. Vegetation improved N retention and stormwater infiltration. Plant roots formed preferential pathways for water and associated substances, evidenced by the accumulation of MPs along root channels. No MPs were found in discharge. Given the high loading of suspended solids and associated contaminants in snowmelt from traffic areas and their efficient retention in biofiltration, results of this study suggest the implementation of such stormwater management solutions along road verges.

Effects of forests on particle number concentrations in near-road environments across three geographic regions.

Trees and other vegetation have been advocated as a mitigation measure for urban air pollution mainly due to the fact that they passively filter particles from the air. However, mounting evidence suggests that vegetation may also worsen air quality by slowing the dispersion of pollutants and by producing volatile organic compounds that contribute to formation of ozone and other secondary pollutants. We monitored nanoparticle (>10 nm) counts along distance gradients away from major roads along paired transects across open and forested landscapes in Baltimore (USA), Helsinki (Finland) and Shenyang (China) - i.e. sites in three biomes with different pollution levels - using condensation particle counters. Mean particle number concentrations averaged across all sampling sites were clearly reduced (15%) by the presence of forest cover only in Helsinki. For Baltimore and Shenyang, levels showed no significant difference between the open and forested transects at any of the sampling distances. This suggests that nanoparticle deposition on trees is often counterbalanced by other factors, including differing flow fields and aerosol processes under varying meteorological conditions. Similarly, consistent differences in high frequency data patterns between the transects were detected only in Helsinki. No correlations between nanoparticle concentrations and solar radiation or local wind speed as affecting nanoparticle abundances were found, but they were to some extent associated with canopy closure. These data add to the accumulating evidence according to which trees do not necessarily improve air quality in near-road environments.

Soil sealing causes substantial losses in C and N storage in urban soils under cool climate.

Urban soil can store large amounts of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). To accurately estimate C and N storage in urban soils, C and N contents underneath impervious surfaces - the most prevalent land cover type in cities - should be taken into account. To date, however, only few studies have reported urban soil C and N content underneath impervious surfaces, and no data exist for cities under cold/cool climates, such as the Boreal zone. Here, we studied, for the first time, the effects of sealing on soil C and N storage in a Boreal city. Sealed soils were sampled for physico-chemical and biological parameters from 13 sites in the city of Lahti, Finland, at three depths (0-10 and 45-55 cm, representing the construction layer composed of gravel, other moraine material and crushed rock, and the native soil layer beneath the ca. 1 m thick construction layer). Our results show that urban soils underneath impervious surfaces in Finland contain 11 and 31 times less C and N content, respectively, compared with warmer regions. This is due to a deep C and N deficient construction layer below sealed surfaces. Even though impervious surfaces cover ca. twice the area of pervious surfaces in the centre of Lahti, we estimate that only 6% and 4% of urban soil C and N, respectively, are stored underneath them. Furthermore, we found very little C and N accumulation underneath the sealed surfaces via root growth and/or leakage through ageing asphalt. Our results show that soil sealing, in concert with a massive top soil removal typical to cold climates, induces a considerable loss of C and N in Boreal urban areas.

Self-contamination from clothing in microplastics research.

Self-contamination should not be underestimated when quantifying microplastics (MPs) in environmental matrices. Standardised and validated methodologies for MP sampling, extraction, and analysis are lacking. The various applications of plastics in our society have made them ubiquitous, even in clothing, rendering MP self-contamination inevitable. In the present study, we sampled lake sediment, snow, and ice, purposefully wearing red overalls composed of cotton; fibres from which we could quantify using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), serving as an indication of possible self-contamination from clothes. The suitability of cotton as a representation of MP contamination was also evaluated. For all detected fibres, 25 ± 1%, 20 ± 7%, and 8 ± 6% for snow, ice, and sediment, respectively, originated from sampling attire. These findings demonstrate that self-contamination can play a significant role when quantifying MP pollution, highlighting that sampling conducted to date might have overestimated the presence of MP or even contaminated MP-free samples.

Metagenomics Reveals Bacterial and Archaeal Adaptation to Urban Land-Use: N Catabolism, Methanogenesis, and Nutrient Acquisition.

Urbanization results in the systemic conversion of land-use, driving habitat and biodiversity loss. The "urban convergence hypothesis" posits that urbanization represents a merging of habitat characteristics, in turn driving physiological and functional responses within the biotic community. To test this hypothesis, we sampled five cities (Baltimore, MD, United States; Helsinki and Lahti, Finland; Budapest, Hungary; Potchefstroom, South Africa) across four different biomes. Within each city, we sampled four land-use categories that represented a gradient of increasing disturbance and management (from least intervention to highest disturbance: reference, remnant, turf/lawn, and ruderal). Previously, we used amplicon sequencing that targeted bacteria/archaea (16S rRNA) and fungi (ITS) and reported convergence in the archaeal community. Here, we applied shotgun metagenomic sequencing and QPCR of functional genes to the same soil DNA extracts to test convergence in microbial function. Our results suggest that urban land-use drives changes in gene abundance related to both the soil N and C metabolism. Our updated analysis found taxonomic convergence in both the archaeal and bacterial community (16S amplicon data). Convergence of the archaea was driven by increased abundance of ammonia oxidizing archaea and genes for ammonia oxidation (QPCR and shotgun metagenomics). The proliferation of ammonia-oxidizers under turf and ruderal land-use likely also contributes to the previously documented convergence of soil mineral N pools. We also found a higher relative abundance of methanogens (amplicon sequencing), a higher relative abundance of gene sequences putatively identified as Ni-Fe hydrogenase and nickel uptake (shotgun metagenomics) under urban land-use; and a convergence of gene sequences putatively identified as contributing to the nickel transport function under urban turf sites. High levels of disturbance lead to a higher relative abundance of gene sequences putatively identified as multiple antibiotic resistance protein marA and multidrug efflux pump mexD, but did not lead to an overall convergence in antibiotic resistance gene sequences.

Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Communities in Urban Parks Are Similar to Those in Natural Forests but Shaped by Vegetation and Park Age.

Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi are important mutualists for the growth and health of most boreal trees. Forest age and its host species composition can impact the composition of ECM fungal communities. Although plentiful empirical data exist for forested environments, the effects of established vegetation and its successional trajectories on ECM fungi in urban greenspaces remain poorly understood. We analyzed ECM fungi in 5 control forests and 41 urban parks of two plant functional groups (conifer and broadleaf trees) and in three age categories (10, ∼50, and >100 years old) in southern Finland. Our results show that although ECM fungal richness was marginally greater in forests than in urban parks, urban parks still hosted rich and diverse ECM fungal communities. ECM fungal community composition differed between the two habitats but was driven by taxon rank order reordering, as key ECM fungal taxa remained largely the same. In parks, the ECM communities differed between conifer and broadleaf trees. The successional trajectories of ECM fungi, as inferred in relation to the time since park construction, differed among the conifers and broadleaf trees: the ECM fungal communities changed over time under the conifers, whereas communities under broadleaf trees provided no evidence for such age-related effects. Our data show that plant-ECM fungus interactions in urban parks, in spite of being constructed environments, are surprisingly similar in richness to those in natural forests. This suggests that the presence of host trees, rather than soil characteristics or even disturbance regime of the system, determine ECM fungal community structure and diversity.IMPORTANCE In urban environments, soil and trees improve environmental quality and provide essential ecosystem services. ECM fungi enhance plant growth and performance, increasing plant nutrient acquisition and protecting plants against toxic compounds. Recent evidence indicates that soil-inhabiting fungal communities, including ECM and saprotrophic fungi, in urban parks are affected by plant functional type and park age. However, ECM fungal diversity and its responses to urban stress, plant functional type, or park age remain unknown. The significance of our study is in identifying, in greater detail, the responses of ECM fungi in the rhizospheres of conifer and broadleaf trees in urban parks. This will greatly enhance our knowledge of ECM fungal communities under urban stresses, and the findings can be utilized by urban planners to improve urban ecosystem services.

Urbanization erodes ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity and may cause microbial communities to converge.

Urbanization alters the physicochemical environment, introduces non-native species and causes ecosystem characteristics to converge. It has been speculated that these alterations contribute to loss of regional and global biodiversity, but so far most urban studies have assessed macro-organisms and reported mixed evidence for biodiversity loss. We studied five cities on three continents to assess the global convergence of urban soil microbial communities. We determined the extent to which communities of bacteria, archaea and fungi are geographically distributed, and to what extent urbanization acts as a filter on species diversity. We discovered that microbial communities in general converge, but the response differed among microbial domains; soil archaeal communities showed the strongest convergence, followed by fungi, while soil bacterial communities did not converge. Our data suggest that urban soil archaeal and bacterial communities are not vulnerable to biodiversity loss, whereas urbanization may be contributing to the global diversity loss of ectomycorrhizal fungi. Ectomycorrhizae decreased in both abundance and species richness under turf and ruderal land-uses. These data add to an emerging pattern of widespread suppression of ectomycorrhizal fungi by human land-uses that involve physical disruption of the soil, management of the plant community, or nutrient enrichment.

Soil microbial communities are shaped by vegetation type and park age in cities under cold climate.

Soil microbes play a key role in controlling ecosystem functions and providing ecosystem services. Yet, microbial communities in urban green space soils remain poorly characterized. Here we compared soil microbial communities in 41 urban parks of (i) divergent plant functional types (evergreen trees, deciduous trees and lawn) and (ii) different ages (constructed 10, ∼50 and >100 years ago). These microbial communities were also compared to those in 5 control forests in southern Finland. Our results indicate that, despite frequent disturbances in urban parks, urban soil microbes still followed the classic patterns typical of plant-microbe associations in natural environments: both bacterial and fungal communities in urban parks responded to plant functional groups, but fungi were under tighter control of plants than bacteria. We show that park age shaped the composition of microbial communities, possibly because vegetation in old parks have had a longer time to modify soil properties and microbial communities than in young parks. Furthermore, control forests harboured distinct but less diverse soil microbial communities than urban parks that are under continuous anthropogenic disturbance. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining a diverse portfolio of urban green spaces and plant communities therein to facilitate complex microbial communities and functions in urban systems.

Nutrient leaching, soil pH and changes in microbial community increase with time in lead-contaminated boreal forest soil at a shooting range area.

Despite the known toxicity of lead (Pb), Pb pellets are widely used at shotgun shooting ranges over the world. However, the impacts of Pb on soil nutrients and soil microbes, playing a crucial role in nutrient cycling, are poorly understood. Furthermore, it is unknown whether these impacts change with time after the cessation of shooting. To shed light on these issues, three study sites in the same coniferous forest in a shooting range area were studied: an uncontaminated control site and an active and an abandoned shooting range, both sharing a similar Pb pellet load in the soil, but the latter with a 20-year longer contamination history. Soil pH and nitrate concentration increased, whilst soil phosphate concentration and fungal phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) decreased due to Pb contamination. Our results imply that shooting-derived Pb can influence soil nutrients and microbes not only directly but also indirectly by increasing soil pH. However, these mechanisms cannot be differentiated here. Many of the Pb-induced changes were most pronounced at the abandoned range, and nutrient leaching was increased only at that site. These results suggest that Pb disturbs the structure and functions of the soil system and impairs a crucial ecosystem service, the ability to retain nutrients. Furthermore, the risks of shooting-derived Pb to the environment increase with time.

Gaseous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations are higher in urban forests than adjacent open areas during summer but not in winter--Exploratory study.

While the potential of plants to uptake polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is widely acknowledged, empirical evidence of the effects of this process on local atmospheric PAH concentrations and human health is tenuous. We measured gaseous PAH concentrations using passive samplers in urban tree-covered areas and adjacent open, treeless areas in a near-road environment in Finland to gain information on the ability of urban vegetation to improve air quality. The ability of urban, mostly deciduous, vegetation to affect PAHs was season dependent: during summer, concentrations were significantly higher in tree-covered areas, while in the fall, concentrations in open areas exceeded those in tree-covered areas. During winter, concentrations in tree-covered areas were either lower or did not differ from those in open areas. Results of this study imply that the commonly believed notion that trees unequivocally improve air quality does not apply to PAHs studied here.

Birch (Betula spp.) wood biochar is a potential soil amendment to reduce glyphosate leaching in agricultural soils.

Glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine), a commonly used herbicide in agriculture can leach to deeper soil layers and settle in surface- and ground waters. To mitigate the leaching of pesticides and nutrients, biochar has been suggested as a potential soil amendment due to its ability to sorb both organic and inorganic substances. However, the efficiency of biochar in retaining agro-chemicals in the soil is likely to vary with feedstock material and pyrolysis conditions. A greenhouse pot experiment, mimicking a crop rotation cycle of three plant genera, was established to study the effects of pyrolysis temperature on the ability of birch (Betula sp.) wood originated biochar to reduce the leaching of (i) glyphosate, (ii) its primary degradation product AMPA and (iii) phosphorus from the soil. The biochar types used were produced at three different temperatures: 300 °C (BC300), 375 °C (BC375) and 475 °C (BC475). Compared to the control treatment without biochar, the leaching of glyphosate was reduced by 81%, 74% and 58% in BC300, BC375 and BC475 treated soils, respectively. The respective values for AMPA were 46%, 39% and 23%. Biochar had no significant effect on the retention of water-soluble phosphorus in the soil. Our results corroborate earlier findings on pesticides, suggesting that biochar amendment to the soil is a promising way to reduce also the leaching of glyphosate. Importantly, the ability of biochar to adsorb agro-chemicals depends on the temperature at which feedstock is pyrolysed.

Soil processes and tree growth at shooting ranges in a boreal forest reflect contamination history and lead-induced changes in soil food webs.

The effects of shooting-derived lead (Pb) on the structure and functioning of a forest ecosystem, and the recovery of the ecosystem after range abandonment were studied at an active shotgun shooting range, an abandoned shooting range where shooting ceased 20 years earlier and an uncontaminated control site. Despite numerous lead-induced changes in the soil food web, soil processes were only weakly related to soil food web composition. However, decomposition of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) needle litter was retarded at the active shooting range, and microbial activity, microbial biomass and the rate of decomposition of Pb-contaminated grass litter decreased with increasing soil Pb concentrations. Tree (P. sylvestris) radial growth was suppressed at the active shooting range right after shooting activities started. In contrast, the growth of pines improved at the abandoned shooting range after the cessation of shooting, despite reduced nitrogen and phosphorus contents of the needles. Higher litter degradation rates and lower Pb concentrations in the topmost soil layer at the abandoned shooting range suggest gradual recovery after range abandonment. Our findings suggest that functions in lead-contaminated coniferous forest ecosystems depend on the successional stage of the forest as well as the time since the contamination source has been eliminated, which affects, e.g., the vertical distribution of the contaminant in the soil. However, despite multiple lead-induced changes throughout the ecosystem, the effects were rather weak, indicating high resistance of coniferous forest ecosystems to this type of stress.

Intensive agriculture reduces soil biodiversity across Europe.

Soil biodiversity plays a key role in regulating the processes that underpin the delivery of ecosystem goods and services in terrestrial ecosystems. Agricultural intensification is known to change the diversity of individual groups of soil biota, but less is known about how intensification affects biodiversity of the soil food web as a whole, and whether or not these effects may be generalized across regions. We examined biodiversity in soil food webs from grasslands, extensive, and intensive rotations in four agricultural regions across Europe: in Sweden, the UK, the Czech Republic and Greece. Effects of land-use intensity were quantified based on structure and diversity among functional groups in the soil food web, as well as on community-weighted mean body mass of soil fauna. We also elucidate land-use intensity effects on diversity of taxonomic units within taxonomic groups of soil fauna. We found that between regions soil food web diversity measures were variable, but that increasing land-use intensity caused highly consistent responses. In particular, land-use intensification reduced the complexity in the soil food webs, as well as the community-weighted mean body mass of soil fauna. In all regions across Europe, species richness of earthworms, Collembolans, and oribatid mites was negatively affected by increased land-use intensity. The taxonomic distinctness, which is a measure of taxonomic relatedness of species in a community that is independent of species richness, was also reduced by land-use intensification. We conclude that intensive agriculture reduces soil biodiversity, making soil food webs less diverse and composed of smaller bodied organisms. Land-use intensification results in fewer functional groups of soil biota with fewer and taxonomically more closely related species. We discuss how these changes in soil biodiversity due to land-use intensification may threaten the functioning of soil in agricultural production systems.