Enhancing Urban Garden Capacity by Linking Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function
Mary T Nguyen, Carleen Rauh, Shelby Gresch, Charlotte Correiro, Heidi Elmendorf, Adriane Fugh-Berman, Gina Wimp, Alexandra L. DeCandia
ODU Digital Commons (Old Dominion University)
Urban Farm DB summary
Plant, animal, bacterial and fungal diversity were examined across three distinct urban habitats — a turf lawn, a forb garden and a farming space — using bacterial 16S rRNA and fungal ITS2 sequencing, soil nutrient analyses, and vegetation and wildlife surveys. Bacterial community abundance was relatively even across garden types, but site-specific management style significantly shaped which fungal taxa dominated: Leotiomycetes in the farming space, Sordariomycetes in the forb garden, and Tremellomycetes in the turf lawn, indicating that distinct urban agricultural practices strongly shape fungal communities. Gardens with greater plant diversity also supported higher wildlife and fungal richness.