Soil microbial communities in an urban area (Prato municipality, Italy)

Soil functionality is critical to the biosphere as it provides ecosystem services relevant for a healthy planet. The microbial composition, which is regarded as an indicator of soil quality and functions, as well as soil characteristics and services are significantly impacted by anthropogenic activities, including urbanization. In this context, the study of soil microorganisms associated to urban greenspaces has started to be crucial toward sustainable development of cities. Microbes living in the soil produce and degrade volatile organic compounds (VOC). The VOC profiles may be used to distinguish between soils with various characteristics and management practices, reflecting variations in the activity of soil microbes that use a variety of metabolic pathways. Here, a combined approach based on DNA metabarcoding and GC-MS analysis was used to evaluate the soil quality from urban flowerbeds in Prato (Tuscany, Italy) in terms of microbial biodiversity and VOC emission profiles, with the final aim of evaluating the possible correlation between composition of microbial community and VOC patterns.