Harnessing soil biodiversity to promote human health in cities

Xin Sun; Craig Liddicoat; Alexei Tiunov; Bin Wang; Yiyue Zhang; Changyi  Lu; Zhipeng  Li; Stefan  Scheu; Martin F. Breed; Stefan Geisen; Yong-Guan  Zhu

doi:10.1038/s42949-023-00086-0

Harnessing soil biodiversity to promote human health in cities

Xin Sun, Craig Liddicoat, Alexei Tiunov, Bin Wang, Yiyue Zhang, Changyi Lu, Zhipeng Li, Stefan Scheu, Martin F. Breed, Stefan Geisen, Yong-Guan Zhu

College of Science and Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Biodiversity is widely linked to human health, however, connections between human health and soil biodiversity in urban environments remain poorly understood. Here, we stress that reductions in urban soil biodiversity elevate risks to human health, but soil biodiversity can improve human health through pathways including suppressing pathogens, remediating soil, shaping a beneficial human microbiome and promoting immune fitness. We argue that targeted enhancement of urban soil biodiversity could support human health, in both outdoor and indoor settings. The potential of enhanced urban soil biodiversity to benefit human health reflects an important yet understudied field of fundamental and applied research.

Original language	English
Article number	5
Number of pages	8
Journal	NPJ Urban Sustainability
Volume	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-023-00086-0
Publication status	Published - 14 Feb 2023

Keywords

Biodiversity
Urban ecology
Soils

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10.1038/s42949-023-00086-0Licence: CC BY

Final published versionFinal published version, 5.48 MBLicence: CC BY

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title = "Harnessing soil biodiversity to promote human health in cities",

abstract = "Biodiversity is widely linked to human health, however, connections between human health and soil biodiversity in urban environments remain poorly understood. Here, we stress that reductions in urban soil biodiversity elevate risks to human health, but soil biodiversity can improve human health through pathways including suppressing pathogens, remediating soil, shaping a beneficial human microbiome and promoting immune fitness. We argue that targeted enhancement of urban soil biodiversity could support human health, in both outdoor and indoor settings. The potential of enhanced urban soil biodiversity to benefit human health reflects an important yet understudied field of fundamental and applied research.",

keywords = "Biodiversity, Urban ecology, Soils",

author = "Xin Sun and Craig Liddicoat and Alexei Tiunov and Bin Wang and Yiyue Zhang and Changyi Lu and Zhipeng Li and Stefan Scheu and Breed, {Martin F.} and Stefan Geisen and Yong-Guan Zhu",

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T1 - Harnessing soil biodiversity to promote human health in cities

AU - Sun, Xin

AU - Liddicoat, Craig

AU - Tiunov, Alexei

AU - Wang, Bin

AU - Zhang, Yiyue

AU - Lu, Changyi

AU - Li, Zhipeng

AU - Scheu, Stefan

AU - Breed, Martin F.

AU - Geisen, Stefan

AU - Zhu, Yong-Guan

PY - 2023/2/14

Y1 - 2023/2/14

N2 - Biodiversity is widely linked to human health, however, connections between human health and soil biodiversity in urban environments remain poorly understood. Here, we stress that reductions in urban soil biodiversity elevate risks to human health, but soil biodiversity can improve human health through pathways including suppressing pathogens, remediating soil, shaping a beneficial human microbiome and promoting immune fitness. We argue that targeted enhancement of urban soil biodiversity could support human health, in both outdoor and indoor settings. The potential of enhanced urban soil biodiversity to benefit human health reflects an important yet understudied field of fundamental and applied research.

AB - Biodiversity is widely linked to human health, however, connections between human health and soil biodiversity in urban environments remain poorly understood. Here, we stress that reductions in urban soil biodiversity elevate risks to human health, but soil biodiversity can improve human health through pathways including suppressing pathogens, remediating soil, shaping a beneficial human microbiome and promoting immune fitness. We argue that targeted enhancement of urban soil biodiversity could support human health, in both outdoor and indoor settings. The potential of enhanced urban soil biodiversity to benefit human health reflects an important yet understudied field of fundamental and applied research.

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Urban ecology

KW - Soils

U2 - 10.1038/s42949-023-00086-0

DO - 10.1038/s42949-023-00086-0

M3 - Article

SN - 2661-8001

VL - 3

JO - NPJ Urban Sustainability

JF - NPJ Urban Sustainability

M1 - 5

ER -

Harnessing soil biodiversity to promote human health in cities

Abstract

Keywords

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