Diversity of medium and small-sized soil fauna community in different urban-rural green spaces and its influencing factors in Nanchang, China.

Urbanization is one of the important factors leading to biodiversity loss and habitat fragmentation. As an important component of urban ecosystem, soil fauna community plays a key role in improving soil structure and fertility, and promoting material circulation of urban ecosystem. To investigate the distribution characteristics of medium and small-sized soil fauna community in green space and the mechanisms underlying their responses to environmental change during urbanization, we selected 27 green space plots with a gradient of urban, suburban, and rural areas in Nanchang City as study objects, and measured plant parameters, soil physicochemical properties, and distribution characteristics of soil fauna community in these plots.