TITLE:
Comparison of Urban and Agricultural Soil Microbial Diversity and Assessing the Potential for Remediation Using a BEAM Composting Bioreactor
AUTHORS:
Caroline Davies, Gavin Hysten, Theodore C. White, Brooke Esquivel
KEYWORDS:
Soil Microbial Diversity, Commercial Agriculture, Regenerative Agriculture, Urban Soils, DNA Genomic Sequencing, Soil Health, Kansas City
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Soil Science,
Vol.16 No.9,
September
29,
2026
ABSTRACT: Urban areas play an increasingly important role in human society with more than half of the global population living in urban areas and increasing to 68% by 2050. Urban soils are considered highly disturbed, anthropogenic in origin, and often contaminated and significantly altered by human activity. However, they are of increasing interest as a resource for food production, for mitigating heat island impacts, and for population health. Soil microbial diversity is the functional foundation of terrestrial ecosystems. This project compared soil microbial diversity of urban soil, a commercial farm, and a high intensity, small acreage regenerative farm. Also investigated was microbial diversity generated by organic composting as a means of developing a high microbial resource for regenerating soils. Methods included assessing soil and compost samples for environmental parameters, fungal and bacterial diversity using agar smear plates, PCR amplification, and DNA genomic sequencing. Loss-On-Ignition identified patterns in organic matter content and soil moisture with the regenerative farm soil highest in each. Visual analysis of agar plate colonies revealed similarities and stark differences in microbial abundance and diversity. These patterns are supported by the 16S rRNA gene analysis results which identified the diversity and abundance of bacteria highest in the compost and regenerative soils. The compost has exponentially more microbial diversity when compared to soil from commercial and urban lots. An unexpected result was the degree of impoverishment of the commercial farm soil. Soil microbial composition from a variety of settings provides critical information for regenerating soils and potential urban food production.