Impact of socioeconomic factors on soil-borne animal pathogenic fungi in urban greenspaces

Animal pathogenic fungi, including human pathogenic fungi, cause millions of deaths annually. We know that these organisms can be found in our urban greenspaces where we enter in contact with them, yet the contribution of socioeconomic development in shaping the distribution of soil-borne animal pathogens from local to global scales remains virtually unknown. Here we used information from a global survey including 56 cities and a high-resolution local survey within Shanghai and found that socioeconomic factors were crucial in predicting the community composition and diversity of soil-borne pathogens. Our results were consistent after accounting for the effects of climate and soil properties. Trichosporon was identified as a universal indicator species for population density at both the global and local scales. Gross domestic product per capita and number of hospital beds were also critical predictors of a limited proportion of Trichosporon in Shanghai. Our study highlights the influence of human activities in shaping the pathogenic microbiome of cities with potential implications for human health, suggesting that poorer and more populated cities are expected to harbor larger proportions of soil-borne animal and human pathogens. Pathogenic fungi, such as Candida, cause millions of human deaths each year. This study found that the soil in urban greenspaces is one source and that socioeconomic factors, such as wealth and medical infrastructure, can predict the diversity and composition of these pathogens in city park soil.