Neighborhood deadwood and yard rewilding modulate commensal microbiomes and inflammatory signals among urbanites.
Roslund MI, Uimonen L, Kummola L, Cerrone D, Ojala A
Urban Ecology
That rotting log you've been meaning to haul out of your yard corner may be quietly seeding your skin and mouth with the microbial diversity your immune system depends on.
Researchers added logs, native plants, and healthy soil to city yards and tracked changes in the bacteria living on participants' skin and in their mouths. People in rewilded yards kept a richer variety of skin microbes into autumn — when diversity normally drops — and showed immune-related changes in their saliva. Most surprisingly, the amount of rotting wood within a short walk of home predicted which beneficial bacteria people carried.
Key Findings
Skin microbial diversity held steady in the rewilding group across summer to autumn despite a normal seasonal decline, and was positively associated with plant richness in those yards.
Neighborhood deadwood within a 200-meter radius was directly linked to beneficial soil bacteria (Cytobacillus sp. and Streptomyces sp.) found on skin and in saliva.
Greater diversity of oral microbial gene pathways was negatively correlated with IL-6, an inflammatory signaling molecule, suggesting a link between biodiversity exposure and immune regulation.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A small rewilding experiment in urban yards — adding deadwood, native plants, and rich soil — helped maintain skin microbial diversity through autumn and shifted oral microbiomes in ways that may support immune balance. Decaying wood in the neighborhood emerged as a surprisingly important indicator of beneficial microbial exposure.
Abstract Preview
Urbanization and biodiversity loss reduce human exposure to diverse microbiomes. Current evidence suggests that the vanishing microbiomes in industrialized populations are a central factor in the r...
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