Vacant land in legacy cities is increasingly recognized as a resource to support biodiversity and improve the quality of life for residents. However, the capacity for vacant lot parcels to provide these benefits is influenced by current management practices and landscape legacies of urbanization, which typically results in degraded soil quality. The role of soil quality in supporting urban biodiversity and ecosystem functions is often overlooked when developing sustainable urban planning initiatives. This study investigated how soil physical and chemical properties influenced the community of urban spontaneous vegetation and soil invertebrates found within vacant lots mowed monthly or annually in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. We found that soil chemical and physical properties were strong predictors of soil-dwelling invertebrates, as vacant lots highly contaminated with heavy metals had simplified communities. Moreover, increased mowing frequency resulted in greater biomass and blooms of urban spontaneous forbs. Importantly, vacant lots dominated by urban spontaneous forbs and high bloom abundances also were contaminated with heavy metals, with implications for herbivores and pollinators using these resources. Our findings indicate that conservation initiatives must consider landscape legacies from industrial activity and local habitat management practices in order to support above and belowground habitat quality of greenspaces in urban ecosystems. Understanding how soil degradation impacts habitat quality and the delivery of ecosystem services from vacant land is essential for legacy cities to maximize their environmental benefits.

传统城市中的空置土地越来越被视为支持生物多样性和改善居民生活质量的资源。但是，空地包裹提供这些好处的能力受到当前管理实践和城市化景观遗产的影响，这通常会导致土壤质量下降。在制定可持续的城市规划倡议时，常常忽略了土壤质量在支持城市生物多样性和生态系统功能方面的作用。这项研究调查了土壤物理和化学特性如何影响美国俄亥俄州克里夫兰市每月或每年被割的空地中发现的城市自发植被和土壤无脊椎动物的群落。我们发现，土壤的化学和物理性质是土壤无脊椎动物的重要预测指标，由于被重金属高度污染的空地简化了社区。此外，增加的割草频率导致更大的生物量和城市自发性前叉的开花。重要的是，以城市自发树丛和高花开富度为主的空地也被重金属污染，这对使用这些资源的食草动物和传粉媒介产生了影响。我们的发现表明，保护措施必须考虑到工业活动和当地栖息地管理实践中的景观遗产，以支持城市生态系统中绿地的上，地下生境质量。了解土壤退化如何影响栖息地质量以及从空地提供生态系统服务对于遗留城市最大化其环境效益至关重要。