Data from: Long-lasting modification of soil fungal diversity associated with the introduction of rabbits to a remote sub-Antarctic archipelago

During the late 19th century Europeans introduced rabbits to many of the sub-Antarctic islands, environments that prior to this had been devoid of mammalian herbivores. The impacts of rabbits on indigenous ecosystems are well studied, notably they cause dramatic changes in plant communities and promote soil erosion. However, the responses of fungal communities to such biotic disturbances remain unexplored. We used metabarcoding of soil extracellular DNA to assess the diversity of plant and fungal communities at sites on the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands with contrasting histories of disturbance by rabbits. Our results suggest that on these islands the simplification of plant communities and increased erosion resulting from the introduction of rabbits have driven compositional changes, including a diversity reduction, in indigenous soil fungal communities. Moreover, there is no indication of recovery at sites from which rabbits were removed 20 years ago. These results imply that introduced herbivores have long-lasting and multifaceted effects on fungal biodiversity as well as highlight the low resiliency of sub-Antarctic ecosystems.

19世纪后期，欧洲人将兔子引入诸多亚南极岛屿——此类生境在此之前从未有过哺乳类草食动物栖息。兔子对本土生态系统的影响已得到广泛研究，尤为突出的是，它们会显著改变植物群落结构并加剧土壤侵蚀。然而，真菌群落对这类生物干扰的响应机制仍未得到探索。本研究针对亚南极凯尔盖朗群岛（Kerguelen Islands）上受兔子干扰历史存在显著差异的多个样地，采用土壤细胞外DNA元条形码（metabarcoding）分析技术，对植物与真菌群落的多样性进行了评估。研究结果显示，在这些岛屿上，兔子引入引发的植物群落简化与侵蚀加剧，已驱动本土土壤真菌群落发生组成结构改变，其中包括多样性水平下降。此外，在20年前已移除兔子的样地中，未观测到任何群落恢复的迹象。上述结果表明，外来草食动物对真菌生物多样性具有持久且多维度的影响，同时也凸显了亚南极生态系统极低的恢复韧性。