Data from: Reintroduction of locally extinct vertebrates impacts arid soil fungal communities

Introduced species have contributed to extinction of native vertebrates in many parts of the world. Changes to vertebrate assemblages are also likely to alter microbial communities through coextinction of some taxa and the introduction of others. Many attempts to restore degraded habitats involve removal of exotic vertebrates (livestock and feral animals) and reintroduction of locally extinct species, but the impact of such reintroductions on microbial communities is largely unknown. We used high-throughput DNA sequencing of the fungal internal transcribed spacer I (ITS1) region to examine whether replacing exotic vertebrates with reintroduced native vertebrates led to changes in soil fungal communities at a reserve in arid central Australia. Soil fungal diversity was significantly different between dune and swale (interdune) habitats. Fungal communities also differed significantly between sites with exotic or reintroduced native vertebrates after controlling for the effect of habitat. Several fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) found exclusively inside the reserve were present in scats from reintroduced native vertebrates, providing a direct link between the vertebrate assemblage and soil microbial communities. Our results show that changes to vertebrate assemblages through local extinctions and the invasion of exotic species can alter soil fungal communities. If local extinction of one or several species results in the coextinction of microbial taxa, the full complement of ecological interactions may never be restored.

全球多数区域的外来引入物种已造成本土脊椎动物的灭绝。脊椎动物类群的变化还可能通过部分类群的协同灭绝，以及新类群的引入，改变微生物群落结构。当前诸多退化生境修复工作均涉及移除外来脊椎动物（家畜与野化动物）、重新引入本地灭绝物种的操作，但此类再引入举措对微生物群落的影响仍尚未被广泛探明。我们针对澳大利亚中部干旱区一处保护区内的土壤真菌群落展开研究，通过对真菌内转录间隔区I（ITS1）进行高通量DNA测序，探究以重新引入的本土脊椎动物替代外来脊椎动物是否会引发土壤真菌群落的改变。土壤真菌多样性在沙丘与丘间湿地生境间存在显著差异。在控制生境效应的前提下，分布有外来脊椎动物的样地与分布有重新引入本土脊椎动物的样地，其真菌群落组成同样存在显著差异。部分仅在保护区内检出的真菌操作分类单元（OTU），可在重新引入的本土脊椎动物粪样中被检测到，这为脊椎动物类群与土壤微生物群落之间建立了直接关联。我们的研究结果表明，因本地物种灭绝与外来物种入侵引发的脊椎动物类群变化，能够改变土壤真菌群落结构。若某一或多个脊椎动物物种的本地灭绝导致其关联的微生物类群发生协同灭绝，那么完整的生态相互作用体系可能将永远无法恢复。