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.