Fecal and stomach microbiomes of invasive black rats in Hawaii: rodent metagenome Raw sequence reads. rodent metagenome

We couple microbial forensics with molecular dietary analysis to quantify species interactions and identify scavenging by invasive rats on native and introduced birds in Hawaii. We characterized the gut microbiome (stomach and fecal samples) of invasive black rats from 17 kipuka in Hawaii using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. Those data are uploaded here. We identified 17 bacterial taxa that were (i) detected only in the rats that had consumed birds (n = 20/51) and (ii) were indicative of decaying tissue in the chicken model. The chicken model was used to characterize bacterial signatures of bird carcass decay by conducting 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing on chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) tissues collected over a 11-day decomposition study. Those data were uploaded as a separate submission.