Data for: Vertebrate digging alters plants and soils

Soil-disturbing animals are common globally and play important roles in
creating and maintaining healthy functional soils and landscapes. Yet many
of these animals are threatened or locally extinct, either by habitat
loss, predation by non-native animals or poaching/poisoning. Some
reintroduction and rewilding programs have as their core aims both the
increase in animal populations and reinstatement of processes that have
been lost due to their extirpation. Here we review the effects of
soil-disturbing vertebrates on ecosystem processes, using a
meta-analytical approach to advance the argument that they can be used to
rehabilitate degraded ecosystems, by altering mainly composition and
function, but with fewer positive effects on structure. We describe four
case studies showing that loss or reintroduction of soil-disturbing
vertebrates leads to ecosystem state changes, and highlight the role of
spatial scale, co-varying management changes, and species co-occurrence in
modulating their effects. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
using soil-disturbing vertebrates over mechanised engineering approaches
such as pitting and furrowing, including more self-sustainable and
heterogenous disturbances, creation of new habitats, and added
recreational values. Finally, we identify key knowledge gaps in our
understanding of the use of soil-disturbing vertebrates for rehabilitating
degraded ecosystems.