Data from: Disentangling the ‘brown world’ faecal-detritus interaction web: dung beetle effects on soil microbial properties

Many ecosystem services are sustained by the combined action of microscopic and macroscopic organisms, and shaped by interactions between the two. However, studies tend to focus on only one of these two components. We combined the two by investigating the impact of macrofauna on microbial community composition and functioning in the context of a major ecosystem process: the decomposition of dung. We compared bacterial communities of pasture soil and experimental dung pats inhabited by one (Aphodius), two (Aphodius and Geotrupes), or no dung beetle genera. Overall, we found distinct microbial communities in soil and dung samples, and that the communities converged over the course of the experiment. Characterising the soil microbial communities underlying the dung pats revealed a significant interactive effect between the microflora and macrofauna, where the diversity and composition of microbial communities was significantly affected by the presence or absence of dung beetles. The specific identity of the beetles had no detectable impact, but the microbial evenness was lower in the presence of both Aphodius and Geotrupes than in the presence of Aphodius alone. Differences in microbial community composition were associated with differences in substrate usage as measured by Ecoplates. Moreover, microbial communities with similar compositions showed more similar substrate usage. Our study suggests that the presence of macrofauna (dung beetles) will modify the microflora (bacteria) of both dung pats and pasture soil, including community diversity and functioning. In particular, the presence of dung beetles promotes the transfer of bacteria across the soil–dung interface, resulting in increased similarity in community structure and functioning. The results demonstrate that to understand how microbes contribute to the ecosystem process of dung decomposition, there is a need to understand their interactions with larger co-occurring fauna.诸多生态系统服务依托微观生物与宏观生物的协同作用得以维系，并通过二者间的相互作用塑造其特征。然而现有研究往往仅关注这两类组分中的一类。本研究通过探究大型动物群（macrofauna）在核心生态过程——粪便分解——背景下对微生物群落组成与生态功能的影响，将两类组分结合开展研究。我们比较了牧场土壤与实验粪块中的细菌群落，这些生境分别栖息有1个蜣螂属（Aphodius）、2个蜣螂属（Aphodius与Geotrupes），或无蜣螂栖息。总体而言，我们发现土壤与粪便样本中的微生物群落存在显著差异，且实验过程中两类群落逐渐趋于一致。对粪块相关土壤微生物群落的表征分析显示，微生物区系与大型动物群间存在显著的交互效应：微生物群落的多样性与组成显著受蜣螂存在与否的影响。蜣螂的具体类群未表现出可检测的影响，但同时存在Aphodius与Geotrupes时，微生物群落的均匀度显著低于仅存在Aphodius的情况。微生物群落组成的差异与通过Ecoplates检测到的底物利用模式差异显著相关；此外，群落组成相似的微生物群落，其底物利用模式也更为相近。本研究表明，大型动物群（蜣螂）的存在会改变粪块与牧场土壤中的微生物区系（细菌），包括群落多样性与生态功能。具体而言，蜣螂的存在会促进细菌在土壤-粪便界面间的迁移，进而提升群落结构与生态功能的相似性。本研究结果证实，若要阐明微生物如何推动粪便分解这一生态过程，需明确其与共存大型动物群间的相互作用。