Data from: Competition drives the response of soil microbial diversity to increased grazing by vertebrate herbivores

Scientists have largely neglected the effects of grazing on soil microbial communities despite their importance as drivers of ecosystem functions and services. We hypothesised that changes in soil properties resulting from grazing regulate the diversity of soil microbes by releasing/suppressing subordinate microbial taxa via competition. To test this, we examined intensity of vertebrate herbivores influences the diversity and composition of soil bacteria and fungi at 216 soil samples from 54 sites and four microsites. Increasing grazing intensity reduced soil carbon, suppressing the dominant bacterial phylum Actinobacteria (indirectly promoting bacterial diversity) and increasing the dominant fungal phylum Ascomycetes (indirectly reducing fungal diversity). Our data provide novel evidence that grazing modulates the diversity and composition of soil microbes via increases or reductions in competition by dominant taxa. Our results suggest that grazing can potentially alter soil function by altering microbial community composition, providing a clear link between grazing management, carbon availability and ecosystem functions.尽管土壤微生物群落是生态系统功能与服务的关键驱动因子，但其受放牧影响的效应却在很大程度上被科研人员忽视。本研究提出假说：放牧引发的土壤属性变化，可通过竞争作用释放或抑制从属微生物类群，进而调控土壤微生物的多样性。为验证该假说，我们依托54个样地、4种微生境的216份土壤样本，探究了脊椎动物放牧强度对土壤细菌与真菌多样性及群落组成的影响。研究发现，放牧强度的提升会降低土壤碳含量，抑制优势细菌类群放线菌门（Actinobacteria）（间接促进细菌多样性），同时促进优势真菌类群子囊菌门（Ascomycetes）的生长（间接降低真菌多样性）。本研究的数据提供了新的证据，表明放牧可通过改变优势类群的竞争强度，调控土壤微生物的多样性与群落组成。研究结果显示，放牧可通过改变微生物群落组成进而潜在改变土壤生态功能，为放牧管理、土壤碳有效性与生态系统功能之间建立了明确的关联。