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. Swale fungal communities also differed significantly between sites with exotic or reintroduced native vertebrates. 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.

外来物种入侵已致使全球诸多区域的本土脊椎动物走向灭绝。脊椎动物类群的更迭还可能通过部分分类群的协同灭绝与外来类群的引入，进而重塑微生物群落结构。诸多修复退化栖息地的实践均涉及清除外来脊椎动物（家畜与野生入侵动物），并重新引入当地已灭绝的本土物种，但此类重新引入操作对微生物群落的影响迄今仍未得到充分探明。本研究以澳大利亚中部干旱区的一处保护区为研究区域，通过对真菌内转录间隔区1（ITS1）开展高通量DNA测序，探究以重新引入的本土脊椎动物替代外来脊椎动物是否会引发土壤真菌群落的改变。沙丘与丘间湿洼地（swale，interdune）生境的土壤真菌多样性存在显著差异。在分布有外来脊椎动物与重新引入的本土脊椎动物的丘间湿洼地样地中，真菌群落结构同样存在显著差异。若干仅在保护区内被检出的真菌操作分类单元（operational taxonomic units，OTUs），可在重新引入的本土脊椎动物的粪便样本中被检出，这直接证实了脊椎动物类群与土壤微生物群落之间存在直接关联。本研究结果显示，由本土物种局部灭绝与外来物种入侵所引发的脊椎动物类群更迭，能够显著改变土壤真菌群落结构。倘若某一或某几类物种的局部灭绝引发了相关微生物分类群的协同灭绝，那么生态系统完整的相互作用网络或许将永远无法得以恢复。