Data from: Long-lasting modification of soil fungal diversity associated with the introduction of rabbits to a remote sub-Antarctic archipelago

During the late nineteenth century, Europeans introduced rabbits to many of the sub-Antarctic islands, environments that prior to this had been devoid of mammalian herbivores. The impacts of rabbits on indigenous ecosystems are well studied; notably, they cause dramatic changes in plant communities and promote soil erosion. However, the responses of fungal communities to such biotic disturbances remain unexplored. We used metabarcoding of soil extracellular DNA to assess the diversity of plant and fungal communities at sites on the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands with contrasting histories of disturbance by rabbits. Our results suggest that on these islands, the simplification of plant communities and increased erosion resulting from the introduction of rabbits have driven compositional changes, including diversity reductions, in indigenous soil fungal communities. Moreover, there is no indication of recovery at sites from which rabbits were removed 20 years ago. These results imply that introduced herbivores have long-lasting and multifaceted effects on fungal biodiversity as well as highlight the low resiliency of sub-Antarctic ecosystems.

19世纪后期，欧洲人将兔子引入众多亚南极岛屿——这些生境在此之前从未有哺乳类草食动物栖息。兔子对本土生态系统的影响已得到充分研究；尤为显著的是，它们会引发植物群落的剧烈变化，并加剧土壤侵蚀。然而，真菌群落对这类生物扰动的响应仍未得到学界探究。本研究通过土壤细胞外DNA（soil extracellular DNA）的宏条形码测序（metabarcoding），对亚南极凯尔盖朗群岛上经历不同兔子扰动历史的样地的植物与真菌群落多样性进行了评估。结果显示，在这些岛屿上，兔子引入引发的植物群落简化与土壤侵蚀加剧，已导致本土土壤真菌群落发生组成改变，包括多样性水平降低。此外，在20年前已移除兔子的样地中，未观测到任何恢复迹象。上述结果表明，外来草食动物对真菌生物多样性具有持久且多维度的影响，同时也凸显出亚南极生态系统极低的恢复力。