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Diverse ectomycorrhizal fungi communities found in urban reserve soils and scats of small mammals when compared to native forest

Gil-Fernández, Margarita12; Stephens, Ryan3; Carthey, Alexandra J. R.1; MacSwiney G., M. Cristina2; Delfín-Alfonso, Christian A.2; Le Roux, Johannes J.1

Research facility: Macquarie University
Published Dec 23, 2025 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jwstqjqns

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Abstract

Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) play an essential role in forest health. In urban reserves, there is a complex interplay between environmental factors, including anthropogenic stressors that influence the composition and structure of EMF communities, which in turn may affect their plant hosts and the presence of small mammals as dispersers. We aimed to assess the response of EMF to urbanisation by comparing the diversity and composition of their communities in small mammal scats and soil samples from urban reserves to those in native forest sites through ITS1 barcoding. Additionally, we analysed the effect of seasonality and the identity of small mammal vectors on EMF diversity present in scat samples. The datasets linked to our analyses include csv files with the identified EMF species and their abundance in samples of small mammal scats and soil. We found that EMF diversity was strongly influenced by the sample type (soil vs. scats). In soil samples, EMF communities in urban reserves were as diverse as in forest sites, with similar richness and Shannon’s diversity index (H’); however, their composition differed. In scat samples, we found no differences in EMF richness, H’, or composition between site types. Seasonality did not affect EMF diversity in soil samples, while in scat samples, EMF diversity was higher in autumn, characterised by higher agaricoid EMF richness compared to scats collected in spring. Hypogeous gasteroid EMF richness was higher in scat samples collected in spring than in autumn. The lack of seasonal patterns we observed in our soil samples may reflect abrupt changes in rainfall in our study area. We found that scats of Antechinus stuartii had higher EMF diversity compared to those of Rattus fuscipes. This finding is surprising as A. stuartii is primarily insectivorous. We conclude that urban reserves serve as important refuges for EMF and that the small mammal vectors within these reserves may disperse a significantly diverse pool of EMF.