qiita_sid_11507
Coprolites reveal ecological interactions lost with the extinction of New Zealand birds
Over the past 50,000 years, biotic extinctions and declines have left a legacy of vacant niches and broken ecological interactions across global terrestrial ecosystems. Reconstructing the natural, unmodified ecosystems that preceded these events relies on high-resolution analyses of palaeoecological deposits. Coprolites are a source of uniquely detailed information about trophic interactions and the behaviours, gut parasite communities and microbiotas of prehistoric animal species. Such insights are critical for understanding the legacy effects of extinctions on ecosystems, and can help guide contemporary conservation and ecosystem restoration efforts. Here, we use high-throughput sequencing (HTS) of ancient eukaryotic DNA from coprolites to reconstruct aspects of the biology and ecology of four species of extinct moa and the critically endangered kakapo parrot from New Zealand (NZ). Importantly, we provide the first evidence that moa and prehistoric kakapo consumed ectomycorrhizal fungi, suggesting these birds played a role in dispersing fungi key to NZ's natural forest ecosystems. We also provide the first DNA-based evidence that moa frequently supplemented their broad diets with ferns and mosses. Finally, we also find parasite taxa that reveal insights into moa behaviour, and present new data supporting the hypothesis of co-extinction between moa and several parasite species. Our study demonstrates that HTS sequencing of coprolites provides a powerful tool for resolving key aspects of ancient ecosystems, and can rapidly provide insights not obtainable by yet is considerably more efficient and requires less specialist expertise than conventional palaeoecological techniques, such as fossil analyses