TABLE 3.
Estimation of error for the parametric models used to describe the OTU abundance distribution in each community and estimates of OTU richnessa
| Model | Microbial group | Soil type | Model error | Estimated OTU richness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power law | Bacteria | Desert | 15.2 | 6 × 103 |
| Prairie | 1.50 | 2 × 104 | ||
| Rainforest | 4.50 | 2 × 104 | ||
| Archaea | Desert | 66.4 | >1 × 107 | |
| Prairie | 17.3 | 2 × 103 | ||
| Rainforest | 21.3 | 1 × 103 | ||
| Fungi | Desert | 30.0 | 2 × 104 | |
| Prairie | 20.5 | 2 × 109 | ||
| Rainforest | 9.66 | 2 × 103 | ||
| Viruses | Desert | 1.08 | 1 × 103 | |
| Prairie | 0.62 | 2 × 104 | ||
| Rainforest | 7.6 | >1 × 108 | ||
| Log-normal | Bacteria | Desert | 14.8 | 6 × 104 |
| Prairie | 1.90 | 4 × 105 | ||
| Rainforest | 5.32 | >1 × 106 | ||
| Archaea | Desert | 104 | 3 × 105 | |
| Prairie | 20.6 | 3 × 103 | ||
| Rainforest | 25.2 | 3 × 103 | ||
| Fungi | Desert | 42.7 | 7 × 104 | |
| Prairie | 23.7 | >1 × 106 | ||
| Rainforest | 9.00 | 2 × 104 | ||
| Viruses | Desert | 1.08 | 1 × 103 | |
| Prairie | 0.66 | 1 × 105 | ||
| Rainforest | 10.4 | >6 × 106 | ||
| Logarithmic | Bacteria | Desert | 11.3 | 2 × 103 |
| Prairie | 5.70 | 4 × 103 | ||
| Rainforest | 13.4 | 4 × 103 | ||
| Archaea | Desert | 142 | 1 × 103 | |
| Prairie | 23.2 | 2 × 102 | ||
| Rainforest | 36.3 | 2 × 102 | ||
| Fungi | Desert | 62.0 | 2 × 103 | |
| Prairie | 29.0 | 2 × 103 | ||
| Rainforest | 28.1 | 1 × 103 | ||
| Viruses | Desert | 1.08 | 1 × 103 | |
| Prairie | 0.91 | 5 × 103 | ||
| Rainforest | 3.0 | >1 × 106 |
a
The best descriptive function of the community structure is the one that minimizes the calculated error (shown in boldface). The results for the exponential model are not shown because this model had the highest model error in all 12 cases.