Table 3. Means (± SE) of the bacterial/host gene copy ratio and statistical testsa.
| Population | Age | n | Portiera | Hamiltonella | Rickettsia |
| Confined | 1 day | 14 | 19.9±6.4 (a) | 4.6±0.6 | 163±18.1 (a) |
| 21 days | 15 | 33.6±6.8 (a,b) | 4.0±0.7 | 128±14.5 (a) | |
| Scattered | 1 day | 9 | 29.4±8.5 (a,b) | 3.8±0.4 | 7.7±6.0 (b) |
| 21 days | 13 | 29.7±2.0 (b) | 3.2±0.4 | 135±18.1 (a) | |
| Kruskal-Wallis test | 0.026 | 0.222 | <0.0001 | ||
a
Values correspond to the mean number of symbiont gene copies ± SE (16S rDNA for Portiera, dnaK for Hamiltonella and gltA for Rickettsia) divided by the number of nuclear gene copies (actin gene). Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney nonparametric tests were performed with a probability level of significance of 0.05. Means marked with the same letter are not significantly different (Mann-Whitney test). For Kruskal-Wallis tests, p-values are indicated. Bold typeface indicates significant effects. n -number of individuals used for the quantifications.