TABLE 1.

Sample description, numbers of sequences and OTUs, and diversity indices of datasets analyzed

Sample collection site	Sample			Data seta
				No. of sequences	No. of OTUs		Rarefaction rank		Good's coverage index		Simpson index		Shannon index		Avg Bray-Curtis index
	Name	Description	Salinity (%)		0.03	0.06	0.03	0.06	0.03	0.06	0.03	0.06	0.03	0.06	0.03	0.06
Chott El-Djerid	S1	Salt crust	37	617	53	25	2	1.5	0.94	0.98	0.07	0.15	3.20	2.34	0.22	0.36
	S2	Salt crust	37	322	12	8	1	1.5	0.96	0.98	0.2	0.24	1.74	1.57	0.18	0.26
	S3	Salt crust	37	3,956	668	132	6	4	0.88	0.99	0.02	0.11	5.28	3.22	0.14	0.26
	S4	Sediment	37	455	74	34	7.5	7	0.88	0.96	0.06	0.09	3.52	2.77	0.19	0.30
	S5	Sediment	13.1	1,845	56	23	13	13	0.97	1.00	0.10	0.13	3.06	2.47	0.20	0.33
	S6	Sediment	13.4	1,927	317	139	11.5	10	0.84	0.94	0.02	0.05	4.77	3.57	0.23	0.37
	S7	Sediment	10.5	1,766	143	39	15	14	0.93	0.99	0.03	0.08	3.93	2.88	0.22	0.37
	S10	Water	30	743	324	111	4	6	0.66	0.92	0.01	0.04	5.21	3.76	0.18	0.33
	S11	Salt crust	37	1,363	297	86	5	4	0.85	0.98	0.02	0.06	4.93	3.41	0.25	0.38
	S12	Salt crust	37	6,543	414	164	3	4	0.92	0.97	0.06	0.13	3.98	2.72	0.15	0.22
Sebkhet Douz	S13	Water	9.4	8,284	515	129	11.5	15	0.93	0.99	0.02	0.06	4.78	3.30	0.12	0.20
	S14	Sediment	6.7	522	62	31	18.5	18.5	0.89	0.96	0.09	0.12	3.18	2.57	0.11	0.18
	S15	Sediment	14.1	1,959	355	91	7.5	10	0.87	0.98	0.02	0.10	4.89	3.20	0.16	0.31
	S16	Biofilm	2.9	108	12	7	22.5	23	0.91	0.99	0.21	0.26	1.84	1.51	0.08	0.10
	S17	Sediment	2.7	695	55	24	22.5	20	0.96	0.99	0.06	0.10	3.36	2.59	0.13	0.23
	S18	Sediment	13.7	4,520	1,512	283	9.5	10	0.76	0.97	0.01	0.11	6.33	3.44	0.14	0.27
	S19	Sediment	2.2	1,532	303	107	20	21	0.85	0.96	0.02	0.05	4.82	3.57	0.17	0.30
Sebkhet El-Melah	S40	Sediment	7.6	402	132	51	14	17	0.75	0.94	0.04	0.10	4.10	2.97	0.06	0.1
	S42	Sediment	10.8	5,287	485	103	9.5	12	0.92	0.99	0.03	0.10	4.56	2.80	0.06	0.1
Chott El-Fejej	S26	Sediment	6.6	588	177	66	21	18.5	0.81	0.95	0.03	0.09	4.41	3.16	0.22	0.35
	S27	Sediment	5.5	325	50	27	17	22	0.89	0.97	0.06	0.10	3.25	2.68	0.17	0.31
	S28	Sediment	6.3	243	110	39	18.5	16	0.66	0.94	0.02	0.08	4.31	3.00	0.19	0.32
	S29	Sediment	12.7	3,133	735	228	16	8	0.82	0.95	0.02	0.12	5.41	3.30	0.09	0.15

^aRarefaction curves were used at both 97% (species level [0.03]) and 94% (genus level [0.06]) to rank the diversity of the samples. Samples whose rarefaction curves lie at the top are considered more diverse than samples whose rarefaction curves lie at the bottom. Samples were given diversity rankings ranging from the least diverse (rank 1) to the most diverse (rank 23). Good's coverage index, the Shannon index of sample diversity, and the Simpson index of sample evenness are shown at both the species (0.03) and genus (0.06) levels. The Bray-Curtis index of β diversity between samples was calculated for all possible pairwise comparisons for samples from each site. The average Bray-Curtis index is shown at both the species (0.03) and genus (0.06) levels.