Table 1.

Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content in percentage dry weight, C:N ratio and epiphyte cover of the leaves of E. acroides, the number of bacterial and eukaryotic OTUs obtained through ARISA and amplicon sequencing (bacteria: 16S rRNA gene, Illumina sequencing; eukaryotes: 18S rRNA gene, 454 sequencing); values constitute mean ± standard error where applicable; for the bacterial sequencing data set Chao1 richness estimates are given in italics with 95% confidence intervals in brackets

						ARISA		Amplicon sequencing
		N [%]	C [%]	C : N ratio	Epiphyte cover [%]	Bacteria	Eukaryotes	Bacteria (16S)	Eukaryotes (18S)
Control	All ages	1.42 ± 0.08	28.87 ± 0.8	20.98 ± 0.71	18.08 ± 2.45	96.52 ± 3.27	86.14 ± 2.56	507.5 ± 31.45	520.75 ± 84.25
								917.31 ± 49.13
	Youngest	1.98 ± 0.18	34.63 ± 2.21	17.89 ± 2.5	3.25 ± 3.25	111.25 ± 6.02	72.5 ± 3.8	585	277
								913.76 (822.52/1040.05)
	Second youngest	1.54 ± 0.1	29.68 ± 0.73	19.56 ± 0.88	14.3 ± 5.5	96.83 ± 7.49	86.67 ± 4.97	532	664
								991.53(863.52/1168.96)
	Third youngest	1.2 ± 0.04	28.07 ± 0.8	23.47 ± 0.42	22.33 ± 2.72	94.83 ± 2.4	93.17 ± 3.36	462	561
								984.34 (827.90/1207.66)
	Oldest	1.19 ± 0.04	25.83 ± 0.89	21.87 ± 1.31	22.54 ± 3.56	86.4 ± 6.31	88 ± 4.69	451	581
								779.63 (680.69 /921.19)
Vent	All ages	1.41 ± 0.12	26.93 ± 1.8	19.96 ± 0.79	6.61 ± 1.6	135.95 ± 2.82	89.68 ± 2.71	619.67 ± 48.22	517.75 ± 23.24
								1044.09 ± 187.94
	Youngest	2.05 ± 0.05	32.02 ± 0.42	15.68 ± 0.42	2.5 ± 1.5	139.6 ± 7.64	97.4 ± 7.06	594	459
								933.61 (839.61/1063.58)
	Second youngest	1.25 ± 0.21	24.87 ± 3.83	20.15 ± 0.74	8.7 ± 2.2	133.5 ± 5.94	87.33 ± 4.36	NA	553
	Third youngest	1.07 ± 0.18	24.26 ± 3.91	22.65 ± 1.3	8.55 ± 3.84	133.83 ± 2.7	84.33 ± 3.19	552	502
								788.18 (718.60 /886.80)
	Oldest	1.29 ± 0.04	28.36 ± 0.1	22.04 ± 0.76	3.75 ± 0.75	140.5 ± 7.5	93.5 ± 7.5	713	557
								1410.49 (1240.43/1635.38)
Total		1.41 ± 0.07	27.92 ± 0.97	20.48 ± 0.53	12.81 ± 1.77	408	329	2179	3928
								3811.43 ± 142.83