Table 1. Overview of number of samples, number of 16S rRNA gene sequences retrieved and corresponding diversity indices (average±s.d.) for each sampling group within two experiments (natural dynamics and disturbance experiment).

Sampling group	Total no. of samples	No. of sequencesa	Richness	Evenness	Shannon index	OTUs in totala	Chao estimatea
Natural dynamics
New mucus	14	4882±2534	50±20	0.49±0.19	1.95±0.38	174	256
Aged mucus	6	5867±2770	82±29	0.81±0.05	3.48±0.90	178	248
Seawater	6	7709±3758	28±8	0.59±0.15	2.07±0.52	66	88
Sediment	4	923±116	70±12	0.80±0.05	3.40±0.30	137	210
Disturbance experiment
Initial composition	12	5941±2962	54±12	0.55±0.14	2.23±0.72	170	244
Aquaria treated	6	3837±2436	50±12	0.75±0.07	2.33±0.45	109	155
Aquaria control	6	4122±3249	84±19	0.81±0.05	3.32±0.47	176	230
1–3 Days treatedb	18	7000±3728	67±17	0.68±0.10	2.84±0.54	201	316
1–3 Days controlb	18	5494±1563	81±18	0.71±0.11	3.42±0.34	231	309
4–28 Days treatedb	10	5528±3499	46±20	0.70±0.13	2.64±0.67	138	186
4–28 Days controlb	10	8003±2583	71±15	0.78±0.06	3.17±0.43	183	315

All data are based on a rarefied OTU table at the family level from which chloroplast-affiliated OTUs were removed.

Abbreviations: OTU, operational taxonomic unit; rRNA, ribosomal RNA.

^a‘No. of sequences', ‘OTUs in total' and ‘Chao estimate' were calculated from the original non-rarefied OTU data set (including chloroplasts).

^b1–3 and 4–28 days represent the number of days after re-introduction on the reef. Data were pooled for each of those two periods.