Table 3. Distance-based multivariate linear model of the variability of prokaryotic community against sediment environmental variables with 999 permutations.

Marginal tests
Variable	pseudo-F	P	Explained prop.
Water_depth	3.663	0.001	0.103
Temperature	3.470	0.001	0.098
Clay	2.240	0.006	0.065
Silt	2.233	0.004	0.065
AVS	2.201	0.005	0.064
TOC	1.741	0.018	0.052
Sand	1.636	0.040	0.049
TP	1.594	0.030	0.047
pH	1.487	0.069	0.044
MC	1.465	0.077	0.044
Hg	1.194	0.219	0.036
Cd	1.072	0.334	0.032
Pb	1.038	0.368	0.031
TN	0.969	0.464	0.029
As	0.887	0.589	0.027
Cr	0.827	0.726	0.025
Cu	0.827	0.723	0.025
Zn	0.724	0.887	0.022
Conditional (sequential) tests
Variable	pseudo-F	P	Explained prop.	Cumulative prop.
Water_depth	3.663	0.001	0.103	0.103
Clay	2.434	0.001	0.065	0.168
TOC	2.124	0.002	0.055	0.223
Temperature	1.774	0.015	0.045	0.268
MC	1.574	0.033	0.039	0.307
AVS	1.367	0.076	0.033	0.340
Cd	1.194	0.178	0.029	0.369
Hg	1.128	0.253	0.027	0.396
pH	1.044	0.369	0.025	0.422
Sand	1.115	0.294	0.027	0.448
TN	1.025	0.393	0.025	0.473
TP	0.936	0.566	0.023	0.495
Zn	1.004	0.463	0.024	0.520
Cu	1.020	0.447	0.025	0.544
Pb	0.976	0.494	0.024	0.567
As	0.866	0.654	0.021	0.588
Cr	0.848	0.661	0.021	0.609

Marginal tests: each variable was analyzed individually (ignoring other variables); Sequential tests: forward selection of variables, where the proportion of variation explained by each variable added to the model was conditional on the variables previously included in the model. Data in bold present significant correlations (P < 0.05); Refer to Table 2 for variable abbreviations.