Figure 3.

α-Diversity by species as effective number of OTUs (Shannon entropy). Boxplots summarize values per species calculated on collated results after multiple rarefactions at a maximum depth of 13 730 reads (1000 reads step, 10 iterations). Boxplots are centered at and ordered by the median, while whiskers show data dispersion across conspecifics. Diversity can be substantially high at the intraspecific level for some species, while remarkably low in others (mostly carnivores). A clear trend is seen as a function of diet at both lakes, with carnivores showing a highly depleted diversity compared with herbivores. Removal of either poorly represented OTUs (<10 reads total) or selective inclusion only of the three main phyla (Firmicutes, Fusobacteria and Proteobacteria) provided a comparable pattern of α-diversity across species.