Table 1.

Observed OTUs and species richness and diversity estimates of Ascophyllum-associated metagenomic communities obtained using MiSeq sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene from the intact seaweed (T₀) and each of decaying Ascophyllum nodosum samples collected at three phases of the decay period (week 2, week 4 and week 6) at 18 °C (2_18, 4_18, 6_18), 25 °C (2_25, 4_25, 6_25), and at 30 °C (2_30, 4_30, 6_30).

Decay Period	Sample	No. of Reads after Quality Filtering	No. of OTUs (at 97% Sequence Identity)	Chao1 Richness	Shannon Index
Week 0 intact seaweed	T0	178,699	1467	2293.5	10.1
Week 2 early decay phase	2_18	123,551	854	2072.1	9.5
	2_25	350,135	1476	3327.1	10.2
	2_30	138,445	724	1822.7	9.2
Week 4 mid decay phase	4_18	148,904	749	1901.7	9.3
	4_25	151,285	1130	2061.6	9.8
	4_30	139,737	1633	3490.4	10.4
Week 6 late decay phase	6_18	120,679	443	1148	8.6
	6_25	138,659	1202	2884.5	10.0
	6_30	165,816	1250	3062.8	10.0