Fig. 4. Transplant experiment.

(A) Photograph of a transplanted piece of polygonal mat, turned dark and hard—reminiscent of blister mat—1 year after transplantation. (B) NMDS plot of only cyanobacterial OTUs, illustrating their clear pattern of variance between mat types. Transplant samples are more similar to polygonal mats than blister mats, indicating that mat texture reflects environmental factors more than community composition and demonstrating marked tolerance for environmental change from these taxa.