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. 2022 Sep 20;10:e14005. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14005

Table 1. Differences in variables between clusters.

Mean and standard deviation of environmental variables, species richness, and Shannon diversity between Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 samples. Prokaryotes (16S) and protists (18S) were clustered similarly (n = 16 for Cluster 1; n = 17 for Cluster 2). Replicate samples were considered for diversity metrics and varied between 16S (n = 46 and 48 for Cluster 1 and 2) and 18S (n = 47 and 49 for Cluster 1 and 2) due to removal of two 16S samples (3/16 B and 9/20 C) with low sequence read numbers. Means were compared between clusters, with significantly different variables indicated by an asterisk (Wilcoxon or paired t-tests, * p-value < 0.05; ** p-value < 0.01). Temp = temperature (°C); SiO4 = silicate (µM); NO3 = nitrate (µM); PO4 = phosphate (µM); NH4 = ammonium (µM); Chl = chlorophyll (µg L−1); Sal = salinity (psu); Solar = solar radiation (MJ m−2); POC/PON = particulate organic carbon or nitrogen (µg C or N L−1).

Variables Cluster 1 Cluster 2
Temp** 16.43 (5.04) 28.39 (1.99)
SiO4** 44.83 (13.97) 105.79 (20.90)
NO3** 0.44 (0.29) 0.98 (0.46)
PO4** 0.56 (0.12) 0.67 (0.11)
NH4** 2.4 (1.4) 1 (0.93)
Chl 3.15 (1.26) 3.79 (1.43)
Sal 29.22 (1.44) 29.36 (1.55)
Solar* 9.57 (5.69) 13.83 (3.66)
POC 60.27 (30.12) 62.83 (14.67)
PON 10.8 (4.41) 11.41 (3.4)
18S richness 488.15 (124.71) 500.78 (77.22)
18S Shannon 4.3 (0.48) 4.47 (0.28)
16S richness** 221.15 (67.07) 271.73 (47.31)
16S Shannon** 4.07 (0.52) 4.46 (0.18)