Frequency of disturbance alters diversity, function, and underlying assembly mechanisms of complex bacterial communities

Microbial community dynamics across disturbance frequencies and time, as assessed by 16S rRNA gene terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) fingerprinting. a Canonical analysis of principal coordinates (CAP, constrained ordination) plot, with disturbance levels as differentiation criteria, shows cluster differentiation for L0 (CAP1 axis) and L7 (CAP2 axis) from intermediately disturbed levels (L1–6). Disturbance levels: L0 [light-green triangles], L1 [blue upside-down triangles], L2 [light-blue open squares], L3 [open red rhombuses], L4 [purple circles], L5 [black crosses], L6 [green x-symbols], and L7 [blue stars]. b Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS, unconstrained ordination) shows temporal dispersion effect. Days: 14 [open triangles], 21 [light-grey upside-down triangles], 28 [dark-grey squares], and 35 [black rhombuses