Figure 2. Rarefaction curves of fecal bacterial communities between muskox adult and calf groups
Adult bacterial diversity was 14.47%, 5.60%, 30.15% higher than that of calves in Chao, Shannon, and Invsimpson indices, respectively (Chao index; adults = 1543.9, calves = 1348.7, Shannon index; adults = 6.86, calves = 6.48, Invsimpson; adults = 752, calves = 577.8 on average), but the differences were not statistically significant (t-tests; Chao, p = 0.56; Shannon, p =0.450; Invsimpson, p = 0.430; Figure 3). Instead, there were differences in group variances of three diversity indices between adults and calves (Fligner-Killeen tests; Chao, p = 0.029; Shannon, p = 0.0013; Invsimpson, p = 0.019; Figure 3).
The NMDS plot showed bacterial community differences between muskox adults and calves (PERMANOVA, pseudo-F = 1.69, p = 0.003; Figure 4).