Table 1.
Summary of sequencing data processing steps for nematode and faecal samples.
Fig 1.
Pie chart illustrating the relative abundance of microbial composition at the phylum level identified in both faecal (A) and nematode (B) samples, facilitating a comparative analysis of microbial community structures across the two biomes.
Fig 2.
Stacked bar chart illustrating the relative abundance of microbial composition at the phylum (A), class (B), and family (C) levels identified in both faecal and nematode samples at individual level.
Fig 3.
Phyla, classes, families and genera significantly differing between faeces and nematodes, identified through LEfSe analysis and ranked according to their LDA score.
Red color: more represented in faeces, blue color more represented in nematodes (less represented in faeces).
Table 2.
Alpha diversity findings between biome (host faeces and nematodes), nematode subfamilies (Cyathostominae and Strongylinae), nematode sex (male vs. female), and intestinal sampling location (caecum vs. ventral colon).
Table 3.
Beta diversity at feature level between biome (host faeces and nematodes), nematode subfamilies (Cyathostominae and Strongylinae), nematode sex (male vs. female), and intestinal sampling location (caecum vs. ventral colon).
Fig 4.
Box-plot chart of alpha diversity according with the Chao1, Shannon and Simpson in faeces and nematodes samples.
Fig 5.
Three-dimensional representation of beta diversity between faeces and nematodes, visualized using PCoA based on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity index and PERMANOVA statistics.
Fig 6.
The heat tree analysis highlighting the hierarchical structure of taxonomic classifications to quantitatively (using the median abundance) and statistically (using the non-parametric Wilcoxon Rank Sum test) depict taxonomic differences between microbial communities.
Fig 7.
Stacked bar chart illustrating the relative abundance of microbial communities at the phylum (A) and class (B) levels, identified in faeces and in nematodes collected from the caecum and ventral colon at the individual level.
Fig 8.
The heat tree analysis highlighting the hierarchical structure of taxonomic classifications to quantitatively (using the median abundance) and statistically (using the non-parametric Wilcoxon Rank Sum test) depict taxonomic differences between microbial communities.
Fig 9.
Heatmap showing the core microbiome of faeces (A) and nematodes (B) at the phylum and class levels.
Colours ranging from blue to brick red indicate prevalence above specific relative abundance thresholds, as indicated on the x-axis for each taxon listed on the y-axis.
Table 4.
Correlation network values at the phylum level.
Table 5.
Examples of ecological interpretations of significant correlations among microbial taxa associated with faeces and nematodes, indicating potential symbiotic, antagonistic, or selective relationships.
Fig 10.
Nodes represent bacterial taxa at the phylum (A) and class (B) levels and are depicted as pie charts, showing relative abundance across faecal (green) and nematode-associated (orange) microbiomes. Edges indicate correlations: red lines represent positive associations; blue lines indicate negative correlations. Only significant correlations were retained for network visualization.