Fig. 2

Colonisation dynamics for early, middle and late colonisers of PET and PET-derived substrates. The heatmap shows normalised ASV relative abundance within the a BHET, b amorphous PET biofilm, c amorphous PET planktonic, d PET powder, e weathered PET powder and f no carbon control communities over time. Values are the mean abundance of three independent replicate cultures and all abundance values are normalised to the maximum abundance within each ASV. All ASVs with mean relative abundance above 0.5% in at least one time point are represented. ASVs with highest abundance on days 1-7, 14-30 and 42 were classified as early, middle and late colonisers, respectively, and ASVs are plotted in order of the mean day on which they were most abundant. Colours and letters on the right of the plot indicate the taxonomic order that the ASV belongs to. ‘Other’ denotes ASVs that were not classified at the order level. ASVs that drove the community variability in the BHET (PRC effect value of below 0.9; Fig. 1b) or amorphous PET biofilm (PRC effect value above 2) treatments are denoted with orange or pink boxes, respectively, and ASVs that are predicted to possess PETases (see below) are indicated with a black background. Details on these ASVs, including full taxonomic classification, are shown in Table S3