Figure 7
Cartoon illustration of colonisation of plant material in the rumen by Prevotella (blue) and Clostridium (red); plant fibre in green, composed by cellulose inside (bright green) and hemicellulose outside (dark green). Data suggest that the degradation process begins with Prevotella populating fibre faster than Clostridium, because its niche specialisations allowing more efficient action on hemicellulose (a) resulting in higher number of Prevotella observed in the early stages of plant fibre colonisation (b). However, as more cellulose becomes available (c) niche adaptations in Clostridium reverses this trend and increasing their numbers in the latter stages (d).
