Fig. 1: The rrn copy numbers of bacterial OTUs in coastal sediment and global ocean water.

a Maps of the locations where coastal sediment and ocean water bacterial communities were examined in this study. b OTUs’ rrn copy number of the abundant, intermediate, and rare biospheres. The OTUs were classified based on their relative abundance and occurrence frequency: (i) abundant biosphere, OTUs with relative abundance ≥0.1%⁵³ in >50%²⁶ samples, and occurred in more than 80%^26,54 samples; (ii) rare biosphere, OTUs with relative abundance <0.1% in all samples; (iii) intermediate biosphere, OTUs other than those belonging to the rare biosphere or abundant biosphere. The bars indicate mean values and the error bars indicate standard errors. The sample sizes and detailed summary statistics are listed in Supplementary Table 1. Unadjusted P values of the one-way ANOVA followed by LSD test are labeled as *** when P < 0.001, ** when P < 0.01, * when P < 0.05, and ns when P > 0.05 (not significant). No OTU was classified as abundant biosphere in the dataset of Dois Rios Estuary so the bar is missed. c, d The community-level rrn copy numbers and phylogenetic diversity of coastal sediment and seawater and seawater bacterial communities. In the boxplots of panels (c and d) hinges indicate the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, whiskers indicate 1.5 × interquartile ranges, and dots indicate values of individual samples. Lowercase letters above the bars indicate significant differences (adjusted P < 0.05 by Bonferroni method, one-way ANOVA followed by LSD test). The sample sizes in panels (c and d) are as follows: Mission Bay, 20; Hangzhou Bay, 72; the Gulf of Mexico, 6; Plymouth Harbor, 66; coastal Mediterranean, 11; coastal Sydney, 60; Dois Rios Estuary, 9; the Tara Oceans, 139. Source data for panels (b, c, d) are provided in the Source Data File.