Fig. 2: Distribution pattern of aquatic organisms.

a Heatmaps showing the frequency of detection of MOTUs (rows) across all sampling sites (columns) for selected larger-bodied animals. b Heatmaps showing the frequency of detection of MOTUs (rows) across all sampling sites (columns) for selected planktonic and/or lower-trophic groups. In each heatmap, MOTUS are arranged by a chosen taxonomic rank: family for Cyanobacteria, genus for Copepoda, and order for the other groups. Identification at the chosen rank is labelled at the first appearing MOTU of this taxon, next to the heatmap. For some taxonomic groups, we also plot MOTUs that are only identified one rank higher and marked them as unidentified. c, d Clark & Evans aggregation index of MOTUs, plotted against the taxonomic identity or life mode of the organism. In each box plot, the thick dark line indicates median, the box represents the range from the first quartile (Q₁) to the third quartile (Q₃), the whisker marks the range from minimum (Q₁−1.5·(Q₃-Q₁)) to maximum (Q₃ + 1.5·(Q₃-Q₁)). The jitter plot shows the data points and the violin plot indicates the density of data points. The closer the index value is to 0, the more aggregated a distribution the MOTU has. ASVs detected in fewer than two PCR replicates and MOTUs detected in fewer than two sites are discarded from the calculation of aggregation index. Taxon names and trait information are listed in Supplementary Data 2.