Fig. 3

Partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). a PLS-DA testing the significance of the position (mothers, 1st daughters, and 2nd daughters) on the composition of the root bacterial communities. b PLS-DA testing the significance of the position (mothers, 1st daughters, and 2nd daughters) on the composition of the root fungal communities. The groups used as grouping factor in the model are represented on the graphs. They correspond to mother, 1st and 2nd daughter ramets. 1st and 2nd ramets were grouped independently of the stolon to which they belonged. This analysis was used to test the hypothesis that roots at different ramet positions in the clonal network exhibit similar compositions of fungal and bacterial communities. The percentage of variance indicated on each axis represents the variance of the communities composition explained by the grouping factor