Table 3 Effect of within-canopy leaf position on the composition of phyllosphere microbial communities of European beech (Fagus sylvatica), tested using permutational multivariate analyses of variance (PERMANOVA). Compositional dissimilarities among leaves were estimated using the binary version of Jaccard distance. The effects of sampling date (D), tree identity (T), within-canopy vertical position (C_V), and horizontal position (C_H) and their interaction were tested using sample Set#1(Fig. 1C)

Vertical position (C_V)

2

6.047

0.044

0.001***

2

7.192

0.048

0.001***

Horizontal position (C_H)

1

3.561

0.013

0.001***

1

3.347

0.011

0.001***

Date (D)

2

8.333

0.061

0.001***

2

7.390

0.050

0.001***

Tree (T)

2

5.441

0.040

0.001***

2

17.101

0.115

0.001***

C_V x C_H

2

1.728

0.013

0.001***

2

1.957

0.013

0.001***

C_V x D

4

2.020

0.030

0.001***

4

1.638

0.022

0.001***

C_H x D

2

2.090

0.015

0.001***

2

1.799

0.012

0.001***

C_V x T

4

2.024

0.030

0.001***

4

2.900

0.039

0.001***

C_H x T

2

1.886

0.014

0.001***

2

1.917

0.013

0.001***

D x T

4

2.233

0.033

0.001***

4

2.167

0.029

0.001***

C_V x C_H x D

4

1.538

0.023

0.001***

4

1.460

0.020

0.001***

C_V x C_H x T

4

1.659

0.024

0.001***

4

1.679

0.023

0.001***

C_V x D x T

8

1.487

0.044

0.001***

8

1.421

0.038

0.001***

C_H x D x T

4

1.446

0.021

0.001***

4

1.393

0.019

0.001***

C_V x C_H x D x T

8

1.481

0.044

0.001***

8

1.446

0.039

0.001***