Fig. 4

The methanogen community composition in the cecum of sika deer at three time points. a The methanogen composition at species level in the cecum at days 1, 42 and 70. PCoA results based on unweighted unifrac distance (b), weighted distance (c) and bray-curtis distance (d), and the within-, and between- group distance based on bray-curtis distance (e), showing the variation of methanogen community at three time points. Canonical correlation analysis (f) and heat-map (g) showing the significant methanogens in the rumen across three time points. Black circles indicate the representative taxon at each time points. Mmc. = Methanomassiliicoccaceae; Mbb. = Methanobrevibacter. The asterisk means the unclassified methanogens at the family or genus level. C = Cecum