Fig. 4

Changes in the gut microbiome over time of different groups. Alpha diversity estimation of richness (a, Chao1) and diversity (b, Inverse Simpson - InvSimp) are shown. Two scenarios were modelled to test for (i) within group differences in averages before and during the exercise intervention period (solid line) and to test for (ii) within group differences in averages after the exercise intervention (dashed lines). Vertical lines indicate the beginning and end of the exercise intervention interval. P values of significant results (P < 0.05) are shown. c Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) was used to visualize beta-diversity, i.e. samples’ Bray-Curtis dissimilarities. Numbers represent sampling days. The stress of the NMDS plots was 0.28, indicating a poor goodness of fit