In order to further explore the relationship between the
measured responses, a canonical correspondence analysis (CCA)
was performed on the bacterial and fungal ARISA fingerprints from
the rhizosphere, constrained by the plant parameters, FDAhydrolysis
activity and CLPP parameters of the corresponding
samples (Fig. 6A & B). Similarly to Fig. 5C, the CCA with the bacterial
fingerprints shows a clear separation between the fingerprints of
AgNP-exposed and non-exposed samples. In addition, it is shown
that the plant parameters were positively correlated with this
AgNP-effect, while bacterial/microbial metabolic parameters were
negatively correlated with the AgNP-effect. The CCA with the fungal
fingerprints shows, similarly to Fig. 5D, an AgNP-effect that is less
strong than that observed with the bacterial fingerprints. In addition,
the correlation of the AgNP-effect with FDA-hydrolysis and,
especially, the plant parameters was far less pronounced.