In microbiome research, ternary plots are often used to display the relative abundance of microbial communities in different samples. For instance, they can be used to compare the microbial composition in different environments such as soil, rhizosphere, and endophytic environments. With the help of ternary plots, the relative proportions of different microbial taxa in each sample can be visually demonstrated, assisting researchers in analyzing the structure and distribution of microbial communities.

Input Data Requirements

File Format: Tab-separated values (.tsv or .txt) with column headers in the first row.

Columns:

• Column 1: Sample name

• Columns 2-4: Proportions or abundances of three components (recommended to be normalized values summing to 1)

output

How to Interpret a Ternary Plot

1. Three Vertices of the Triangle:

   • Each vertex represents one component (e.g., A, B, C).

   • A vertex indicates 100% proportion of that component.

2. Position of Each Point:

   • Represents the proportional relationship of a sample across the three components.

   • Close to a vertex: The sample has a high proportion of that component and low proportions of the other two.

   • Close to an edge: The sample has high proportions of the two corresponding components and a low proportion of the third.

   • Near the center: The sample has roughly equal proportions of all three components.

3. Point Colors:

   • Different colors represent different samples for easy distinction.

4. Legend:

   • The legend in the upper-right corner labels each sample name and its corresponding color.