*2.5. Statistical Analysis*

The normality of data was tested by plotting the residuals of each dataset versus the predicted values, and by performing a Shapiro-Wilk test. Homogeneity of variances was determined using Levene's test. All data were found to be normally distributed and showed homogeneity of variance after a log10 transformation (*p* > 0.05). Student's independent *t*-test was used to determine growth differences between the light and dark group in the second trial, with *n* = 5 plates for both groups. A two-way mixed factorial ANOVA was used to determine the main and interactive effects of culture site and time on *C. reniformis* growth in the third trial, with culture site as a between-subjects factor, and time as a within-subjects factor. In all analyses, the culture plate was considered as an experimental unit, i.e., data of explants growing on a single plate was pooled. To correlate surface area to mass and volume, Pearson's product-moment correlation was used. A *p*-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS Statistics 22.0 (IBM, Somers, NY, USA). Graphs were plotted with SigmaPlot 12 (Systat software, San Jose, CA, USA).
