Assessing the relationship between multivariate community structure and environmental variables

Clarke & Ainsworth's (1993; Mar Ecol Frog Ser 92:205-219) method of linking multivariate community structure to environmental variables possesses an heuristic and conceptual interest. However, we believe that there are other strategies which require less computational effort and also permit an accurate statistical test of the relationship between multivariate community structure and environmental variables. The objective of this communication is to discuss some of these many strategies, emphasizing the flexibility of Mantel test design for this task.