zt : A Software Tool for Simple and Partial Mantel Tests

Different methods of data analysis (e.g. clustering and ordination) are based on distance matrices. In some cases, researchers may wish to compare several distance matrices with one another in order to test a hypothesis concerning a possible relationship between these matrices. However, this is not always self-evident. Usually, values in distance matrices are, in some way, correlated and therefore the usual assumption of independence between objects is violated in the classical tests approach. Furthermore, often, spurious correlations can be observed when comparing two distances matrices. A classic example is the comparison between genetic and environmental distances. Colonies that are in close proximity of…