The article by Alban Ramette reviews the application of multivariate statistical analyses in microbial ecology, highlighting the increasing importance of these techniques due to the accumulation of biological information and environmental parameters. The review covers both exploratory and hypothesis-driven approaches, emphasizing their potential in reducing data complexity, identifying patterns, and understanding causal factors. Key methods discussed include cluster analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), correspondence analysis (CA), multidimensional scaling (NMDS), and statistical tests for significant differences between groups. The article also addresses the importance of data preparation, such as data transformation and handling missing values, and provides practical considerations for researchers to avoid common pitfalls. The review aims to integrate these multivariate techniques into the microbial ecologist's toolkit, fostering a deeper understanding of microbial community dynamics and their environmental drivers.The article by Alban Ramette reviews the application of multivariate statistical analyses in microbial ecology, highlighting the increasing importance of these techniques due to the accumulation of biological information and environmental parameters. The review covers both exploratory and hypothesis-driven approaches, emphasizing their potential in reducing data complexity, identifying patterns, and understanding causal factors. Key methods discussed include cluster analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), correspondence analysis (CA), multidimensional scaling (NMDS), and statistical tests for significant differences between groups. The article also addresses the importance of data preparation, such as data transformation and handling missing values, and provides practical considerations for researchers to avoid common pitfalls. The review aims to integrate these multivariate techniques into the microbial ecologist's toolkit, fostering a deeper understanding of microbial community dynamics and their environmental drivers.